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Topic: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny) (Read 665 times) |
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stuey
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Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« on: Aug 20th, 2003, 9:56am » |
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How many here who post has Exploding Head Syndrome? I have had it for years and just found out what it was called. I will be sleeping or drifting off and suddenly a huge Boom or Explosion happens in my head and my body jumps uncontrollably. It isn't painful, just disconcerting. My body only jumps once and it's an uncontrollable, automatic thing. My neuro told me what it was after I explained what happened to me and said it happens to people who get serious recurrent headaches. So wondering if anyone else gets this from time to time or how often. Stuey
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Brian_Y
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #1 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 9:58am » |
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Could it be somethign psychosomatic (sp?)? i.e. mental illness? I have severe anxiety and have had somethign like this similar. Or is it like restless legs syndrome?
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Cooked Brain
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #2 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 9:59am » |
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huh ??!
never had this or heard of it,
sounds like something different to me ???
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stuey
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #3 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 10:14am » |
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I know no more about it than what I said. It's as if a huge explosion occurs in my brain, non painful and your body jumps. I am trying to find out more, don't know if it's psychosomatic or not. The headache specialist I asked said he has a few patients who have the same thing happen, it only happens during sleep or while drifting to sleep and they don't know what causes it, just that people who have it have serious headaches. I at first thought everybody gets it, then I thought maybe because I have nocturnal seizures maybe it was due to that but he said it happened to people with headaches. If anyone knows more about it please let us know.
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stuey
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #4 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 10:24am » |
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I found this online.
SOMETIMES THE MOST AWFUL symptom can be entirely harmless.
Such is the case with certain types of headache conditions that produce severe and intolerable pain but carry no dangerous implication. The same is true with a rare condition called exploding head syndrome.
More than 55 cases have been reported in the medical literature. But it is likely that hundreds, if not thousands, of patients have experienced this phenomenon.
A nighttime phenomenon the condition is characterized by a terrifying sense of explosive noise in the head, and it typically occurs within an hour or two after falling asleep. Individuals report that they are awakened by a startling and frightening massive sound that they can clearly distinguish from a dream. It occurs exclusively at night and is unaccompanied by any pain.
The sound has been described as an "explosion," "enormous roar" and "so loud it could kill me."
Activities prior to retiring at bedtime do not appear to have any relationship to the sound, although three physicians, who themselves suffered from these attacks, report that the incidents occur during periods of personal stress or when they are particularly tired and overworked. The attacks may develop at any time during life, even in childhood. Women are slightly more likely to experience these events than men.
Sometimes two or more attacks may occur over a period of days or weeks, followed by total remission. One individual reported up to seven attacks in one night, only to have them vanish for several months. Some individuals experience only one such attack during a lifetime. A family history of similar attacks has been reported by a few individuals, and some report a history of migraine or epilepsy.
After the attack, patients often feel a sense of terror, rapid heartbeat and anxiety.
No cause has been found
A 73-year-old physically and mentally normal woman who experienced attacks of migraine throughout her life began to experience, at age 67, a different type of attack that would occur 2-3 times per week, exclusively during sleep. The attacks were characterized by "being awakened by a sudden bang in my head, as if my head were bursting, with a flash of light in both eyes, and after which I would feel dazed for a split second." The individual reported that she was terrified and experienced "heart thumping" after the attack. No pain was experienced. Her examination was normal, and the patient remained healthy.
No underlying cause has been identified to explain the condition, which was first reported in 1988. Some authorities have suggested that it may have something to do with a sudden movement of a middle ear component or a "springing open" of the eustachian tube. Others have suggested that it may be related to a minor seizure in the temporal lobe that contains the nerve cells for hearing.
All agree, however, that exploding head syndrome is an entirely benign condition, is not caused by psychological disturbances and is very real and frightening.
DR. JOEL SAPER is director of the Michigan Head Pain & Neurological Institute in Ann Arbor. Write to him at: Dr. Joel Saper, c/o Detroit Free Press, P.O. Box 828, Detroit 48231.
