Exploding Head Syndrome
Spinal Tap drummer spoof.
Winning the award for most dramatic medical condition name ever, exploding head syndrome is real, but combustive it’s not. (Simmer down, Spinal Tap fans.) Exploding head syndrome is rather like really, really obnoxious tinnitus. Upon retiring for the evening, sufferers experience (drumroll please)…an incredibly loud noise inside their skulls. There is no cure, but reducing stress appears to help in many cases.
Exploding head syndrome is sort of a tease of a name, isn’t it? Some of the most brutal (takotsubo cardiomyopathy – death by broken heart), bizarre (Stendhal Syndrome – illness at the sight of great art), and lethal (AIDS) conditions pale in descriptive comparison. Como se llama nombre drama?
- via Bertalan
hi… i thought it was just me, finally-totally losing my mind!
i’m 27 and the first episode i can remember was 3-4 years ago. one night i was falling asleep outside on a hammock, then i heard a bell that got louder and almost made me deaf so i couldn’t hear anything related to the outside world, complete silence!!! than there was a hiss-like deep sound that scared the hell out of me so i jumped from the hammock. it was scary also because i was sleeping in the forest and it was extremely dark. i think the next one occured months after this.
i did not care at first since i cannot easily fall asleep or wake up as long as i can remember; and i am very fond of my long weird continuous dreams. (nightmares rarely and scary as much!) but i have found out that it usually happens when there is not much sound around. (i can even say that there was silence and a strong sense of relief beforehand.)
i am a musician and i was thinking being exposed to very loud music might be triggering these episodes.
the creepy thing is that the sounds, i mean the NOISE is louder than your ears can take it! and i think the terror following this is your brain recognizing that your ears can’t take it, so there must be an extraordinary adrenaline rush. i don’t remember seeing flashlights or visions, (except some other times i experienced this kind of hallucinogenic flash and light bombs.) mine is simply SOUND WAVES or VERY HIGH FREQUENCIES. no pain. i never experienced the same kind of noise though. they are always changing. three i can remember well, one is a bell, one is a scream and one is like an explosion; humanlike noises i also heard and try not to think about it. like a synthesis of sounds but all of them have a sudden impact on you, they come from out of nowhere and they tend to get really really loud in less than a second or maybe 2!
i think trying to tell our brains that it is creating the noise itself, might be a beginning. but i know for sure they are getting more frequent.
I thank everyone for their comments. The first time this happened to me yesterday I thought I was going to die. The loudest gunshot I ever heard went off inside my head. I was in bed and just falling asleep. Today I had 6 more episodes, each one worse than the other, all when I was awake. I called my husband in from the workshop and explained the symptoms. He went to the computer and found the EHS. What has really peaked my interest is the references to stress and extreme fatigue. I lost my mother last year and lost my big sister last Thursday. Dealing with my mother’s estate and losing one of my “champions” in life has been very stressful indeed. I also have medical problems that keep me from sleeping any more than a few hours at a time without awakening, including tinnitus. If I am really tired I force myself back to bed and usually lie there for a half hour, or more, before going back to sleep.
After an hour I usually get up and turn on the computer, sometimes for hours at a time. If this keeps up I am going to have to re-think some of my activities and indulge in a less stressful way of life.
Again, thank you for your comments. I have less anxiety now.
Just found this site after my second or third experience of EHS. The first time it happened it gave me a great fright. I heard someone bang the wall just behind my head, like with a hammer or even a gunshot (so I thought), but living alone it didn’t make sense. So when I woke up I googled head, bang, noise etc and found Exploding Head Syndrome. I laughed so much that I went back to sleep easily.
Tonight it happened again just as I was dozing off This time the noise wasn’t quite as loud, but again there was a bang that I thought was right behind my head.
I’m not overtired, overstressed or overweight (or religious). I have suffered tinnitus for years on and off if that makes any difference. Oh, and I’ve had what I think is sleep paralysis on the odd occasion based on the desciptions here (not recently however).
Thanks for the opportunity to post – it’s good to know there are other exploding heads in the world. I expect it’s not a rare condition at all, it’s just that no-one talks about it to a doctor or medical researcher.
