Exploding Head Syndrome?

[Deepsky24]

So I posted on here a little while ago and was disappointed with the lack of feedback but now I have a new theory on what's going on in my head.

I've been experiencing a zapping like jolt that I hear in my head but only when I lie down and the best explanation I've found for it is Exploding Head Syndrome. How about that for a name!

I don't hear it sitting up or standing. I can hear approximately 5 of them at any one time if I lie down, along with the tinnitus. It's like an electricity shock coursing through your head. Apparently the syndrome is benign, a para insomnia and/or an auditory hallucination and the attacks are known to disappear but most likely will return at some point. There is no pain associated with them, but they are very distressing even though I'm almost getting used to them. I'm hoping these attacks will subside.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Michael B]

Sorry for the lack of feedback. It doesn't sound pleasant at all! I hope it's a temporary condition and that you find relief soon.

 

[PaulBe]

Sounds kind of vascular.

 

[Jacob83]

I've had this happen to me before a handull of times in life, the 'exploding head syndrome.' Right when I first fall asleep, I've heard a large bang similar to a door being slammed and jump up in fear. Yours sounds incredibly different, but it could be that, too. I'd ask a doctor if I were you

 

[Lex]

I have this, but upon waking up (and not falling asleep). It's like I have an internal alarm clock. It first happened last weekend. Friday morning, I woke up to the sound of running water. Saturday morning, to the sound of a slamming door. Sunday morning, to the sound of a firecracker. Monday and Tuesday, didn't happen. But today on Wednesday, I woke up to the sound of a thud. I know these sounds aren't coming from anywhere because I'm alone in the house.

The sounds don't cause pain but they make me panic for a few seconds or so upon waking up.

 

[Ricardo1991]

Has anyone else experienced this?

Hey! I have this sometimes, does it sound like this?

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

I've had it the bang and like the electric shocks at first I thought I was having dementia starting but no it's all exploding head syndrome

 

[JohnAdams]

 

[Backpacker]

My favourite part is "as no one is really sure what it is, it might be linked to...stress, anxiety...". Sure, why not. Never get tired of that one.

 

[Contrast]

Blaming stress and anxiety is so damn stupid. Almost all mysterious diseases will be labelled as pyscho-somatic before they are given valid medical explanations. In the meantime all we can do is laugh at the sick humor of this whole epidemic.

 

[AlbertJ]

I am now 15 months into tinnitus and have been noticing that I sometimes develop other auditory dysfunctions alongside - dysacusis last December and paracusis (auditory hallucination) when stressed out and sleepless.

The past several nights, I hear some loud sound when trying to drift off/get back to sleep in the middle of the night. Sometimes it is a buzz, sometimes I think it is my own voice amplified, sometimes it is like a snort, sometimes it feels like a mild vibration from a smartphone, and sometimes it is like a semi-loud thud from something that fell.

I have read about exploding head syndrome and some sounds I have been hearing might qualify. It is just that the past successive nights, I wake up 3AM and then try to get back to sleep when I hear the sound. Recently, it has been repetitive - a few minutes of trying to sleep and then I hear it and won't sleep anymore.

My tinnitus has been manageable as of late but having this new symptom affects my sleep. And sleep deprivation makes my tinnitus worse in the day.

Has anyone from you experienced this?

Thanks in advance.


Best regards,
Albert

 

[Mitt]

I just barely asked this question of the internet, "why do I hear an explosion in my head when I'm asleep?" It took me to this forum. That's exactly what happens to me on occasion. I will be sound asleep and jarred awake by what sounds like a gun shot in my head. I shoot straight up in bed and am so happy once I realize I am fine. I always knew it was inside my head so I wondered if it was an aneurism or something like that. Now I am used to it so I am able to go back to sleep. I have wondered if it is apnea. To think there is something actually called exploding head syndrome.

 

[Matchbox]

This shit. I hate this shit. This kept me up all damn night.

I feel like people with tinnitus and distortion are predisposed.


Just keeps coming.

The ONE link I have is Z-drugs, like benzos, seems to catalyze them (they can come randomly, but way more prominent it seems when taking them, and over and over and over again).

The culprit last night was Zolpidem. Zopiclone/other benzos do not seem to have this effect. Could be a sub-unit thing.

One thing for sure, Zolpidem doesn't help tinnitus, and triggers this. So screw that drug.

 

[Ken77]

Sometimes when I wake up my tinnitus turns into a loud electrical "zapping" sound, similar to how people describe exploding head syndrome. I have no idea why.

 

[linearb]

This shit. I hate this shit. This kept me up all damn night.

