
Exploding Head Syndrome - warent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome
======
flafla2
I find stuff like this really interesting, a large (double digit) percentage
of the population has the condition, and may or may not assume it is normal. I
don't have Exploding Head Syndrome, but I do have the Photic sneeze reflex
[1], which affects ~20-30% of people. People with the reflex tend to sneeze
when they see bright things such as the sun.

My father and I both have it, and it felt great when I told him about it. He
was as surprised as I was that it didn't happen to everyone! In a weird way
I'm grateful for it, as I'm sure the reflex urged me to stay inside and
cultivate my love for computing :). It's too bad it made me dislike the beach
as a kid though -- these days I make sure to bring sunglasses.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photic_sneeze_reflex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photic_sneeze_reflex)

~~~
ddevault
I have this, too - found out when I started doing astronomy and looking in the
sky all the time. I also have a rarer one: the cough-ear reflex, which affects
something like 2%. I involuntarily cough when I put in earplugs. The human
body is weird!

~~~
tapland
That seems pretty reasonable/possibly explainable though. Putting eaebuds in
deep I can feel a light gag reflex, ears and back of the throat are closely
connected.

~~~
gedy
That's interesting if so, as I have some sensoneural hearing loss in inner
ear, and had a period in past where I felt like was choking or some
unexplained swallowing problems. Thought I was going bonkers when they
couldn't find a problem.

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Jhsto
When I have been stressed out for longer periods of time, I start to get weird
problems with sleep. This has included hearing many indistinct voices when
going to sleep, waking up to a sleep paralysis with the demon sitting on me /
next to me, and sensation of falling immediately after falling asleep (which
makes it impossible to sleep). In all of the cases, it seems like the
unconsciousness is so occupied that it doesn't want me to rest. Every time,
when I have talked about my worries hence processed them, the symptoms have
gone away. So to at least to my anecdotal experience, the sleep disorders seem
to be caused by held back emotions.

~~~
jjeaff
If you haven't already, you might want to get checked for sleep apnea. Many of
those symptoms, especially sleep paralysis are symptoms of sleep paralysis.
And sleep apnea is also known to get worse with stress and anxiety.

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_Microft
Another 'interesting' thing:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis)

( _Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is waking up if you are unable to move?_ )

It happened twice to me and still scared the heck out of me the second time.
Been there, done that, can't recommend.

~~~
TheRealSteel
Got this three times yesterday. Not a fan. Probably had 4 or 500 incidents
total in my life.

~~~
jjeaff
Might be sleep apnea.

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IAmGraydon
I have occasionally experienced this. I once woke up to what sounded like a
very loud gunshot right outside of my bedroom window. I actually called the
police, half in a fog, until I realized half way through the call that it may
have been a hypnagogic hallucination of sorts.

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Severian
I experience this frequently. Right on the edge of loosing consciousness, I
sometimes hear what reminds me of an old wooden screen-door slamming into a
doorframe. If you know the sound it's unmistakable. It is preceeded by a
woosh, like when your blood-pressure suddenly increases.

It usually jolts me awake for a brief moment. I rarely see flashes of light
but it sometimes happens.

~~~
duncan-donuts
Oh man a wooden screen-door spamming shut is a good descriptor. When this
happens to me I’d say the sound is similar to that, but there’s like a large
cracking sound as well.

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polemic
I've had this happen a few times!

It'll happen usually while falling asleep - a sudden very loud ("overwhelming"
is probably a better word since its obviously not auditory) static rising
rapidly, sometimes with the image per the page. I never found it frightening,
possibly because its so brief. I can imagine it would be terrifying if it
continued for longer than a second or too.

Having just read "Fall, or Dodge in Hell" (Neal Stephensons latest novel),
this is what I expect he describes when Dodge first gains consciousness.
Just... overwhelming random static.

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supernintendo
This happens to me from time to time! It really is bizarre. I’m hyper attuned
to sound, particularly which direction sounds are coming from. When a sound
seems to be emitted from within your own head, it creates a disorienting
sensation that I experience as a sort of extreme vertigo. For me the sound is
never really abrasive and usually manifests as a woman’s voice calmly saying
one or two words. The disturbing part is just how “clear” the sounds are, like
every other sound I’ve ever heard seems distant in comparison.

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wyum
Weird - I just experienced one of these as I was waking up about 20 minutes
ago!

I say "weird" b/c it's not a regular thing, but I have experienced this a few
other times, along with similar sudden full-body "spasms" while drifting to
sleep. It's not usually alarming, just a strange feeling.

~~~
rzzzt
One hypothesis for the sudden contraction of muscles is that your brain is
losing feeling of the bed supporting your body when going to sleep:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk)

~~~
saghm
When this happens to me, it always feels like I'm about to fall forward. The
best I can describe it is as the feeling that I just took a step forward but
instead of my foot finding the ground, the surface I was walking on ended (as
if I stepped off a ledge or something).