Now I have to try to get back to sleep. No more exploding heads tonight, let’s hope = lol.
Wow! I’m so glad to find that others have experienced this to. However, I’ve been lucky to only experience this once. I was at the movies with hubby when all of a sudden I heard a high-pitched noise traveling from the left side of my brain to the right. As it reached a full circle I heard a loud pop with a bright flash. It scared the crap out of me. Everyone in the theatre was quietly watching the movie and I looked over at my husband to see if he’d heard what I just heard. Of course he didn’t. I thought I was about to or was having an aneurysm. It’s great to hear that its not dangerous. Phheeewww!!
Hi BeachLady and welcome to “the club”. What you described sounds like EHS, however, you were AWAKE.
Has anyone else here experienced this awake?
Most of my episodes (2 today) have been while I was awake. A few while I was drifting to sleep. I have no notice that it is going to happen, just booooom. I was okay for about ten days but today they started again.
Yes, Val. I guess we are a “special club”, dubious as it is.
I have experienced this, but not in my sleep technically (more on that in a minute). For me, the explosion comes without warning and is painless. Afterwards, I experience a crinkling sensation in my head followed by a very tranquil, peaceful feeling. I may be one of the few who looks forward to the experience.
Three years ago, I took an Art of Living Course that teaches a type of meditative breathing that involves some hyperventilation. After you’re done with the exercise, you’re encouraged to lay down for a few minutes and leave your mind to wander. The exercises induce a sleep-like experience.
I’ve been doing these breathing exercises on and off since then and about one year ago I heard this explosion like a nuke. It’s happened irregularly about five times since then, usually, but not always, sounding like a bomb. It only happens after I perform these exercises.
Perhaps the explosion occurs as a byproduct of a mental process of clearing out stress?
I thought I was the only one having this problem. I have talked to my medical doctor and my psychologist, thinking that it might be the onset of schizophrenia. Tonight, I was at a party and a woman I was speaking to said she had this sleeping disorder named Exploding Head Syndrome. When she described it, I was shocked and relieved to find someone else has it too! I am very excited to find out that I am NOT going crazy. I have had it for the past 5-6 years and I agree with the theory that it might have to do with stress.
I also occasionally have the problem of jerking awake while I’m drifting off to sleep. My EHS is an explosion which wakes me up as fast as the jerking awake. I am a very heavy sleeper and do not usually consciously wake during the night, although I do kick and hit my partner while I’m asleep and wake up with the craziest bed head imaginable.
I am seriously thinking about having a sleep study performed to see what I can do to alleviate my problems.
Please e-mail me at erinsuzy@yahoo.com and let me know what works for everyone else.
I have experienced this for about a year now, always during my sleep, it wakes me up, the sound is very loud, like firecracker, eletrical spark or a whip snapping. I could always tell that it was inside my head (very scary). I can “hear” it again maybe for 3 to 5 more times after it wakes me up, like every 6 seconds or so, I can feel the build up coming for the next one, its intensity diminishes until it goes away. Does it sound like EHS?
Wow, I wonder if the person that experiences extreme pain is not suffering from a form of migraines, instead. I started getting “exploding head syndrome” long before I knew what it was. I’m glad to hear that these explosive noises aren’t only happening inside of my head. I figured it was just a weird form of dreaming. It shouldn’t be accompanied by pain normally, that’s why I wonder about the earlier post-er. Sometimes I also hear alarms or, recently, the ring of a phone we don’t have in the house.
I’m not sure why they claim that it’s accompanied by fear, because it never frightened me. Originally I thought the noise was happening outside somewhere, so would lay there and wait to see if any other noises would follow. The only fright seemed to be that I often thought it was a gunshot that had caused me to wake up.
Oh, “Beachlady”, I get the noise in one ear that sounds like the high pitched noise they test hearing with, and then it travels across to the other ear, while the original ear gets the sensation of temporarily closing off or sealing. I figured this was tinnitus, or a result of it. Every time it happens, I always wish it was the beginning of some kind of revelation, like I’m suddenly going to get information others don’t. Or I’m suddenly going to communicate with aliens. No such luck.