I feel like people with tinnitus and distortion are predisposed.

Z-drugs and benzos are quite distinct, Z-drugs are weirder and more unpredictable. Z-drugs are also referred to here as "nonbenzodiazepine sedatives" which is kind of silly to me since they're basically benzos that also have deliriant / anticholinergic effects.

I had this a lot in like years 2-4 after my worsening and then it stopped happening. I wasn't using many Z-drugs at all at that period, if any.

I take benzos on a regular basis now but I hadn't had any EHS wakeups in a couple years prior.

Give your brain time to plasticize changes, and, when it happens, try to remind yourself it's just a fleeting sensory phenomena that doesn't have any inherent meaning attached to it. If you can do that over a period of time, my experience is you can learn to detach the emotional response, and then you don't really get the adrenaline spike, and it's just "more weird shit that happens because our brains are strange sponges trying to model a strange world".

It's annoying but it's nothing to be afraid of, and the more I learned that the less sleep I lost over it. Huge difference between waking up with a POP and then getting a huge adrenaline rush and just being awake, vs waking up to a POP, thinking "oh yeah, there's that" with no emotional judgement attached to it, and then going back to sleep easily.

 

[Matchbox]

Z-drugs and benzos are quite distinct, Z-drugs are weirder and more unpredictable. Z-drugs are also referred to here as "nonbenzodiazepine sedatives" which is kind of silly to me since they're basically benzos that also have deliriant / anticholinergic effects.

I had this a lot in like years 2-4 after my worsening and then it stopped happening. I wasn't using many Z-drugs at all at that period, if any.

I take benzos on a regular basis now but I hadn't had any EHS wakeups in a couple years prior.

Give your brain time to plasticize changes, and, when it happens, try to remind yourself it's just a fleeting sensory phenomena that doesn't have any inherent meaning attached to it. If you can do that over a period of time, my experience is you can learn to detach the emotional response, and then you don't really get the adrenaline spike, and it's just "more weird shit that happens because our brains are strange sponges trying to model a strange world".

It's annoying but it's nothing to be afraid of, and the more I learned that the less sleep I lost over it. Huge difference between waking up with a POP and then getting a huge adrenaline rush and just being awake, vs waking up to a POP, thinking "oh yeah, there's that" with no emotional judgement attached to it, and then going back to sleep easily.

Huh crazy. Did you notice it was one ear only? It's in my "bad ear" moreso, seems to feel like it emanates from the back of my head to there... and only when juuuust about to sleep.

 

[Gman45]

I've had exploding head syndrome happen right before falling asleep. Very rare for it to happen to me. It hasn't happened since I developed tinnitus. Seems sort of an unrelated phenomenon.

It is weird though. You are dozing off to sleep and boom. It's like a lightning bold goes off in your head. It will prevent you from falling asleep for a bit. I see a flash of light with the boom sound.

 

[linearb]

Huh crazy. Did you notice it was one ear only? It's in my "bad ear" moreso, seems to feel like it emanates from the back of my head to there... and only when juuuust about to sleep.

For me it was more like being hit in the head with a bat, honestly? Like a grenade going off behind my eyes. I don't remember it being unilateral.

Before my TMJ was somewhat managed I used to sometimes wake up to insanely loud blasts of usually unilateral tinnitus, but that was pretty different than EHS, and also usually would go to baseline after 10-15 mins in a hot shower. One time it happened when I was camping and I remember feeding all the quarters I had into the 3-mins-for-$0.75 camp shower and hoping for the best.

 

[one-light]

Yes, Exploding Head Syndrome, what a name — science hasn't got a clue... I called it Sonic boom. I even set up a thread on a spiritual forum searching for answers months ago — just as going to sleep 'boom' in my head nightly for months...

I found the answer 'for me' my spirit guides teaching me so I could share with others. Yes, I know what you're thinking, as if! Guides after attention, after they spend decades trying to guide us, when we don't pay attention as in the gut feeling — listening when resting and 'knowing stuff'... It happens to songwriters and inventors over the last 100 years, great ideas 'coming to mind'. You just have to listen as in knowing/learning/guiding...

If that's the case with anyone else here, just except and acknowledge what it could be - nothing lost 'everything' to gain...

I must just add though, someone local to me had a similar problem and the hospital drained some fluid, simple procedure - so there's 2 options from me...

Just to mention here, as I'm talking spiritual - anyone thinking of ending their life in a dark place right now - get help, we are to see our life plan through 'no ending it' - get help now, pick the phone up, do it now - get some help...