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maggie_may
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #5 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 10:28am » |
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You know, I've had this, or something extremely similar to it for years. I can remember as a really young kid, maybe 4 or 5, experiencing it. Though I wouldn't call it Exploding Head Syndrome since there's no noise associated with it, just the jolt and I'm nowhere near terrified when it occurs.
It will always occur when I'm laying in bed and just about to fall asleep. My mind is wandering and its like I'm dreaming, because I ALWAYS see myself walking down the sidewalk and then tripping. When I trip, that's when my body jolts. It only does it once, but it wakes me right up.
I never realized that I really DO jump. It wasn't until after I moved in with my BF and we were going to sleep when it happened to me again. It scared him and I couldn't believe that I really did jolt up like that. It happened a few more times after that.
I finally asked my neuro about it, and he said something similar was the cause - soemthing about mini-seizures I think, though I can't recall exactly what he said - but that if it were to happen extremely often, like I guess every day, then that would be something to look at.
Very weird. And people think I'm weird when I tell them about it too  go figure!
maggie
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| « Last Edit: Aug 20th, 2003, 10:37am by maggie_may » |
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inside-out
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #6 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 10:40am » |
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Hi, I got this experience from time to time and I'm quiet sure that it's because of a choc in your dream, that your conscience take for reality I sugest a lot of cold water on your face when you wake up because you R awake but your consience still in the dream and you know the rest .........
Just a opinion
Patrick
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2late
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #7 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 10:44am » |
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that's real intreresting dude, i've definately had this, one of the first times i had this, i thought someone broke down my front door. it freaked me out to the point i was walkin' around my house with a loaded shotgun. this has happened to me many times over the years. just like cluster's i thought i was the only one who experences this. ...............Jack
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Patrick_A
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #8 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 11:05am » |
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Ummm, Wow! I get these too!
Patrick
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KingOfPain
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #9 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 11:12am » |
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No info about this known to me.
Good luck.
I sure hope they find a way to stop this condition for you.
KingOfPain
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stuey
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #10 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 11:14am » |
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Isn't it something to realize other people experience the same thing - I thought it was just me too but it aint. I called my sister and she said the same thing happens to her. She's not a CH sufferer, she gets migraines with aura. Wow that is something. stuey
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suzy617
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #11 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 11:19am » |
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This has happened to me twice that I recall. Each time I thought the house exploded, it was very terrifying. I had just chalked it up to being a dream though.
Suzy
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judyw
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #12 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 12:20pm » |
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Wow, Stuey...this site is always opening up things for all of us that we think only we experiece...I have suffered for years from periodic "jerk ups" as I think of them...Don't get the explosion, but frightening sensation of falling...causing an unsettled feeling that takes a bit to recover from...My family have commented through the years that I sometime cry out...Thanks for bringing this out...I can reassure my family I am not totally losing it...
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stuey
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #13 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 1:33pm » |
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Judy I get the whole jerking thing sometimes too. Often I will wake up and see these black sqiggly things in front of my eyes also that seem to swirl about and finally end up disapating. Also, I do get paranoid at these times and swear someone is trying to get in my apartment - and it's irrational fear because I have a great pitbull who barks at the slightest noise but during these fugue states (that's all i can think to call them) I don't understand that. Although slightly different it seems many of us experience similar types of things. Stuey
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jminmilwaukee
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #14 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 2:12pm » |
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Has happened to me several times. Last time, about a month ago, I was dead asleep and BANG!.....sounded like someone broke right through a door or something. I live alone and my dog was still asleep but I was sure there was someone there.
Grabbed my trusty baseball bat and went through the entire house. Man was I freaked out. Even grabbed a flashlight and walked the the yard.
Musta been in my head cause the dog would have freaked if it were for real.
Strange for sure.
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Gofishgriff
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #15 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 2:17pm » |
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Yes, I experience something like this as well. I could not describe what I get any better than Maggie May does below.