Funny how with the internet all these “syndromes” have names.
I have experienced this maybe ten times over the last three years. It always happens as I am about to fall asleep. The first times it felt as if someone had hit my head with a shovel. Now I would rather describe it has a ballon popping inside my head very loudly. It makes my body jerk, I find myself fully awake after such episodes and a bit scared.
I also experience restless legs (electrical shocks in the legs which keep me from falling asleep) very often. Annoyingly, it always happens when I feel very tired and prevents me from sleeping.
The explosion happened last night again and I thought I would look it up online. Glad to see a few people are suffering from the same symptoms. It is never painful, just very intense and frightening.
Also, for me this has always been a internal feeling, it does not seem to be linked to hearing and I do not have any visions of bright lights (flash) at the same time. Just the explosion inside my head.
I think it must be linked to an electrical discharge in the brain and thus must be nerves related.
Thank goodness I am not alone! I have described to numerous doctors what seems to me as my head exploding during the night. It sometimes happens when I am falling asleep and sometimes when I have been asleep for hours. It makes me nervous to fall back asleep as I think I will die in my sleep (it feels as I have had a brain aneurysm). Now I know that it is nothing to worry about and I am not the only one who has it! It sometimes happens several times a night or I will not have it for months. I just upped my dosage of anti-depressants and am getting them more frequently. Could this be related? I will relax somewhat about it now that I finally know what this is!!!!
I have had this since the late 60’s. It first came on after I had my first baby. Since then, in about the 1980’s, I read a small article in one of the “trash” newspapers and was so excited to finally find something about it (I still have the article in my wallet to this day). They titled the article “The Big Bang”. It said doctors and scientists believe it is caused by an electrical charge coming from the spinal column. It said not to worry because it does not cause strokes or anything else with the brain. I have found that over the years, I have them a lot less frequently now. Back when they first started, I would have them 2 or 3 times a night at least once a week. Now, I have them maybe once or twice a year. In my experience with them, it felt like a sledge hammer came down on my head and was sooooo loud and made me sit straight up in bed – then afraid to go back to sleep. I also experienced pain. So, to those of you who have this, hang in there and I hope time makes them fade for you as it has me.
Pat
I had this in the middle of the day. Only once in my life though. I was sitting there then this crazy snapping electrical jumble noise happened, it also didn’t sound like it came from my ears but from in my brain. No pain or paralysis or anything, just the noise. Scared the heck out of me, it felt like something in my brain just snapped or broke, but it has never happened since.
I was in college at the time, maybe stressed, but definitely no more than I am right now. Strange, but good to know it was nothing.
Wow!! So glad to know I’m not alone! My first episode happen to coincide with a homicide (gunshot to the back of head) in our area. Thought I was psychic! That was along time ago. Now it’s returned. I too am on effexor for 10 + years. And requip. Neither seems to have correlation to “bangs”. Mine can feel like I’ve been struck in the head with a hammer, an actual explosion, or firecracker, a big one! going off. Sometimes associated with light, sometimes not. The other night I actually felt it in my lower back. Enough already. It’s hard enough to sleep as it is!!!
Had two of these experiences for the first time tonight. The first when I was awake, the second as I woke up after about two hours of sleep. I’ve been, not really dieting this week (about four days) but eating only heathy foods. That is, until about 11pm this evening when I broke down and ate a lot of snack stuff (cheezits and Christmas cookies). I was indulging at the kitchen counter when I heard what I have to call a very loud, raspy, animal scream or yell. I even looked out the window to see what it might have been, and soon forgot about it, never thinking it could have come from my own head. But after two hours of sleep I sort of half awoke, and, after about 20 secounds just lying there, I heard the exact same noise again. I then realized the earlier noise hadn’t come from outside. No pain, no bright lights, just the loud noise. I was taking Effexor XR for 8 yrs when I recently switched to Pristiq for about three months–but had alot of trouble with it and so have been back on the effexor for 5 weeks now. I’m guessing in my case it’s the effexor and will ask my doctor about it. Thanks!
