SS13 started waking up in middle of night?
Hello all. Recently my 13yo stepson has started waking up between 11pm and 1am every night, bolting out of his room. He seems confused, and usually asks "how much time do I have left?" or otherwise acts like he's late to school/in a panic. He doesn't remember these episodes when asked about them later. It's like he's sleepwalking with his eyes open. It's been almost every night for the last two weeks or so.
I was wondering if anyone has had an experience like this, and if they every discovered a cause? I'm worried that it might be something to do with stress or troubles at school. His grades aren't the best, but they're getting better (and have been since before he started this) but I don't know how his social situation is. He never has friends over, and only goes to visit one person with any frequency. Sometimes he stays after school to spend time with people, and he seems to be well-liked by people in the school chorus (he sings).
I'm concerned he might be getting picked on at school, or be suffering some kind of psychological stress.
Thanks.
It's been about two or three
It's been about two or three weeks now that he's been doing this, and every night or every other night (that I've been awake to notice). Sometimes it seems to be triggered by our bedroom door opening/closing, other times we're just sitting around in my office/library across the house and he'll fly out of his room in a panic. We've sat in the living room watching TV after the kids' bedtime though, and the noise from the television hasn't appeared to have woken him.
He's a deliberately weird kid sometimes. Every so often he'll come out with a new "thing", like suddenly he's afraid of moths or does X thing in an odd way, like he's trying to create quirks for himself. usually when they don't impress us he "forgets" about them and will come out with a new quirk. This sleepwalking thing is the kind of thing he'd do, but it genuinely seems like he has no recollection of waking up.
Oh my dog. Saints be be
Oh my dog. Saints be be praised, he isn't peeing anywhere... yet. But now I have a new horror to contemplate! Yikes!
His father used to do the
His father used to do the sleep talking. He snores too, so I've been sleeping lightly since we've been together (unless I pop a melatonin, which are excellent and I love them), and when he would do his sleep talking, it was actually him having conversations in different "voices" (like he'd literally be doing different impressions). VERY creepy. I think it must have been him talking out his dreams? Although he never remembers his dreams so who knows.
I might try to get his father to wheedle him into talking about school, the kid is usually pretty forthcoming and will often just come up and start talking and NOT SHUT UP. Big problem when I'm trying to study for college or just read for relaxation. Seriously doesn't take a hint that's more subtle than "Shut your facehole, for the love of god, I'm trying to read here. Go talk at your dad. Call your friends. Anyone but me" I feel a little bad, because he's not doing it to be an annoyance, but seriously, the kid doesn't have a single clue.
A motion sensor with a loud
A motion sensor with a loud alarm should do the trick. Not hard to install. No more harmful to the sleepwalker than an alarm clock is to someone sleeping in bed. He gets up without turning it off and is screams at him.
The problem is that it wakes up everyone else too.
When I was in the middle of
When I was in the middle of moving in with my SO, I was packing, selling my house, starting a horrendous commute, and my dog's health was not the best. At LEAST every other night, I would wake up around midnight/1am in a panic. It was an overwhelming feeling of "Omigosh, I've forgotten to take my birth control pills for weeks", or "Omigosh, I have given the dog his shots in days!" Sometimes I'd jump out of bed yelling "Oh no!" and get as far as the bedroom door before I realized that I didn't forget anything major, and that everything was OK.
The day I closed on my house, those midnight panic episodes stopped. That was 2.5 years ago. I figure it was all about the stress of selling my pretty little house and making major life changes.
Maybe there's something big
Maybe there's something big happening at school he's not telling us about, a major test or in-class project. It's pretty much as you describe, the waking up in a panic. It's near the end of the semester too, so maybe it's just stress about midterms/finals.