Replies to '01/24 Dreams, Nightmares and Night Terrors'

Quote From: angieasmom

 Dr. Phil,

I CANNOT believe that you told the family with the man with night terrors/sleep walking to lock the bedroom doors of their daughters to protect them. What were you thinking? That is so dangerous! What if there was an emergency in the night like a fire? And suggesting that they tie his foot to the bedpost??? WHAT?? That is also dangerous!

I think the best solution would be to have the husband sleep in a room alone until his terrors are under control (to protect his wife) and put a motion sensor in the doorway of the room he is sleeping in so that the wife can be alarmed when he leaves the room. This way nobody is locked up or tied up!!

My son had night terrors almost nightly from age 5-7, when he was 7 I saw a show on ABC News, I think it was Primetime and there was a mom on it with a child who had night terrors. She decided to keep a journal of what times the child was having the terrors. Then she would go in about 10-15 minutes before the usual time of his terrors and rouse him ever so slightly, just enough to interupt his REM sleep. We tried this and it really works, but only for people who have night terrors regularly.

Now my son, almost 11, has been having "mini" night terrors (not as bad as when he was younger, no screaming just still sleeping and upset) / sleep walking  and just recently sleep eating. We've determined that for him the trigger is seeing a scary image, on tv, in a book etc. The most recent episode we think was from seeing a scary dvd cover at the store.

My husband is goign to be installing a motion sensor in our son's doorway so we are always alerted when he leaves his room.

Angie