My brother expereinces this ... something I beleive is due to PTSD. he witnessed his father m.urder our mother and I beleive this is a big contributing factor since he realy didn't get professional help for it. He does get therapy for it though When will this air?

My son is almost three years old and he probably has at least 4 or 5 night terrors a week. At first, we couldn't figure out what it was. We had almost taken him to the ER because we couldn't wake him and he just kept trying to hit us like we were monsters or something trying to get him. It is very scary. You are pretty much helpless. The books and our doctors just say to leave him alone and make sure he is out of danger. He doesn't really nap now and they say that can be causing it to. He used to love him bedtime, but now he fights us about going to sleep. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I am so happy that you are doing this show about night terror. I have suffered with night terror since 1982. Some nights are worse than others and sometimes I do wake up. Confused; terrified and shaking. Trying to make sense of what is going on. Is this really true and happening? Can I make it stop? Wait it might be a dream? But how do I know for sure? My worst night terrors are when I think the building is falling down. I am watching as pieces of the room are being demolished and I am so frightened. Then I slowly waken and still can believe that I am safe and sometimes say to my husband that we should leave just in case. I start getting dress and my husband is trying to assure me that we are okay. I slowly come to my senses and go back to sleep, quickly. I will be watching your show and hoping for some kind of help.

Thank you.
Cynthia
Victoria, BC

I suffered from Night Terrors from my toddler years until my 40's. My dreams were always in the room where I was sleeping and occured about 1 hour after I would fall asleep (or went back to sleep). As a kid, the worst was that the rug was covered with snakes and the wrinkles in the bedspread became snakes crawling over my body. I've been found pouring orange juice over my head, running down hotel hallways, and running out of the house in the middle of the night. I've woken up to find every wall vacant of art, and the pieces in a closet where I had moved them for safe keeping. I've sworn that feral cats were in bed with me to the point of calling hotel security to investigate. One thing I discovered was that night terrors occured more often in warm rooms where I got hot. So I always tried to sleep in a cool room with no socks, leggings or heavy blankets. However this one time, I did not abide by my own rules. As you probably have discerned I traveled a lot. I was 43 years old on a business trip on the Big Island of Hawaii, the weather was lovely so I turned off the AC and opened the slider to my lanai. That night I dreamt that "I was asleep in the hotel room's bed, someone was knocking on the hotel room door, I got up and answered the door. A man delivered a package which I didn't want, I was angry so I threw it against the wall and got back in bed. The package hit the wall hard and broke open letting out a long red snake. The snake came up on the bed and was trying to bite me so I ran out onto the lanai and closed the screen door. But the snake was biting through the screen, so I climbed over the lanai railing in an attempt to escape the snake." JUST then something in my mind woke me to find myself dangling 10 stories above the ground. I truly endangerd my life while I was in a dream state. I was so disturbed... this time the night terror was not something to joke about the next day! The doctors had always told me that I would never do anything truly "stupid"... they were wrong. However, this experience scared me to the cure. I do not recall ever having a night terror again. It's been about 7 years! I pray for every one who experiences these horrible dreams. I hope my advise helps... stay COOL!

I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you are featuring night terrors. My 30-year old husband wakes up screaming and kicking about once a month, terrified for his life because either a snake or a spider is trying to attack him. I used to try and wake him up and re-assure him everything was okay, but then in the morning, when I'd tell him what happened, he wouldn't even remember. So now, when my husband wakes up screaming and kicking, instead of consoling him, I shake him and yell at him until he wakes up. It feels horrible and my heart leaps into my mouth and I never can fall back asleep, fearing he'll do it again. He always falls back asleep immediately, and only half the time remembers what happens, even if I thought I woke him up. We have tried to investigate this problem, but have found nothing. Because he doesn't really know he does it, unfortunatley he's not very keen on fixing it. However, for me, I can't imagine anything else that I want fixed more than this. It is a horrible feeling knowing how scared I am to fall asleep next to my own husband... please help me!!

