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Anonymous

I thought I was going crazy until I found this and other articles online. I am an RN and had never heard of this before. I am a 35 year old female and, for the past year or so, I've had this occur on 5 or 6 different occasions. Once it happened twice in one night. I can only describe it as an extremely loud, singular gunshot or firecracker going off. It always occurs just as I'm falling asleep. I awaken suddenly with a full body jolt similar to a hypnic jerk, but it feels more in response to the noise itself. The odd thing is that, even after the first episode, I was, and am always, immediately aware that the sound is not of external origin; that it was an auditory hallucination. That realization in and of itself is quite frightening; not to mention the experience of being so startled as you are at the point when you are most relaxed and about to transition into sleep. I feel an immediate pulse of adrenaline, accompanied by anxiety, muscle tension, and increased heart rate and breathing. I also get quite angry because now I have to try to get myself relaxed enough again to try to sleep. I've had insomnia since infancy; difficulty both falling and staying asleep. I also have a history of RLS, though episodes have become much less frequent. I also experience a hypnic jerk almost every night. I'm definitely prone to feeling stressed. I can't really remember whether or not I was experiencing a higher level of stress when I first started to have these episodes; though, I will say that it is likely. Thankfully, these episodes have been few and far between because it is quite distressing to say the least. I'm glad I found this is, so far, considered benign and not singular to me. And, more importantly, that I am not crazy!

May 7, 2015 - 5:24am

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