I’m not sure if this is the same condition, but I couldn’t find anything else about it. As I am going to sleep, I often think of the day and what happened to unwind. However, if I allow these thoughts to creep into the past (childhood), I am rewarded with this short circuit feeling (bang) at the instant of recollection. It only lasts a brief moment, then goes away. This doesn’t work for me on ideas or just remembering that something happened, but the actual visual of say…old houses, places, or people that I haven’t laid eyes on in many years. I can get the explosion by simply visualizing a relative’s house from far away that I haven’t been to in a long time, then thinking myself to walk into the house and look around. Each time I turn a corner or open a door (bang)…then, I remember with detail the way it looked at the time. I always thought that this was just my mind reaching really deep to pull up the data that I was interested in accessing. Kinda like being in storage, instead of on the bookshelf? I can do this whenever I want and it is intense. Does anyone else experience this?
i have had these expierences for about the last 5 years, it only happens when i wake up abruptly from an alarm or a loud noise, then as im falling back asleep it happens for about 5 minutes or so in like 30 second intervals. i know when it is about to happen, i can feel it building up and then BOOM!!!! it is really loud and often very painful! it scared me at first but now i am used to it. this usually only happens when i am sleep deprived, stress does not play much of a role in my case. i would like to find out more about it if anybody can offer any more incite i would appreciate it!
Hi all. I have read just about everything that has been written about EHS. So here is my summery. As we all know we are all individuals so we experience things differently. In saying this we are all very similar. It seems to me as though we are having the same experience but in different ways. Some have buzzing some have whooshing some have explosions and some have bangs. Myself I have bangs and zinging explosions with bright intense light. Im am sure that there are a few reason why EHS is happening to us.
No.1 antidepressants.
No.2 stress.
No.3 fatigue.
No.4. Some kind of electrical release.
No.5 drugs and alcohol.
No.6 depression and anxiety.
No.7 just bad luck and
No.8. This thing we call life is just a trip. I don’t want to get all freaky on everyone but we all know how amazing life is when we think about things ( I mean really think about things) it does our heads in. Im not sure if I enjoy EHS but im sort of glad that I have experienced it because for me its just another amazing thing that life has thrown at me. Im led to believe that EHS it is not harm full to us, if it were we would not be able to write about it I suppose. It may scare some of us. So what im trying to say is this old chest nut “what doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger“. Lets have a laugh about it, if only for the name. Im proud to be apart of this exclusive (or maybe not so exclusive) phenomena. don’t get me wrong though it still scares the hell out of me sometimes. One last thing in reading some of your blogs you have written that you we afraid or embarrassed to let your doctors know about what is happing to you try not to be that’s why they get paid the big $ and information is power im no doctor but if I were I would find this subject very interesting and it may help somebody else. Ok thanks for reading hope we all can sleep well. Stay positive easier said than done. Cheers.
Wow! Antidepressants was #1 on your list? That’s crazy.
I’m definitely not on anything as I’m sure most others aren’t either. Drugs and alcohol is another surprise for me. For the most part, I think it’s just a natural human thing.
I was recently diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I’ve gone strictly low carb in my diet and cut out fiber and not so much water.
I believe during the night, my high blood sugar dropped to low blood sugar, thereby creating “bizarre brain happenings” which I read happens in Richard Bernstein’s Diabetic book.
Guess what? All the zaps stopped!
usually have a drink most nights,so tend to fall asleep fairly easily.Manage to have a good sleep for the first 4 hours.That is around about the time I get my explosion.Has been happening for about 3 to 4 years and probably like most of you it sets your heart going.I used to think it was like having a minor stroke but never had any after effects.I dont get much sleep after it happens as like most people you tend to think I may not survive the next time.I am 57 and fairly healthy.Seems to me going to the doctor would probably be a waste.My theory is the more you worry about it the worse it is going to be.Somethings going to get you in the end.Live your life enjoy every day.Be happy
I was at the Doctors yesterday (Monday 2 Feb 2009) about these explosions in the head. I get them sitting at my PC, watching TV, in bed as I fall asleep. I thought these “happenings” were connected to either my 42 years of prelonged alcohol abuse (have stopped completely now for almost 5 years) or it might have been a side effect of my medication – Duloxetine. My GP had never heard of a side effect like this associated with anti-depressants and assured me that it had nothing to do with my brain. I thought that it might be as the “explosions” appear to be in my head. Also I get waves almost transparent of what I can only describe as moving light. It goes on for 20 minutes, but during that time I can not focus properly. My GP says it could be what happens at the start of a migraine haedache but he was not sure. I do not have a headache. So – reading all these articles in this forum is a god send. To know that other folk have this affliction is calming.