So I totally eat in my sleep. It has been something that is very frustrating for me for a long time. One night I ate a whole jar of peanut butter in my sleep...talk about stomach problems the next morning! I am gaining weight on food I don't even get to enjoy. Each morning I wake up hating myself for letting myself do it again. I do not know how I can stop it and am so excited that Dr. Oz is talking about it on the show! It is something that I am very embarressed about and am hoping to find a cure for! Anyone have any suggestions or know anyone who suffers from this as well?

So good that you are doing this show. Thank you.

My son has had severe sleep terrors since he was an infant. On average he had them for an hour a day every day from the time he arrived at our home at 4 months (adoption) until around his fourth birthday. When he was little we could give him Benadryl for naps and bedtime and it reduced the number of sleep terrors but a specialist told us that wouldn't last. The Pediatrician gave us permission to give the Benadryl to our son so he could sleep. We looked on the American Academy of Pediatrics and saw that sometimes sleep terrors can be related with breathing issues due to too large of adenoids. We had a soft tissue xray done on our son and his adenoids were normal. It turns out our son has ADHD, a sleep disorder, and anxiety. He takes Ritilan for the ADHD, melatonin to help him get to sleep and Prozac for anxiety. It seems that his body needs help to stay awake, fall asleep and to relax. He now only has sleep terrors when he has a fever or a cold that blocks his breathing. He is doing much better in school and now that he is five now what a difference for his future. He is awake, focused and relaxed enough to learn now too. We took him to a Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrician, Pediatrician, many therapists including having OT and speech (hearing issue that has been resolved) and a Pediatric Psychiatrist. We plan to do a sleep study when our son can tolerate the test better. Prozac and our son getting older may help him with being able to do the sleep study.
Here are a few things we do in addition to his medications: his room is cool, he wears very light clothing to bed, we keep a very strict wake up and bedtime schedule for him, and he listens to music when falling to sleep.

I have heard of people waking up their child a few hours after they go to bed which may help for some. We haven't done this with my son because when he does wake up it is very difficult to get him back to sleep and lack of sleep can increase the chances he will have a sleep terror.

Thank you again for raising awareness and working to get people to find the help they need.
I am not giving my name nor child's name to protect his privacy.

One should also seriously consider past life trauma.....

My mother is 71 years old and I believe she has Night Terrors. She contributes her dreams and sleep walker to being a battered wife. I must admit as a daughter I saw my dad beat my mother frequently. She can have a night terror episode when she is exhausted or stressed. She will walk, scream, curse and sometimes act frighten. She talks about dark figures grabbing her and snakes. She once walked with a bat in her hand. She has never hurted anyone. I have six sisters and we have tried to convince her to get help. She went to a doctor once and he wanted to give her medication and she refused. We just try not let her get stress and exhausted. I wish she would particpate in a group with others who has these same experiences.

My comment is to the discussion referencing the lady who cried all the time. From personal experience I thought she might have her serotonin levels checked and possibly try a serotonin uptake of some sort. Some foods that help improve serotonin levels are salmon and turkey; and supplements like 5-Htp, or a drug like Zoloft. What are your comments on these options Dr. OZ?

I've have night terror since I was a kid. (I am now in my 30's) It was happening almost every night. I went to a doctor and he put me on a drug called Topamax and it's changed my life. I've been on it for about 2 years and I've had very few night terrors. I would highly suggest speaking to your doctor about it.

Hi Miss May---- Any chance that you take the sleeping "AID" Ambien? ( really don't consider Ambien an "AID" any longer. I was addicted to Ambien, and while I was on it, I got out of bed unknowingly, and I cooked and consumed so much food, and gained a lot of weight. In the morning, I didn't remember any of it, unless something would spark the memory, like food that fell on the floor was not cleaned up, dirty dishes in the sink that I knew were not there when I went to bed, and.... food IN my bed when I woke up. My husband said he would ask me what I was doing when I would be sitting up in bed, in the dark, eating, and I would answer him, fall a sleep while eating, and he would go to take the food from me, and I would wake up and INSIST that I NEEDED it. Again, I wouldn't know that happened until he told me. Just wondering if you are on any meds when you get up and eat like that. I am now struggling to take off one pound at a time, and I will never take Ambien again!