~~~
rzzzt
For me it's the opposite: it feels like someone pushing me out of a tree swing
or a chair that has no backrest (I'm sleeping on my side).

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drog
There are also many other things that could happen when you are going to
sleep, for example you can hear voice or see someone. It is called hypnagogic
hallucinations.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia)

~~~
RandomTisk
I had one of the most incredible dreams ever last week. I was laying on the
couch watching something, not feeling too great, and I fell asleep, I think.
Thinking I was still awake, I began to see this city by the sea/ocean, and I
remarked to myself how incredible it was that I was able to visualize this
city so well because I've never hallucinated before. Then I wondered if I
could manipulate it like a 3D level, and I could, so I spent some time moving
my mental camera around this space, flying like superman kinda but at low
speed. Then a Telsa rocketship took off from the city and crashed into the
sea, but it didn't explode, it burrowed like a torpedo and turned back towards
land. A woman was on a bench by the ocean and it should have hit and
hurt/killed her but the rocket just disappeared. Then I realized this must be
a dream and woke up. It was so bizarre, I thought I had been awake the whole
time.

~~~
drog
It looks like you enjoyed it which is great!

Mine are always triggered when life stress and anxiety build up and it makes
me even more stressed.

~~~
RandomTisk
Yeah very much so, it was like I was in a holodeck visualizing things with my
mind. My dreams are always weirdest when I'm sick too.

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jniedrauer
I've had this before, combined with sleep paralysis. It sounds like a load
rushing river combined with the sensation of falling, and I _can 't move_. Was
pretty scary the first time. If you don't fight sleep paralysis though, it's
mostly just like lucid dreaming.

~~~
jayflux
The sound that happens during sleep paralysis is a different phenomenon to
this, this sound is a very short “shock” sort of sound.

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holiveros
Have this one, usually it happens every few years; I've correlated it to
stressful / extreme tiredness situations.

For me it's always: All black -> loud bang -> flash of light

A few times there were a heat sensation, tingling.

Once I hard punched a friend who was sitting beside me after "waking up":/

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GlenTheMachine
Disorders of the waking-sleeping “interface” can be really weird.

Mine: occasionally, when I’m really really tired, as I fall asleep I
experience a buzzing in my head that starts out soft and gets louder and
louder. After a few moments it’s accompanied by extreme panic, temporary
whole-body paralysis, and an uncontrollable need to wake back up. This happens
over and over and over again, until I finally get out of bed, eat something,
wait half an hour, and try again.

I have never seen a medical authority acknowledge this particular disorder,
but over the years I’ve seen individuals on reddit mention the same thing. I
have to believe it’s due to parts of the brain shutting down in the wrong
order as it attempts to transition to sleep.

~~~
ljm
I often get what can only be described as lucid nightmares. I can feel every
sensation in my body (down to sexual impulses) but when the nightmare kicks in
I won't manage to wake up without screaming.

The thing is, I live alone so in my dream the screaming is muffled and almost
useless. I have no idea if its actually loud in 'the real world'. I am almost
certain its connected to past trauma given the subject matter in the dreams.

It's crazy what the mind can do when you try and get a good night's sleep.

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Udik
Used to happen to me, somewhat frequently as a child, less and less with age
(I probably haven't had it in the past ten years). As I was falling asleep I
started to hear some soft rhythmic noise repeating over and over, slowly at
the beginning, then faster and faster until it ended in a really loud "bang"
after which for a second my head felt entirely empty. (However the bang didn't
feel like a real noise, more like an explosion _inside my head_ ).

After I while I learned to recognise the pattern of speeding rhythmic sound
and sometimes I would be able to stop it before the bang- lifting my head from
the pillow was enough to break the sequence.

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forkexec
Yep. I know someone that has this almost everyday of his life and he hears a
gunshot or a cannon that doesn't exist. It maybe related to spinal cord
compression from a genetic anatomical abnormality in the skull or cervical
region between the skull and thorax.

Oddly enough, I accidentally induced this effect on myself by falling asleep
laying my neck on the corner of a hard surface. It sounded like someone
beating hard once on the wall, but as I woke up, I realized no one was around
and no sound had actually happened (no echo).

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flyGuyOnTheSly
I used to get this quite frequently when I lived in the heart of downtown
Toronto and had an extreme drinking (alcoholic) habit.

It scared me half to death the first few times it happened, then it was just
annoying once I realized what it was.

Moved out of Toronto and stopped drinking heavily and I don't get them at all
anymore.

I remember being woken up constantly at 2/3/4/5am to police/ambulence sirens
and car horns. So psychological stress (as wikipedia suggests) was most
definitely a factor in my having had this imho.

Just my 2 cents.

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Waterluvian
Had no idea what it was called. Never thought it was abnormal. Once a month or
so I am awaken with the loudest possible "bang bang bang bang". It puts me
into a state of terror where I must carefully check every door and window for
someone banging to get in. So much worse now that I have kids to protect.

I will also get a similar gunshot sound if I'm dozing off in the afternoon.
Makes napping impossible.

I always just wrote it off as being caught in a semi dream state.

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drcongo
I have this. Interesting note: I hear different types of loud noise, doors
slamming, cars backfiring, banging on the front door etc. - they're nearly all
believable, which is incredibly annoying as I often end up having to get out
of bed to check whether it was a real noise or not. I sometimes get the bright
flashes of light too, I like those as it's a good hint that the accompanying
noise wasn't real.

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Edd314159
This happens to me very frequently. It’s kind of freaky how accurate the
description of the symptoms are in this Wikipedia article - even down to the
gif depicting the flashes I see. Reassuring to know it’s a known condition,
especially one with such a dramatic name.

It comes and goes for me, but it’s pretty frightening during the periods when
it happens. The stress explanation sounds plausible.

