Recurring Night Terror: 'Hellcat' Any help?

[BlueVisor225]

So I have been up all night doing research and looking for an explanation to a horrible night terror that has plagued me for about a week, and while that may not be a big time span, my day-to-day personality is starting to become more jumpy, grouchy, and generally in a 'bad' mood, due to lack of sleep. When this happens, (which has been quite often) I fail to work up the courage to even lay back down, and even being on my laptop is harrowing as immediately after said event I am in a state of fear and can't even enjoy my typical youtube videos without the images flashing back into my head. (they are doing so as I am typing this). I am aiming for a helpful and enlightening/supportive response, however the night terror's contents are rather questionable. I am a person of rational thinking (or at least I try to be), and this whole issue has started making me fear going to sleep now, (against my own interests). Before I lay out what generally happens, I want to make it clear: NONE OF THESE NIGHT TERRORS HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY THE SAME, there has been some grades of variation, from different people seen to differing locations. I will lay tonight's horrors out as best I can without vividly reliving it. : /

It starts out with me and another family member talking in some location or other, just my house and grandparents place so far, but it's just me and someone else talking about random stuff. this time it's me and my cousin talking about geeky gaming stuff, when my cat walks in, (this always happens) and jumps up and starts being cute... until its eyes fade out until there is nothing but white eyes. (this thing gets demonic fast) it meows a weak, half dead meow that makes my skin crawl when I think about it. I attempt to look away, but my gaze is FORCED back to see it's eyes with small fire red pupils, and the veins/arteries very red. At this point my cousin starts screaming to make the noise stop, even though I hear nothing. I call 911 (I dunno why) and ask that my cat be taken to a vet ASAHP. (As soon as humanly possible) It awkwardly fades into me in a animal hospital, (I dunno if these even exist) my cat under a heart monitor of some kind, it beeping steadily. (for whatever reason there are SWAT troopers guarding the room.) As soon as they clear me to see the cat, another pair of SWAT guys escort me into the room. the second the door closes behind me, the heart monitor flatlines, and the cat looks up, with its teeth bared and it's eyes all freaky again. It jumps at me, I hear the SWAT guy's rifles get pulled up, and the last thing I see is a demonic cat face, the last thing I hear is automatic gunfire. After that, I woke up.

Previous occurrences have had me driven out of the house with half dead meows and screeches in my head, or assaulted with a constant vision of that horrifying face. Every time I wake up, the last thing I see is the face, and the last thing I hear is automatic gunfire.

I was asleep for roughly and hour and a half before I actually woke up and looked at the clock.

I posted this here because I saw another post involving a recurring bad dream, which had mostly supportive responses. Does anyone have any insight or helpful ideas that can save me from further demon cat night terrors?

[Deleted]

Remove your cat from your home immediately.

[wregelmann]

Short-term recurring nightmares can mean you're sick. Been feeling okay recently?

[RedTed]

Umm, either what wregelmann said, you might be ill, OR are playing a single game for far too much time, or binge-watching a TV series (or more, but with similar themes).
Or try switching the sleeping position, pillow or mattress (or all). Maybe even try taking a road trip somewhere, for a short change of scenery.
Try speaking to someone qualified as well. I once dreamt for 2 nights the same cyclical dream, 3rd day went to a doc for a routine checkup, I had double pneumonia.

[Deleted]

Buy a new bed.

[Reeve]

When I was a kid and had a recurring nightmare, my parents had me write a letter "to whom it may concern" describing the dream in detail and asking for it to stop. We then burned the letter. Call it placebo effect or whatever, but I never had that dream again.

[Lava Bucket]

These aren't really night terrors, they're nightmares. Night terrors are when you wake up but are still affected by sleep paralysis. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror)

Nightmares are caused by your worries and doubts. Is there a new source of stress in your life? Or some change in your routine?

[Realign]

These aren't really night terrors, they're nightmares. Night terrors are when you wake up but are still affected by sleep paralysis. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror)

Nightmares are caused by your worries and doubts. Is there a new source of stress in your life? Or some change in your routine?

Did you even read what you linked, night terrors and sleep paralysis are different things.Nowhere in that link is sleep paralysis even mentioned.

[dextersmith]

Try being extra active during the day and maybe even exercise or jog so you're so exhausted by bedtime that you'll fall into a dreamless sleep. Or watch a favorite movie or talk to someone about happy things or think of things you're excited about right before bedtime.

[Independent voter]

If you drink enough alcohol you won't dream.

[Deleted]

Your soul is slowly being consumed by a cat demon. Consult your nearest priest immediately.

[TheCount]

Doing some calm activity before bed helps to ensure a relatively good sleep.
I recommend showering or taking a bath right before bed time.

[Blueobelisk]

Slay every cat within a 25 mile radius.

[TheCount]

Slay every cat within a 25 mile radius.

