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General Awake but asleep

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Vic2023

Hello everyone,

I am the partner of someone with PTSD, and last night witnessed a really worrying episode. Has anyone else experienced this?

It was around 7pm in the evening, my partner fell asleep lying on me…I decided to wake him gently as I didn’t want his late night nap disturbing im his sleep a couple of hours later.

What happened next was perhaps 30 mins or complete confusion - I could tell by his eyes how confused he was. His eyes were looking around as if picturing something else, and kept repeating certain aspects of one of his traumas. Mixed with this (as he was still lying down) he would close his eyes and fall asleep and start snoring. In one of these, his lips and face went pale and I was terrified he had stopped breathing - I managed to wake him again, but it was hard work. I shook him and slapped his face with no response for about 30 seconds or so. Following this, he went into a ‘rage episode’ which I have seen before - I managed to calm him down and got him to lie back down. Eventually grounding him by putting on the Simpsons as he always laughs at this.

I have never seen him stuck in this sleep / awake before. He had no idea where he was and was hallucinating - and then fell asleep instantly. Has anyone else experienced this? And could he slip into unconsciousness??

Thank you.
 
So there’s this paralysis thing that happens when we sleep, that keeps us from acting out our dreams… that doesn’t work quite right for people who sleepwalk or have night-terrors (not nightmares, the person having them almost never remembers them; they get their name from what observers experience! As you well understand, it truly is terrifying to witness)… that trauma & PTSD can also screw with.

Acting out nightmares is, unfortunately, pretty durn common with PTSD.
 
He was in his trauma. Living it in "real time".

This is pretty normal in our house. I don't interfere. It happened more frequently and with more intensity when he was on sleeping pills. Specifically Ambien.
 
He was in his trauma. Living it in "real time".

This is pretty normal in our house. I don't interfere. It happened more frequently and with more intensity when he was on sleeping pills. Specifically Ambien.
Thanks for the reply. When you say you don’t interfere… what happens when they start to freak out? Would you talk to them and calm them down to try and bring them back the present?

So there’s this paralysis thing that happens when we sleep, that keeps us from acting out our dreams… that doesn’t work quite right for people who sleepwalk or have night-terrors (not nightmares, the person having them almost never remembers them; they get their name from what observers experience! As you well understand, it truly is terrifying to witness)… that trauma & PTSD can also screw with.

Acting out nightmares is, unfortunately, pretty durn common with PTSD.
Thank you for the reply.

I sometimes have to stay away overnight because of work, and worried how he would handle this on his own? Is this one of the more extreme symptoms?
 
I have night terrors and would find myself standing in the middle of the room and no idea how I got there. First thing hubby learned was to NEVER touch me if I was wandering - because I would knock his ass out. It's kind of at the other end of the spectrum for your partner, but ya, it's all just more of the joys of ptsd.

nd worried how he would handle this on his own? Is this one of the more extreme sympt
Chances are high that he's been doing this since the initial trauma, you were just there to witness it for the first time.

I shook him and slapped his face with no response for about 30 seconds or so.
He may have been holding his breath because that's what he did in the original trauma. But it might be something for him to check with his doctor to make sure that's all it is. And by all, I don't mean to discount how scary it is to watch, just that if its a trauma response it may happen over and over.

A word of caution - slapping him might work or it might go terribly wrong. See above and the whole "I will knock your ass out" blah blah LOL.

When you say you don’t interfere… what happens when they start to freak out? Would you talk to them and calm them down to try and bring them back the present?
you let us freak out.
which sucks - for both of us.

As hard as it is for our supporters to watch, sometimes we just have to run the loop until it ends. When I'm in that place I don't "see" the people around me, so trying to communicate to calm me down may or may not help. It's worth a try of course, but if it doesn't work it doesn't mean you did it wrong. It just means he's swallowed up by the demons and you have to wait till he gets to the other side to be able to help.
 
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