Tony, Your “moving light” is called an Ocular Migraine. Some people get the headaches after and some don’t. I’ve had these all my life w/o headache. My eye doc was not concerned.
Hi Val
Thanks 4 the info. Real good to put a label on it and to understand it a bit better.
Regards
Tony
Hi Tony,
the visual ting you get is shown here , the image isn’t perfect but it’s close to what I get. When I get one the pattern is white, not coloured like this one- http://www.migraine-aura.org/content/e27891/index_en.html
It’s a visual migraine, and it is common for people to get these without the headache, if you’re gonna get migraines then like me, consider yourself lucky they’re just visual ones.
I see a recurrent theme in a lot of these posts, I suffer from anxiety and get head explosions when I am feeling low, your medication suggests you also suffer from anxiety or depression I wonder if there’s a connection?
Hi Joesker
I did a reply to you but it did not go through as I had omitted some info – anyway, if it arrives good
Thanks 4 taking time & trouble to reply. You helped put my “problem” in perspective.
Cheers
Tony
I have a variation of this, but prior to my experiences I’ve suffered sleep paralysis which involves auditory hallucinations and inability to move upon awaking. Well here lately I also get an incredibly loud noise right as I wake up that keeps changing – it manifests as either a gunshot type effect, the sound of someone knocking on my door really fast and hard, rattling of a door, an object falling on the ground hard, or a voice yelling something inaudible for a split second. Both conditions scare the crap out of me sometimes but after so many times it gets easier to tell yourself it’s alright. God forbid if someone actually fired a gun. lol
myspace.com/tidalspiral If anyone wants to talk about their experiences, it helps me to talk about it.
William,
This was the first comment I read that didn’t really seem to be connected with an explosive sound. I have never thought to check out my symptoms before on the internet and am amazed at finding EHS. Mine started about 15 years ago as the doorbell ringing in the middle of the night. I would get up and check the door and, of course, no one was there. I finally decided it was all in my head. This continued for maybe 6-9 months and I got used to it. Then sometime later, it was the phone ringing. I’d pick up the phone and caller id would be blank. However, since it was night, it kinda creeped me out! Last week, it returned as someone knocking at the front door. It has happened twice now and, of course no one is there. Since my dog doesn’t wake, it must be EHS again. The freaky thing is, these are all methods of how people contact each other. I don’t want to read too much into this, tho!
Are there many others who hear these kinds of distinct sounds??
At least I know this is not only happening to me!
As others have said, I was relieved to find this website and to learn that that many others experience EHS. As best as I can remember, my first explosion was 12 years ago while sitting at my computer. I’ve had about 7 others over the years, but the majority of mine are while awake and at the computer. I can recall two during my sleep, and my family doctor thought it was a sleep apnea, so we let it go at that.
It is terrifying, and I also worried that I may have had a stroke, but when everything goes back to normal so quickly, it’s a relief. My heart also races faster than I can ever recall it racing at any time. I just assumed it was because the experience is so frightening.
Just before Christmas this year I was in the mall shopping when I had a huge explosion in my head, and my vision blurred to the point of only seeing shadows of black and white. It only lasted a few seconds, but that sent me to my family doctor, who thought the blurred vision may be tied to hypoglycemia (I’ve never been diagnosed with that, however). Then a couple of weeks later, I awoke one morning and opened my eyes to see everything in the room an electric green color, and the black socks on my feet, electric blue.
