i woke up in middle of the night freaking out?

A night terror, also known as pavor nocturnus, is a parasomnia sleep disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. The subject wakes abruptly from slow-wave sleep, with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming. It is often impossible to fully awaken the person, and after the episode the subject normally settles back to sleep without waking. A night terror can occasionally be recalled by the subject. They typically occur during non-REM sleep.

Night terrors are distinct from nightmares in several key ways. First, the subject is not fully awake when roused, and even when efforts are made to awaken the sleeper, he/she may continue to experience the night terror for ten to twenty minutes. Unlike nightmares, which occur during REM sleep, night terrors occur during slow-wave sleep, the deepest levels of non-REM sleep. Even if awakened, the subject often cannot remember the episode except for a sense of panic, while nightmares usually can be easily recalled. After the night terror is complete, it can often result in a seizure, which is commonly a tonic-clonic type (although the subject may not be epileptic). The subject often has no recollection of the incident, nor the seizure.

Unlike nightmares, which are frequently a scary event dream (e.g. a monster under the bed, falling to one's death, etc.), night terrors are not dreams. Usually there is no situation or event (scary or otherwise) that is dreamt, but rather the emotion of fear itself is felt. Often, this is coupled with tension and apprehension without any distinct sounds or visual imagery, although sometimes a vague object of fear is identified by the sufferer. These emotions, generally without a focusing event or scenario, increase emotions in a cumulative effect. The lack of a dream itself leaves those awakened from a night terror in a state of disorientation much more severe than that caused by a normal nightmare. This can include a short period of amnesia during which the subject may be unable to recall his name, location, age, or any other identifying features of themselves. This state generally passes after only one or two minutes.

While each night terror is usually different, all episodes of the same person will generally have similar traits. One of the most common qualities of night terrors is a strong sense of danger. For these people there is always a being (similar to a doppelgänger), tangible or otherwise, who wishes to hurt the sleeping person, or the sleeping person's loved ones.[dubious – discuss] Many sufferers of night terrors are reluctant to speak of them because of their violent and often disturbing nature.

Though the symptoms of night terrors in adolescents and adults are similar, the etiology, prognosis and treatment are qualitatively different. Adult night terrors are much less common, trauma-based rather than genetic, chronic, and usually require treatment in the form of psychotherapy and antidepressant medication.

In addition to night terrors, adult night terror sufferers have many of the characteristics of abused and depressed individuals including inhibition of aggression,[2] self-directed anger,[2] passivity,[3] anxiety, impaired memory,[4], and the ability to ignore pain.[5]. In addition, they often suffer from chronic sleep deprivation resulting in a lowered immune system, irritability, lack of thermoregulation, and many social and interpersonal problems.

Something very similar happened to me last week too. The difference is that I felt suffocated and sweaty. The next day I started researching on internet and I had all the symptoms of a panic attack. Maybe you are under a lot of stress and lot of things going on in your life at the same time. I got to think a lot why did that happen, I thought I was going crazy. Instead, I understood the root of the problem and definitely there is a lot going on in my life, moving, having baby, new job, school...crazy!

I suggest just do your research of the symptoms you experienced on internet and if you still feel weird after a couple of days, see your doctor.

Sounds like night terrors to me. My son has them, they run in my family. Sometimes they are brought on by a certain food. My Aunt's trigger was potato chips, one of my sons is chinese food. The best thing to do is let him cry and when he calms down put him back in his crib. They run there course faster if he is not further agitated by being picked up or even cooed too (I still coo can't help it, I feel bad) My son is old enough now and will walk back in his bedroom and I will put him in his crib but he will sit and cry, scream and throw a fit for anywhere from 20 min to an hour.

Don't say "I can't afford a shrink" for two reasons; One, that's bull crap, if you're sick you go do a doctor to get well. Two, you must not be that bad off if you don't feel the need to go to a doctor.

So, you feel like **** and you want someone on YA to tell you why, then disagree when you don't hear what you want to hear, and claim you don't understand. You don't want to understand, and besides, you don't feel that bad anyway. Have some Oreos and milk and you'll be fine.

It's depression. Something is happening in your life and your brain is trying to tell you. I have had depression and almost committed suicide at age 11 three times

1 - I couldn't do it

2 - My friend walked in

3 - The rope snapped. [It was a thin one]

I got conselling and it kind of helped. I got it for free because dad took me to the doctors.

I'm 13 now if you seriously have anymore questions PLEASE email me.

thats kind of normal, everyone should experience a sense of worthlessness if they begin to understand the way the universe works. but the key is to just not think about that and enjoy your life because you cant worry about the big things sometimes

you would have to explain more, like if you had a dream, or what happened the day before, was it totally random? Was their a thought or memory connected to the feeling? Was it just a feeling alone?

Maybe your'e going into depression, or just had a bad thought in a nightmare or something.

maybe you were having a nightmare at a subconscious level that you cannot remember.

its called night-panic

have a beer, if it happens again have another beer.

MIKE