I am SOOOOOOO excited to hear about this show! Just saw the promo for it on TV, and I won't be able to catch it this afternoon, but I will definitely be taping it. I scream in my sleep, walk, talk, eat, and so on. I wonder what is happening in my brain that even I do not know about. I have horrific nightmares at least 3 times a week. I had eaten a lot while on AMBIEN, and I didn't know what I was doing because it gives you temporary amnesia, but when I am not taking anything, I still have the nightmares, and sleepwalk, etc. AMBIEN helped me to get to sleep, but it was addicting and I needed to have it, and in higher doses at times. Since I am completely off of the Ambien, I had to go through withdrawal and that included being awake for days in a row. This past time I was awake for just short of FOUR days. When I told my family, they said that I couldn't be right, that I HAD to sleep some of that time, and my husband said no, she really could not fall a sleep at all. The first two days were not too bad, I was awake and alert. By the third day, my body was so exhausted and I just couldn't function. I felt like if I would die, that is okay with me. It had to be better than this life I was having. I was not on the AMBIEN when I went running into the kitchen one morning in a T-shirt and panties, yelling that our cat, Bert was stuck in the heat duct, and my sister and her husband were visiting and when I woke up, felt like a dumb fool. Nor all the times I ate during the night, or even called the dentist's office to leave them messages, and I didn't know I did it until I would go in for my appointments and they would say they enjoyed this message, or that. I am so hoping that Dr. Oz gives me some insight as to what is happening with me that I do these things in my "sleep". I get worried some times, thinking it must be a brain tumor or split personalities, and that I might actually go outside and get lost in my sleep, or drive and hurt someone! I am going to be in the doctor's office when the show is on, and he has TV's in every room for you to watch if you want, so it would be great to be sitting there and having a lightbulb moment that I can share with the doctor! THANKS OPRAH and DR. OZ for doing this show!

I thought the show was interesting. When it started, I was busy changing my six month old daughter's diaper (+AGAIN!+ I had just changed it no more than five minutes prior; I think she does it to spite me; At least we use cloth) and my husband and I were kinda paying attention. I didn't think to turn +Monk+ on until 4:18, eh. Anyway, The other doctor (whom I guess doesn't get to go on stage because he's not Dr. Oz; Even when Dr. Roisen is on, he's not on stage) commented that sleep eating is a side effect of the sleeping pills. I've heard that, somewhere else, too. I also heard recently on one of the network morning shows (probably +Today+ since that's the one I have on the most) that because people are sleeping less, the pills are being prescribed more. (I wouldn't be surprised, from what I've read about prescription drugs and advertising that people are just asking for them, too.) On a sidenote since I lost my chain of thought (I had to change another diaper and my husband and I have been talking) I noticed that most of the food that the people were eating, even at home, were things that Dr. Oz has basically spoken out against. I commented on the yucky foods to my husband, and he agreed. (He is not even vegetarian and while he eats fairly good overall, does eat junky on occasion.) Also, in connection to yesterday's show with Suze Ormon (whom I thought had a holier-than-thou attitude), I noticed that Oprah had on the really overpriced designer shoes with the red soles. (I saw that show.) Thank you, but I'll stick with Payless. I can get shoes for less than $10 and they are likely not leather, either.

Great show as always. I noted that Dr. Oz said he keeps notes by his bed when he thinks of things while trying to get to sleep. I have done the same thing for years and have discovered some ways that help me. One is I changed my blinds in my bedroom to blockout blinds (I found that the honeycomb blockouts work well for me. A friend of mine installed them for me and said it looked as dark as a bomb shelter, which is exactly what I wanted.) I cover my digital alarm clock so I will not see the light from it. I keep a Nite-Note by my bed. When I write something down that I remembered I had to do, I am able to forget about it because I know I will see it in the morning and can take care of the issue at that time. Specifically, this product is called, "Nite-Note." It is well-designed to be held in one hand, has lined cards included, and has a pen attached to it which lights the writing area when the pen is removed and darkens when the pen is returned to its hole. I also take sublingual melatonin to help me get to sleep when I am unable to do so, otherwise. I know this does not help night terrors, but it might help those who just cannot get to sleep initially. Carol