Sleep Walking Concerns

[PTSDbegone]

Sleep has been a problem for me my entire life. Something new has come up for me recently and that is sleep walking. I haven't done it since I was a child 30+ years ago. The only thing I can think of is I have started seeing a new therapist recently, but very recently. We haven't dove into anything relating to the trauma I went through. I have been waking up in all sorts of different places around my house (floor of my closet, bathroom floor, various chairs around the house). I have already gone and added locks to my front and back door so I won't wander outside. I remember as a child my parents locking me in my bedroom at night so I wouldn't leave my room. I am not sure how to go about dealing with this all these years later.

Anyone else have experience with this?

Thank you

 

[scout86]

YES!

I walked in my sleep as a child too. And I have done it again, since I started therapy. I'm not sure that therapy has anything to do with it, there was some other "special" stress in my life around the time I know I did it. The latch on my bedroom door was defective. Apparently the door closed and the latch stuck and my sleeping self wasn't patient enough to figure out how to open the door. So I broke the door.....

I now have the door to the basement locked, because falling down those stairs in my sleep doesn't sound like a good idea, and I've been tying the bedroom door shut from the inside. Not so much so I can't leave the bedroom, as because I was curious about how often I walk in my sleep and figured I wouldn't retie the door, if I was asleep. It appears that I don't do it often.

Is there anything else that's changed in your life? Medication?

My T said he wished he could tell me no one gets hurt sleepwalking, but he wasn't going to lie, they can and sometimes do. (One of his sons once broke his foot "sleep running".) What ever you do, be sure you can get out in case of an emergency, like a fire. My T mentioned people he knows who have put something noisy in front of their bedroom door, to wake them up when they open the door.

 

[shimmerz]

So I broke the door.....

Godddam you have a will woman! lol lol lol

I was curious about how often I walk in my sleep

Smart.

 

[LuckyDuck]

I used to sleep walk a lot and I think I wake up with bruisef shins now. I don't have confirmed sleepwalking yet, but it's a possibility.

@scout86 - the alarm thing for the foor sounds like an interesting idea. I knew a guy who lived in a shady neighborhood and used an alarm hooked to the latch of the door (some are on the top of the doorframe) thst go off whenever it's opened. Sort of a poor mans security system. It's just about as loud as a smoke detectorc alarm and does the job pretty well.

The downside would be scaring yourself awake and sustaining an injury from bolting in response.The door would be open by then, anyway. There might be stairs or obstacles in your way.

 

[PTSDbegone]

Thank you for the responses.

Yes I have started on Prazosin again for the nightmares, and Effexor. I have been on both in the past (without much success). I can't think of any other changes lately.

Yes I get bruises and cuts as well from banging into things, and what not. I have placed anything sharp up high so I won't access it. I also tend to dissociate a lot and am wondering if it's a dissociative state I am in instead. It's all very confusing. I've been trying to bring it up in therapy, but not much luck with that yet as I shut down when I walk into her office.

The sleep walking now or whatever it is just has me feeling a little more crazy than normal. I feel like I am 5 years old all over again.

 

[LuckyDuck]

I'm sorry you're in this state, @PTSDbegone . It sucks. You are being proactive towards this, which is very good. Feeling like things are more crazy is normal. Be easy on yourself and know you're doing a lot for yourself and looking out for yourself. That was something at age 5 I couldn't do! :hug:

 

[PTSDbegone]

Thank you @LuckyDuck for your kind words. I suppose being aware of the situation is half the battle sometimes. It's just so frustrating when new things arise constantly. You think you have a handle on the PTSD symptoms, and things are improving, and then something happens that sends you backwards again.

 

[scout86]

It made me feel crazier than usual too!

You might check and see if it could be a side effect of a drug. I'm not on any medication, so we knew it wasn't that. Things like Ambien have quite a track record for weird sleep disturbances.

@shimmerz the door latch was a problem when I was awake and I'm not always the most patient. At the time, because of stuff that was going on, I was WAY less patient than usual. I actually had come close to breaking the door when the latch stuck when I was awake. The funny thing was, I got up and made coffee and ate breakfast without noticing anything. When I sat down on the edge of the bed, to pull on my socks, I noticed the latch pulled out of the door, hanging by a screw..... ("How did THAT happen????) THAT was a moment! Split the door in the process of breaking the latch out. It was a cheap door... At least I don't have to worry about the latch sticking anymore. :bag: What I really can't get over is all that happened and I never woke up. But I pretty much wake up every 2 hours all night long ANYWAY!

 

[joeylittle]

I've been a sleepwalker my whole life, but since I've started trauma therapy it really has upped its frequency. Definitely stay away from ambien - as @scout86 says, it's going to exacerbate the walking.

Something I've started doing again that helps me is: I've got my bed in a corner, so there really are only two ways off it - the foot and the side. I put a couple of shallow plastic pans - cat litter pans, actually - at the side and foot, filled with water and a good number of ice cubes. I'm not sure if the cold is important (I learned this trick from someone who just did a pan of ice by their front door, because they didn't want to leave their apartment) but I wake up the moment I try and set foot outside my bed. Gives me peace of mind and lets me track frequency.

 

[shimmerz]

at the side and foot, filled with water and a good number of ice cubes.

This is brilliant.

 

[PTSDbegone]

Thank you! The pans are a great suggestion! I will give it a try. Thank you very much.

Last night was bad as I fell down the basement stairs even though the door was locked. No idea how I managed to unlock it in my sleep. I rarely ever go down there even.

 

[joeylittle]

No idea how I managed to unlock it in my sleep.

Ugh - sorry about the fall. Yes, we can do very complex tasks when we are asleep, actually. It's almost impossible to trick yourself, because you know what you did. If someone else locked the door and hid the key and you didn't know where it was....that would work. But that's usually impractical. it's why I like having a thing that forces me to wake up. So far, I have not learned how to avoid the pans - which surprises me, since I know they are there. I think it's just that they are the first thing I hit with my feet, and I keep changing how I move them in order to get out of bed in the AM, so it doesn't become a learned pattern.