~~~
ethanbond
Easy to miss but worth seeing: the first item under the Treatment in the quick
facts box is "Reassurance." Quite a pleasant treatment and it's administered
as easily as a link to Wikipedia!

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Jamie452
Sometimes when I'm drifting off, before I start dreaming I get this weird
vibrating sensation, accompanied by a sensation that things are progressively
getting more intense. It usually causes me to jolt myself awake out of fear.
When I can push through it and stay asleep I usually end up having a lucid
dream. I wonder if this is the same thing?

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jsonne
Oh wow, I didn't know the name for this but absolutely experience it. The most
disturbing part for me personally is the gasping for air part, or as the
article states, " sensation that feels as if they have stopped breathing and
have to make a deliberate effort to breathe again."

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myself248
When I was very little, I used to have nightmares that consisted of this bang
and flash, repeated, indefinitely. They didn't happen every night, thankfully,
and eventually they stopped but I don't know why.

In the last twenty years, it's come back exactly once.

~~~
forkexec
Ah. OTOH, EHS is "hearing" an extremely realistic-sounding loud "noise" that
wakes you up, but then realizing the "noise" never happen. It's like your body
is gaslighting yourself.

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IvanLudvig
I had this a couple of times when having a nap. I call it the cracking of the
sun.

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davesque
I experience this occasionally. It sounds like microphone feedback but with a
sort of metallic ringing to it. I didn't realize there was a name for it. I
also assumed most people experience it which I guess is wrong.

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almost_usual
Can happen to alcoholics during steep withdrawals.

Similar to a Hypnic Jerk.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk)

~~~
tapland
I've heard people have them when stepping down ssris as well.

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rv-de
I regularly experience during falling asleep a burst of static noise like
sound that repeats in short variable intervals (let's say 20 seconds). It
seems to last about a second or less.

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jokowueu
I had this when I used to be anxious . The slightest noise is amplified 100x .
When I first had them I thought some one had dropped kicked my door . Didn't
really mind it

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mmastrac
I've had this a few times and it was pretty jarring - almost sounds like
listening to white noise as loud as you possibly could for about 1/10 of a
second.

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randomer666
I've been having those for quite some time and was never able to pinpoint the
reasons that could cause it. It's kind of fun when you get used to it.

~~~
kjakm
Is it something you can control in anyway? I've experienced sleep paralysis
for years (it's pretty terrible) but I've seen a lot of people harness that to
enable lucid dreaming. Curious if it's similar with this.

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davidhariri
I had this for a few years. Was awful. Glad it went away.

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k__
Interesting.

I had this a handful of times.

But I also had sleep paralysis and panic attacks a few times.

Never was a constant problem.

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kaiabwpdjqn
Hmm. I think I get this on occasion. It sounds like a heavily distorted
electronic crunchy buzz like if you touched a guitar jack to some random metal
while hooked up to an amp.

I had previously thought these might be “brain zaps” that people describe
after stopping anti depressants, even though I never started

~~~
GlenTheMachine
I get both of those sometimes. In my experience they aren’t the same.

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zadokshi
Did not need to know about that one.

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fizixer
This would happen to me when my monitor was right next to my bed. (I believe
the flash part, while the exploding/popping sound is external).

I would use my computer an hour or more before going to bed, so the monitor
would run warm (or even hot).

When I'd turn it off and go to bed, the monitor would cool down over the next,
I don't know, between 15 minutes to an hour.

And at some point during the cool down, the plastic would make a popping sound
(just once). This would be around the same time I'd be about to fall asleep.
And that's when a flash would go off in my head.

This happened pretty much everyday. Now I don't have my monitor sitting next
to my bed.

