Hi. I hope that these cartoon drawings are an eye-opener for some people out there. No, you are not crazy, no, it’s not just sleep paralysis, and no, you are not alone.
I assume most of you know sleeping disorders like “sleep paralysis “and stuff like that? But did you ever heard of “Exploding Head Syndrome “? No? Well, let me tell you about this sleep issue because I was as speechless as you.
My first EHS attack happened back in 2017. I remember that day like it was yesterday because my grandma passed away that day. As you see, I was under a lot of stress because I knew she would pass, and after my granddad passed away two months earlier, the burden was even more significant. That was the cause of my first attack.
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It was the morning of the weekend. After waking up early, I decided to drink some water and go back to sleep because why not. My boyfriend was sleeping as well. I went back to bed, closed my eyes, and knew I would fall back asleep pretty fast. This time was different as I suddenly could feel how I was falling asleep. It was a scary feeling, but I didn’t think much because, as I said earlier, I suffered from sleep paralysis as well, so I thought I’m going to have an episode of that. But then I started hearing noises, it sounded like pure static, electricity and it got louder and louder till I heard a loud exploding like doorbell-bang. So loud, I wanted to scream. But I could not. My body was not moving. I felt a terrible pain in my head, along with electricity in my arms back, and legs. My eyes wide open, my vision full of dots and colorful patches and flashes of lightning. I thought I was having a seizure or a stroke. After around 20 seconds, everything was gone, and I finally could scream for help.
My boyfriend was looking at me with half-open eyes, asking me what happened. I panicked and told him everything. The sound I’ve heard came directly out of my head. So I was sure that something was happening.
I called my doctor an hour later because I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was having some physical health problems. She laughed at me, telling me that I was a bit crazy. (Yes, she did that.) That was also the last time I went to that doctor because it was not the first time that she didn’t take me seriously.
After having multiple EHS attacks and keeping this all to myself because I was afraid that another doctor would call me crazy, I went to a Neurologist, who helped me with my migraine. He asked about my sleep problems, and I told him everything from those weird attacks I was having. He sent me to a sleep specialist in the same hospital, which listened to my story and asked me many more things. I was relieved when he told me that I wasn’t crazy at all; I was suffering from an EH Syndrome. He was pretty excited about it, telling me he would like to monitor me for a night EHS is one of the rare syndromes, and it’s even rarer to catch an attack on a monitor.
“Sadly,” I didn’t have an attack that night. But I am glad to know what I have and that it’s nothing worse and has nothing to do with mental problems. Getting a diagnosis helped me with losing fear, which, in the end, helped me fall asleep better! Since I lowered my stress, I’m doing much better!
That was my story about EHS syndrome. If you feel these are relatable comics to you, please share your story down in the comment section.
Hugs, Lulu.