Went to a neurologist (I am lucky to have found a wonderful and wise doctor), and he mentioned EHS as a first guess (before tests). I looked for info on the web and found this site and others, and felt such a relief in learning that nothing serious is happening.
I have never used drugs, never smoked, and don’t drink, but I have had significant radiation to my head (back and front) from the ears down which has caused some problems with feeling discomfort/pressure at the base of my neck (not a headache). And, the EHS incidents started after the radiation. So possibly some head trauma is involved in what causes these incidents.
May God bless everyone here, and also those out there who are suffering without knowing they’ll be okay.
Gloria, What else did your neurologist have to say about EHS?? Did s/he know what causes it??
Mine have COMPLETELY stopped. And, for me, I just know that they were glucose-related. I’ve cut out all carbs, sugars, etc. and all my weird sleep incidents stopped. Thank God!!
Hi, Val, when my neurologist first offered the EHS possiblity, he said he had learned of it but had never diagnosed anyone with it. He said it was very rare. After I had a name to go with the symptoms I searched around on the Net and found this site and a couple of others where people were commenting. I realized it wasn’t as rare as thought, but that people just don’t talk about it. My BFF said she also has it, but just never shared the frightening details with anyone.
After my MRI and MRA, at my next Dr. appt. I mentioned this site to him, saying that it may not be as rare as thought. He was very interested in reading the comments, so I gave him the link to this site and a couple of others where EHS suffers were commenting.
My tests show nothing unusual, (praise God!).
Val, I’m really interested in your comment regarding having your EHS stop after controlling glucose. Wouldn’t it be great if my Doctor reads these comments and winds up solving this?
Take care,
Gloria
Gloria, Read my above post dated August 10, 2008, where I was eating low-carb and noticed they stopped there, too. Feel free to email me at valschickens at peoplepc dot com!
I’ve had symptoms of exploding head syndrome for about 8 years.
I don’t take any drugs.
I think they may have something to do do energy levels in the body in those with a tendency to have this particular syndrome.
I have noticed that if I do a lot of exercise that they happen with more intensity.
About a year ago I went on a water fast for a month. My physical energy was very low and I was not experiencing EHS then or for months afterwards.
Mine started post-menopause; at the very end of menopause. I wonder if there is any connection?
I am so glad to hear that I’m not alone with this. For me it started at age 19, I am now 33 and although frequency has diminished the force exumed has not. This always happens to me when I lay down to try to sleep, usually with no avail. It has been a few months since my last episode, but the last time it happened about 15 times in one night with each more intense than the last. I can usually feel it coming on, a build up it you will like a spring being winded up then all of a sudden BOOM it releases like a bomb inside my head. It always feels like someone hit me in the head with a bat. It is always the same acompanied with a bright flash of white light. Each and every time I have a great deal of pain with this. It is brief and very short lived usually for just a second or two. I also feel like my body, not just my extremities, but my heart and my lungs all are paralized for that brief moment. It is very frightening especially when i have multiple episodes which are usually only a few seconds to a few minutes apart.
I don’t drink, drugs, no psychotropics, no nothing,
I do also have leg shakes and tremors, RLS, and I have carpul tunnell in both hands.
I have never spoke with my physician about this from fear of being thought of as CRAZY. My wife already thinks that I am crazy because of this.
All I know is I pray for the day that they have a cure, or that this goes away. Each night as I lay in bed trying to sleep I lay there in fear that I will have another of these episodes.
Thank you all that have posted on this. You have all been very helpful to me.
God Bless. And good luck to you all!
Wow, lotsa comments. My experience is like Miriam’s, not so much one bang but more like someone is rhythmically hammering outside my house, then I realize the sound is inside my own head, THEN comes pain until I sit up. The pain takes a few minutes to go away. I think mine is related to a shift in blood pressure, and I pretty much have to get up for a while. This happens every night (5+yrs), after about 2 hrs of sleep.I have sleep apnea, fibromyalgia and a host of other problems, most related to chronic pain. The one time I didn’t have it was last year while in Flagstaff a few days, but had it in Hawaii as well as here in Illinois. So maybe allergens play a part too. I do get the zaps and flashes of light when falling asleep and it almost seems like a video rewinding, as if my eyes are downloading all the images I saw during the day,especially what I read. If anyone else has this rhythmic hammering instead of just the one loud bang, please post because my Drs. don’t have a clue. Since it is rhythmic and ongoing for me, I’ve worried about a clogged artery but can’t take the dye they use to test in EEG or Cat scan or whichever test it was I took.