Quote:Though I wouldn't call it Exploding Head Syndrome since there's no noise associated with it, just the jolt and I'm nowhere near terrified when it occurs.
It will always occur when I'm laying in bed and just about to fall asleep. |
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I always passed it off as something that happens to everyone right when their bodies are crossing over from being awake into being asleep.
ANdy
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jminmilwaukee
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #16 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 3:01pm » |
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Having experienced the bang and the jolt, my guess is they are not related. I have gotten the jolt when I am on the cusp of falling asleep. It's like your nervous system had a discharge of some sort and normally happens when really tired.
The "bang" on the other hand has happened during actual REM or deep sleep.
This is my experience only so I could be wrong.
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #17 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 3:19pm » |
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I was going to reply to this by saying I had never gotten this but after reading some of the descriptions I realized it has happened to me a few times....weird. I also have the restless leg syndrome.
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OwieMan
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #18 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 3:29pm » |
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I just gotta add to this one to make sure people arent being confused here.
To me it sounds like we are describing two different things.
The exploding head thing I have never experienced, but I have experienced the JERK thing others are talking about.
The Jerk is basically your autonomic system mis-firing when your body trys to make the jump into the sleep zone. It can be something like a falling off of something feeling or tripping or whatever. This can happen to everyone.
the exploding head sounds like a ghost sound while you are already asleep and waking you.
Just checking to see if everyone is on the same page here.
Actually I found this:
Each night as soon as I doze off (unless I fall asleep in front of the TV)I get a jolt, I jump up and my heart is pounding, my first instinct is to take a quick breath. At first I thought my heart was skipping a beat. It scared me. I talked to a friend who studied psychology. He asked if I use to have the sensation of falling out of bed, and then jerking as a result of it. I replied "yes". He mentioned that as I'm getting older the sensation is greater. His explanation of this is that my brain and my eyes are not in sync with each other. And that as I fall asleep my brain tries to synchronize with my eyes so that REM can be achieved, but since my eyes and brain are still unsynchronized, my brain sends a "reset Command" which is the jolting "electrifying" sensation we all experience. He suggests less stress, more exercise and no caffeine. I hope this helps everyone, if anyone finds a doctor who has a name for this phenomenon please let me know.
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don
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #19 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 3:50pm » |
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OK Stuey you've had more thyan your share of legitimate response, can I do it now?
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Karla
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #20 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 4:27pm » |
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My husband gets this also and he has no ha at all. I think it is just random that it occurs or we are misunderstanding what you are going through.
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goaway
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #21 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 5:14pm » |
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I do sort of jump or "jolt" occasionally. No bang or other noise, however (at least that I am aware of).
Have thought of it sometimes and wondered. Glad you brought it up. Sort of makes me think that you are crazy like me.
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #22 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 6:21pm » |
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For those of you who have not had the whole 'exploding head' thing but still experience those wakeup jolts, perhaps you are suffering from
Myoclonic Jerks
or
Hypnic Jerks
I have occasionally gotten these along with my other strange sleep stuff
But it is probably kinda normal for people to experience this occasionally. It's when it is more constant that it can be aggravating.
Here's a link (sorry it's a bit simplistic):
http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon971114/skinnyon.html
And it also mentions the 'Auditory Sleep Start' which maybe is another name for this 'Exploding Head'.
Here's another link... more detail:
http://www.medhelp.org/HealthTopics/Myoclonic.html
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Callico
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #23 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 8:51pm » |
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Glad I'm not the only one to do this too! I've had it for years, since I was about four or five, usually when I'm very tired or have a lot on my mind. My kids love towatch whenI take a nap in my recliner trying to catch up on sleep and one hits.
thanks for posting it.
jc
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FrankF
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Re: Exploding Head Syndrome (Don't Be Funny)
« Reply #24 on: Aug 20th, 2003, 9:37pm » |
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I have been awakened almost every night for the past week by a doorbell ringing... got up and run to check the door. The trouble is that there is nobody ringing the doorbell at 12-4 am. Sleeping with earplugs tonight.
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