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Sleep Disorder Help
Night Terrors Help:Night terrors are much more serious than regular nightmares. Night terrors happen between stage three and four of non-REM sleep, where nightmares occur during REM sleep. Night terrors are characterized by crying and fear during sleep and difficulty waking the child. Night terrors in children are more common than in adults. They usually occur between the ages of 3-12 years old, and the peak is at 3 ½ years. An estimated 1-6% of children experience night terrors, both boys and girls get them equally as well as all races. This disorder usually goes away during adolescence. There are many possible causes of night terrors—Stressful life events, fever, lack of sleep, and medications that affect the central nervous system are common causes. Night terror symptoms may include increased heart and breath rate as well as sweating. It is comforting to know that most children do not recall what happened in their night terror, unlike bad dreams. The terrors usually begin 90 minutes after falling asleep. The child may sit up in their bed and scream, appearing awake and confused but unresponsive. The child may thrash around in their bed and will not talk or respond to their parent’s comforting. These episodes mostly last 1-2 minutes, but may last up to 30 minutes. Small pieces of the terror may be recalled if the child wakes during the episode. You need to seek medical care for the child if they occur in children younger than 3 ½ years old, and happen once a week. If your child is older, seek out a doctor if there are 1-2 episodes per month. Evaluation by the child’s physician is good anyway. They will be able to exclude possible disorders that can cause night terrors. Usually a complete physical exam is done and a complete medical history. If other disorders are suspected, more tests will need to be done such as a electroenceophalogram (EEG) which measures brain activity which may be preformed if there are seizures; a polysomnography, which is a combination of tests that check for correct breathing, usually done if a breathing disorder is suspected; CT scans and MRIs may be done, but are usually not necessary. There are some things that you can do on your own to treat night terrors. You need to make the child’s room safe so they can not hurt themselves during an episode. You need to get rid of all sources of sleep disturbances. Maintaining a sleep routine and wake-up routine is important, also. There is no adequate medical treatment for night terrors, and management usually consists of educating the family about night terrors. In severe cases, anti-depressants are needed for temporary treatment if daily activities are affected. If you have done all of the self-treatment options listed above and night terrors are still happening, there is one thing that you can do. Watch your child’s activity during sleep. Try to look for a time when the night terrors occur. Once you have established a pattern, you can wake your child 15 minutes before the terror would occur, and keep them awake and about for 5 minutes. You can take them to the bathroom. Continue this for a week and see if it helps. |
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