Wow cannot believe so many people have this, i thought i was the only one. I have these every now and then out of the blue always when im in bed at the start of sleep or slipping into a sleep and i hear an extremely loud bang followed by a bright white flash of light feels like my head just exploded or i suffered some sort of brain seizure or somethig similar,also by body jolts .when this happens i realize it has happened to me again but i usually fall to sleep straight after. I had it last night 8/03/09 . ive had this happen to me off and on for many years im 35 years old , did not realize this thing had a name to it .I found this site and many others after googling head bang in the search engine . after reading all your comments i feel much more relieved about this so called E H D.
I get this sometimes.. not on a regular basis.
I think it might be stress related.. but I am also a super easy-going, really chill dude…
I’m 26. Perfect health. (Some stress in my life recently.)
Happened last night.. Twice, just as I was falling asleep:
electric spark sound quickly followed by a big explosion in my head that happens at the same time as the bright white light flash, then a sudden spasm in my entire body causing it to jump up in bed, and abruptly waking up, terrified.
all within one second.
tried to fall asleep, and it happened again.
Really weird. I blinked a few times to make sure I didn’t go blind.. lol
I’ve just decided that this must be what I have. I finally got fed up with it and scheduled an appointment to try and get some answers. It usually happens on nights I have to force myself to sleep and it feels like I get hit in the head with a bat (no pain-just alot of pressure), there is a big flash of light, I hear a crackling noise (like electricity) and then I wake up in a panic scared to death to go back to sleep. I’m pretty sure that I have sleep apnea which is causing me to not get enough sleep and so maybe my body is stressed but I just haven’t noticed. I’ve heard lots of people suffer from sleep apnea and don’t even realize it. I think anyone that is having EHS symptoms needs to get a sleep study done.
It sounds like I have pretty much the same thing. I started having muffled hearing about 8 months ago and then about a month ago began the constant ringing in that ear. For about the past month I’ve gone to bed and have as I was lying there trying to go to sleep I would notice that the ringing would start to diminish and then all of the sudden without warning I would have that loud sound that was a cross between a whip snapping and a gunshot. This happens about 3 to 4 times a night. Its very startling and I have begun dreading having to go to bed wondering when this will start up. I also notice that at night when it is quiet I am much more acute to different noise levels and some just go right thru my skin. Nerves I guess but even tho CT scan has been normal it makes me wonder why it started and if this is related to the tinnitus and also what can be done to stop these episodes.
Margaret Beach….??
I love it. I’ve had this since i was younger than 10, only sometimes does it scare me when it’s really loud, at these times i just open my eyes to stop it
I also get alot of music, like loud orchestural music (so its kinda fun for me heheh) sometimes its just one instrument, mostly piano playing a tune i’ve never heard before.
After I’ve had it once that night and it stops, I can force the sounds to come back if i try. I havn’t experienced it for months now though, sadly.
i too have suffered with this for the last 2 years, it started for me when i was pregnant with my youngest daughter.
the first episode was just as i was falling asleep i heard a voice shout loudly in my right ear ‘hello’ really sarcastically, i nearly fell out of bed lol, but it wasn’t funny at the time, i started to get this happening regular, and then all of a sudden the voice stopped, but then the loud explosion started instead, talk about ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’ this was even worse, it was like a bomb going off inside my head, its like an electrical current, and only way i can describe it is a terrifying ‘Zzzzzz’ sound, as soon as i hear the sound i get a flash of light across my eyes, im then left feeling short of breath and my heart races, im absolutelt petrified for about 2 minutes till i calm myself down, sometimes my face tingles after too. they always happen as i am relaxed and just about to fall asleep, i don’t get them every night and sometimes can go weeks or months inbetween, and then they start again.