You have to do this with the Holy Great Sword of Divine Intervention, so hit up Amazon as well

[Deleted]

When I was young, about 6/7, I had a recurring nightmare about being in my granparents house with all my close family, when suddenly the lights would go out and it would become mostly moonlight in brightness and they had all turned into the same kind of monster. Really tall, brown, sort of rolls of skin like they had been fatter previously, and it's face had like a shortish fat trunk and weird tusky teeth.

Don't ask me how my brain could possibly conjure something that was so detailed in my head at such an age, never seen anything similar at all in my life. But it used to terrify me, like wake up in the night screaming and crying. Then one day, well one night, during the same dream and they're all slowly coming after me as usual, a random woman kneeling down gardening told me that it was ok, that it's just a dream, and they won't bother me anymore.
And they never did again....dreams are just weird random occurrences, maybe once you just accept this is just a dream and can't do anything to you physically, you can get over it. Yeah there might be some other psychological reasoning behind it all, but who has the time for that? =p just accept it's a bad dream and your cat loves you really :P

[Lady Dragonheart]

These aren't night terrors, you cannot remember a night terror. You simply wake up from them in a panic without remembering why you did.

However, your nightmares are likely a cause of an innate issue that you're either suppressing during your everyday life, or a cause by a stress that you're not able to mentally cope with.

[dextersmith]

On a less serious note, maybe the cat represents your fear of being a man entering menopause?

[IronArms]

If all normal posts above are true, then that means your brain isn't going into a deeper sleep like it should. They are right these aren't Terrors these are Nightmares, Terrors would be a lot worse. Consult a doctor about the loss of sleep and see if they can give you a strong sleep aid. Worst comes to worst, just get some over the counter sleep aid, and if you're thinking rationally just remember it is only a dream and nothing more, say fuck it and mean it.

At one point in time when I used to work third shift I couldn't get sleep at all because I had recurring nightmares about Zombies or the Apocalypse, this was around the same time Walking Dead came out and I didn't like the show. The issue stemmed from starting thirds, being nervous about a lot of things and my brain decided to cope with it like an asshole. I would even wake up dreadfully sick to my stomach, severe pains like a boulder in my gut.

[Deleted]

These aren't really night terrors, they're nightmares. Night terrors are when you wake up but are still affected by sleep paralysis. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror)

Nightmares are caused by your worries and doubts. Is there a new source of stress in your life? Or some change in your routine?

Night Terrors can occur without Sleep Paralysis, but both of the conditions share a similar route cause in the brain not fully waking after a dream.

OT: Try sleeping during the day if you can, that helps me when I get nightmares. Try changing your sleeping position, I used to sleep supine (face up), like most people do, started to get sleep paralysis and night terrors from doing it, changed to sleeping prone (face down), and it cut occurences from nearly every night to once or twice a month.

If you think its a psychological thing, keep thinking about it, after you've woken up, write down what you can remember about the dream, and keep reading it, it'll help your subconcious work through whatever is causing the nightmares.

Another thing to note, if your seeing phantoms when you wake up from a nightmare, switch on a light and stare into the bulb for a few seconds, or look into the light on a phone for a few seconds, any sharp light for a few seconds will cut it out, it's your retina and your brain confusing itself between the dream and being awake, the light shocks your eye's awake.

[BlueVisor225]

These aren't night terrors, you cannot remember a night terror. You simply wake up from them in a panic without remembering why you did.

However, your nightmares are likely a cause of an innate issue that you're either suppressing during your everyday life, or a cause by a stress that you're not able to mentally cope with.

I do have multiple after effects of Night Terrors, such as rapid heart beat and heavy breathing, I mentioned above that this all occurs during a hour and a half or so,
(pretty much within N-REM sleep stage), and as for remembering it... well I found this shortly before I posted here.

Can't post the link, unfortunately, but its a how stuff works page under dreams.

"Unlike nightmares that occur during REM sleep, night terrors occur during non-REM sleep, usually in the first cycle of the deepest phase of sleep (within the first hour or two of going to bed). Night terrors can last anywhere from five to 20 minutes. People having a night terror are still asleep but may look like they are awake. For example, they may sit up in bed screaming with their eyes wide open. When they actually do wake up, they usually have no memory of the episode (although some people do remember them). Night terrors occur most frequently in children, but adults can also experience them."

I have no flying clue what I look like, do, or say during these things, so that throws out a big portion of the rest of this. If only I would wake up staring at my mom or sister, or frickin somebody. Then maybe I could answer that.

- - - Updated - - -

As for issues in my life, it's been same old grind for a while now and nothing major or important has struck me or anyone else, that I am aware of.
My life is also pretty laidback, when I'm not working I'm burning mags in Halo, Blacklight, and a few Star Wars Titles or cutting my way through mobs in Minecraft, Terraria, and Rogue Legacy, not to mention creating amatuer MC animations, and playing with a virtual keyboard progam. (just to say I don't play the same game all day long. Its usually a shuffle of these and others. (not to mention some of my favorite flash games [: ))