This is weird
 

Over the last 6 months or so, I've been occasionally having these weird symptoms at night when I'm supposed to be sleeping and am in a half awake/ half asleep state. Usually it's the middle of the night, or early morning, like 3-4 AM. I'll hear a click coming from inside my head. I figure it's in a dream and try to fall back to sleep, and I'll hear the click again a few minutes later. I realize that I'm not actually dreaming, but then there it is again, the click. Sometimes the click is faint. Sometimes it's a little louder. It sounds a little like a rubber band snapping.

The noise is definitely not outside my head, in the room. The room is dead silent. I can literally hear the noise, but it's coming from inside my head. Usually, I'll just fall back asleep again and forget about it. It's happened a handful of times in the last six months or so.

A couple weeks ago, something similar happened, except this time, it wasn't a click. It was a gunshot. Inside my head. Extremely loud. But only one. So after lying there for a while, next to my peacefully sleeping wife, wondering WTF was going on with me, I finally got back to sleep.

The next morning, I Googled the symptoms, hoping I wouldn't find that it was the first stages of some mental illness. Auditory hallucinations. :eek: And to my surprise, I found it immediately. It's really a thing. And it's basically harmless, although some people don't like it and lose sleep worrying about it. And it has a funny name. Exploding head syndrome. Glatt has exploding head syndrome. Weird, huh? Life is a strange trip sometimes.

Fortunately, just knowing what it is, and you're not alone, is the key to coping.

I've had the click occasionally for years. But no boom yet. Guess I'm a slow developer. :blush:

that's weird

Exactly. I was worried I was going crazy. But knowing that it's harmless, I can easily deal with an occasional clicking sound that I hear, but nobody else does. I'll just roll over and go back to sleep.

But what if it was actually a sound and your wife just didn't hear it?

It actually is a sound. And she didn't hear it.

One of the theories is that the sound is caused by bones in the middle ear being moved by a muscle spasm and creating noise that way. Another theory is that it is a minor seizure in part of the brain. But it really is a sound either way.

Oh wow! I get that from time to time!

DanaC has exploding head syndrome!

Is yours loud like a gunshot, or quieter, like a click or a snap?

A very clear 'snap!'

Weird as fuck when it happens. It's woken me up sometimes, from the halfway dozing state.

I've had them on rare occasion as well, maybe once a year. Mine are of the deep bass booming variety. Never while dozing, always startling me out of a deep sleep. I always figured they were connected to my temporal lobe stuff, since night is a more common time for seizure activity.

Wife not hear something? You a funny man, very funny man. :lol2:

BEWARE: That is "sort of" how it started for me, only it was an out right
attack on my conscious..

Oh my, that means we may have the makings of a JBglatt, JBBruce, JBDanaC (good rapper name), and JBClodfobble in addition to JBKlyde. I suppose there's nothing we can do but wait and see if their user names change.

Did anyone else hear thunder when you read those new names?