i’ve told my gp today, as until now i was too scared to tell anyone as thought they would think i was going cuckoo! but since i found this site and that im not alone, i felt more confident to tell her, she has never heard of it and says she will research it and let me know what she thinks next time i go, im having other treatment so will be going back soon.
does anyone else suffer with migraines, dizzy spells, weird vision occasionally? just wondered if they were connected, i used to get such bad migraines that i would go into like a coma, i couldn’t be woken up by sounds, and im normally a light sleeper, i would have to be shook awake.
im a busy mum of 3 children, 2 under the age of 4 yrs, so i don’t get alot of sleep and i don’t ever really relax, so i guess that may have something to do with it.
xxx
ok so last night was my worst ever episode, i’d wrote on here yesterday but not thought about it since then, but was worried and stressed over other issues, i went to sleep ok but my daughter came in at 3am and woke me up, she got into bed with us and i turned back on my right side to go to sleep, suddenly i heard a loud ‘wow’ like someone was in the room shouting it in like a loud whisper, i lifted my head up to hear where it was coming from, and it still continued, ‘wow, wow, wow’ then silence, then it would start again, it had like an echo to it, and i thought it was outside as i live on a busy main road but, there was no traffic at that time in the morning, and it was so eerily quiet outside, but as it was so loud i thought it was on the bay window ledge thats right outside my window from downstairs.
i was petrified, i was shaking and my heart was racing, i could hardly breathe, i crept to the window but no-one was outside, i checked outside my room and nothing, silence, i got back into bed, and laid down, it started again, i listened to check it wasn’t either of my daughters, but i could hear their breathing was normal, and my partner was breathing normal inbetween all this going on!! eventually it just stopped, but i couldn’t sleep, i was about half an hour before i calmed down enough to go back to sleep, im still scared now though, i’ve had episodes before that frightened me but not gone on for this long before, im frightened and worried something is wrong with me, id not been this scared to go to sleep before but now im dreading tonight, any advice or help would be great!!
thanks xxx
I’ve had two episodes while falling asleep. First was a 3/4 seconds loud drone and second was loud white noise.
Had an interesting event while awake at my work place. I had a strong feeling of being trapped and then I began to hear a loud pure tone. This was accompanied by pain and my vision began to fade.
Also the phone next to me malfuntioned (gave out a tone anf void message). This tone from the phone actually ended the event. Given the timing of the phone malfunction I believe it was a direct result of the EHS event.
I think electrical goings on in my brain may have produced a magnetic field or other EM event which interacted with the phone.
I’ve also had episodes of sleep paralysis which predate the EHS by decades.
Perhaps some of you guys could keep a compass next to your bed and next time somthing like this happens check to see if the needle moved.
ok maybe this now makes since, lol
I’ve always had some noise in my head, would hear a storm before it even was close hear the wind before was close etc., i would also hear someone say my name or hello or very loud knocking like on a door.
A few months ago I developed a pressure about 2 inches above my ear on my right side this lasted for over a month and never went away. Nothing i took for pain helped. It was like someone was pressing hard on my head and would not let go, this had me worried but one night i lay down to sleep and just before i feel asleep(was laying on my right side) there was a very loud pop like a balloon popping and a wetness feeling inside my head, then the bright light then my body was like a large tuning fork the vibration from head to toe and in my teeth, my body felt like when you hit your funny bone. Scaried me bad and afterward my body was very sentisive at the tips of fingers and toes for days.
I have also had what i call firecrackers behind my eyes and a pain like stinging along with the flash of light. Also the right side of my head and face go numb alot.
My doctor just looks at me and says you have a mirgraine. I’ve had those and they leave me sick and they hurt bad. This was no headache lol
Sorry about the spelling lol
Still getting these and getting desperate for a cause! Beaumont Hospital sleep study didn’t pick it up, but revealed sleep apnea, so maybe the loss of air to the brain causes them? Anybody else have apnea problems??
Okay…I think I really found the cause of mine, so thought I’d share…
I’m allergic to coffee cream.
Once I omitted that from my daily diet, all the explosions STOPPED.