I've been suffering from night terrors for the past several years, really bad the past year and was wondering if any one had the same thing and the gluten-free diet helped them. These night terrors are so bad that I've run down the steps screaming in the middle of the night - while still asleep . My husband is convinced one night i'm going to fall down the steps and kill myself so he makes me sleep against the wall so it's harder for me to get up and run. I would LOVE for these to stop. Not only do they make my heart beat 500 times a second when I finally wake up out of them but I usually can't fall back asleep afterwards.

Amy

I had the same thing for years (I, too, would sometimes get out of bed and run for the door), and now the only time I get them is when I'm glutened, so the diet definitely helped me. Hopefully, it does the same for you, as these "dreams" are horrible!

yeah! i would love for those dreams to go away! they are so powerful and real feeling and only my husband as my witness knew how bad it was - every one else thought i was just having normal nightmares. NOT!
amy

There are quite a few sleep disorders, one of them is REM sleep disorder which can cause this behaviour.
There are ways of beating this.
You need a referral to a Sleep Disorder Centre, where they will monitor you overnight and video any behaviours. Medication helps this.

Good luck !!

Hi Amy,

My night terrors began at age 13 (I'm 45), at which point I let out blood-curdling screams at things I "saw" in my room. It was awful, and lasted into my late thirties (but they were not as frequent). I would see enormous insects, or swarms of insects, spiders lowering from the ceiling......people walking through the room.....or I would awake to find myslelf yanking the sheets from the bed or moving furniture around. The older I got, I was somehow able to keep from screaming, sort of talk to myself during the siege and remain calmer...often during these times I would start to pray, and quite often the siege would instantly stop. Makes you think......

I have taken medication to help me sleep for around seven years (seroquel). I simply don't sleep without it. I still have something bizarre happen occasionally, but, come to think of it, since removing gluten over a year ago, I sleep normally about 95 percent of the time. and my dreams, as always, are FANTASTIC....then again, they always have been. Epic in scope, lasting seemingly forever, and MUCH more exciting than my real life.

I hope this gets better for you with gluten removal. If not, I agree with the above poster about seeing a sleep specialist. Or heck, just take drugs.

I've always, all my life had awful, terrible nightmares. I remember a time a few years ago when for weeks I'd have up to ten a night, and would be afraid to go to bed.

Now I only get those when eating lectins (of which gluten is one). I know I have been glutened when I have nightmares. It is like a miracle how well I sleep now, and how pleasant my dreams are. No more being eaten by ferocious animals, or waking up as I am being murdered, or demons attacking me. I don't have to be afraid to close my eyes and go to sleep now, for the first time in fifty years. I used to wake up screaming in terror. Not any more.

I still get them a lot, randomly too. I can tell you what is the freakiest...when they are RECURRING nightmares . that sure leaves me terrified of even to sleep the next nights. And i can tell you another thing...since getting Celiac is when they have showed up more and more, and when they seem more real. there's a reason why they freak me out too, but its kinda confusing/complicated to explain now.

~ lisa ~

I too had terrible nightmares, not to the extreme you have had, but I would wake up in a sweat, heart racing and felt like I had run 3 miles! This has all gone away. I am about 8 weeks gluten free and it's been wonderful!

It may take awhile to get into a normal sleeping pattern and I still wake up around 2:00 and can't fall back to sleep, but it isn't as often. I sleep good when I walk with my friend after work.

Take care. and sweet dreams.

I'm crossing my finger but I've only had one incident since going gluten-free and it was very mild compared to other episodes and I think soon after realizing I had ate something with gluten in it (for some reason I was convinced there was something "black and dangly" hanging over the bed- my desciption to my husband exactly).

When I was little my intense nightmare was recurring and it was about millions of snakes slithering all around me, on the floor and walls so I couldn't get off my bed. I still get that dream sometimes but the last couple of years it's been people in the house. I can never see faces, it's more like black figures. Very freaky

Thanks for the advice on the sleep disorder center. I never thought it was a "problem" but if it does intensify I would look into that. The other day when the put me to sleep for my endoscopy it was the best 45 minute sleep I've had in years....before being fully awake I asked for some drugs to take home

Wow, it is nice to know that I am not alone. I have, since my teens; I am now 35, had horrible dreams. Things like my children and family members being buried alive and me watching helplessly to being chased by murderers. I figured it must have been something I watched as a child. I never considered it might be Celiac. Has anyone spoken to DR. about this? What advise was given? I still have them, occasionally. Gluten-free for 18 mo.

I remember skeletons being in the hallway back when I was four. I had a hard time sleeping as far back as I remember. Once I went gluten-free, I pretty much sleep like a baby other than when I've been glutened. Then it's back to the nightmares and anxiety dreams.

That's the worst part of being glutened as far as I'm concerned. I can take the pain and the GI stuff, but not wanting to face the nighttime stuff is what really keeps me on the straight and narrow with the diet. <shudder>

Nancy