Do you know what’s scaring you about the idea of a sleep study?
I finally had a consultation with a sleep consultant a few months ago after years of having night terrors and night time hallucinations. Mine aren’t predicatable - I can go weeks or even months without having a NT and then have a flurry close together. So, I thought (hoped!) I wouldn’t need to do an overnight sleep study because I thought, the chances are, nothing would happen.
They did want me to do one though. The purpose of it wasn’t to see if they could spot any parasomnias but to check whether I had any breathing issues that might require treatment. As it tuned out, as a result of the study, I got diagnosed with sleep apnea so am being treated for that. Sleep doctor thinks managing the apnea may reduce or even get rid of the parasomnias - 6 weeks in and no NT yet and only a few hallucinations whereas I used to have about three hallucinations a week. I hate using the PAP machine though so there is definitely a part of me that wishes I’d never gone to the sleep clinic in the first place! So...a bit of a heads up there...if you snore and end up doing a sleep study, you may end up with more than you bargained for!
Anyway...re being scared of having a sleep study, I really didn’t want to have one and I pretty much majorly lost my shit about it for the couple of weeks leading up to it. For me, key things freaking me out was that I would be observed/filmed while sleeping, that anyone could potentially come in to my room and do whatever they liked while I was asleep (irrational, I know, but this thought was incredibly anxiety-making for me and I ruminated on it on the run up to the sleep study. I was also freaked out by how someone would have to be close and touch me in order to put all the electrodes on. I’m not very good at being touched.
I was in a real state and very dysregulated in the run up to it but was determined to go ahead with it at that point. The reality of it when it actually happened was that it was fine.
Happy to post more about what happened or how I prepped for it if that would be helpful. The main thing I did was that I phoned the team first to get them to tell me every detail from start to finish so I knew exactly what to expect, which did help. And I also requested a female sleep technician wire me up at that point too, which was important for me but may not be for you.
If you are really dead set against a sleep study - and even if you do end up having one - I guess all you can really do is try to safe proof your sleep environment as much as you can. For me, this means keeping the bedroom floor totally clear (so there are no trip hazards) and making sure there’s nothing really sharp around eg pointy clothes hooks or door/wardrobe handles etc that I can jab myself on.
Do you know what’s causing the bruising and wounds? ie are you hitting/scratching yourself or getting out of bed and falling over or running around and smacking into things or picking up objects in the room and swinging them around or...?
What does your husband observe you doing? Is he able to stop you from doing whatever you are doing or do you have an agreement that he doesn’t interfere with your nighttime behaviour? Touching someone who is in the middle of a night terror can be hazardous so, in general, I wouldn’t recommend it! I would guess the same is true with someone who is not necessarily having a night terror but who is acting out violent dreams. That said, if you’re causing yourself real harm I would think that your husband trying to wake you would be a good idea. He wouldn’t necessarily have to touch you (and risk getting injured himself) to do that. He could blast on some loud music or something. Or, what tends to wake me up is my partner switching the lights on.
