A few days ago my daughter was in the car with her mother (my ex wife) and fell asleep. She let out a scream and when my ex looked back her head was slumped, eyes open, drooling and was unresponsive but seemed in distress. My ex had never seen her do this and called 911 and went off to the hospital. After a bunch of blood tests and a CAT scan my suspicions were confirmed that it was only a night terror. Read More Below...

My experience with night terrors comes from my two daughters and wife. All have or are still suffering from night terrors. Typically what happens is that all of a sudden they become awake and agitated but not aware of anything EXCEPT fear. They sometimes become physically violent when someone tries to comfort them. It can take up to 30 minutes of patting, shaking (gently), cold washcloths to rouse the person out of the state. The first few times you see someone experiencing a night terror is terrifying.

Night terrors are still a bit of a mystery. Lack of consistent, satisfying sleep cycles, stress and fever sometimes predicate a night terror. Often suffers can open their eyes, move about and even interact with their environment. They usually don’t remember the full terror if anything at all.

When a night terror does happen make SURE that the person cannot hurt themselves or others and try to rouse them gently. Remember they may be extremely disoriented when they wake up so a calm gentle hand is needed during and after the Night Terror.

Check out Night Terrors.org and Wikipedia