Fever Dreams?

[specialmama]

My little guy has been sick for a few days. He has a low grade temp, and, from what I gather, has been having bad dreams. He has severe autism, and he doesn't typically communicate what (if anything) he's dreamed of. Several times the last couple days he has started crying inconsolably while awake in the middle of the day. He'll talk about something that I can only imagine was a bad dream. Today he was (fearfully) saying "carebears... carebears... oh no... the carebears" and then he would startle us all by roaring very loudly and violently, then bursting into tears and shaking with fear. It's so sad to see him this scared. I'm trying to talk to him about dreams vs. reality and to not be sad, that he's safe and mommy's here... but I just don't know if he gets it. Dreams can seem so real, especially for kids who believe in concrete things: what they "see", and they have a hard time differentiating between fantasy and reality.

So is this common? Anyone else dream more with a fever? I hope that's all it is, and not the foretelling of world dominion by big, evil carebears:tongue_smilie:

[Ibbygirl]

:grouphug: I'm sorry your little guy is going through this Karyn. FWIW I can totally see how Carebears could have the propensity to evil. ;) Maybe removing all carebears stuff from the room will help. I've been sick the last few days and have been feverish and having weird dreams too, but my dreams are pretty much always weird so I'm pretty useless as far as a fever/dream barometer goes. I'd say you're totally doing the right thing by talking with him and just holding him and making him feel safe. Whether or not he understands the words I think he is understanding the comfort and the security that you are conveying to him. My ds is non-verbal and often times I don't know what the triggers of his meltdowns are. What I do is just get down to his eye level and have him look me in the eyes while I do a deep compression bear hug and tell him he's okay. By having him look me in the eyes it "snaps" him out of the stimming and ranting of the meltdown and helps him calm down faster. I hope that helps. I'm so sorry your precious boy is feeling bad and suffering. HUGS to you and your little man. :grouphug: :grouphug:

[MyThreeSons]

All of the males in my family -- for several generations -- have more intense dreams and sleepwalking / halluciantions episodes when they have high fevers. It's hard enough to deal with under regular circumstances without adding in the complications that I'm sure autism brings. :grouphug:

 

Cool story, though -- it actually saved my Dad's life one time. He was VERY sick, with a high fever, for an extended period of time. He was hospitalized as he continued to get worse and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him so they couldn't cure it. One night, as he was hallucinating, a nurse listened to what he was saying. On a hunch, she called my Mom and asked if my Dad had ever been in the South Pacific. It turned out that he had acquired some rare Tropical Disease when he was stationed on an island during the Korean War, but that it had lain dormant in his system for about 13-15 years. They never figured out what triggered its activation, but once they were able to diagnose it and treat it, he recovered.

[momofkhm]

Cool story, though -- it actually saved my Dad's life one time. He was VERY sick, with a high fever, for an extended period of time. He was hospitalized as he continued to get worse and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him so they couldn't cure it. One night, as he was hallucinating, a nurse listened to what he was saying. On a hunch, she called my Mom and asked if my Dad had ever been in the South Pacific. It turned out that he had acquired some rare Tropical Disease when he was stationed on an island during the Korean War, but that it had lain dormant in his system for about 13-15 years. They never figured out what triggered its activation, but once they were able to diagnose it and treat it, he recovered.

 

That is both cool and weird!

[momofkhm]

:grouphug:

 

I can't help with ds but I used to have some pretty vivid fever dreams. I'd only sleep walk while I had a fever too.

 

I also think you are doing great explaining to him and holding him.

 

:grouphug::grouphug:

[lionfamily1999]

Older ds had "night terrors" with every fever. He would walk around, eat/drink, and react to things that were actually there (although "seeing" them as something different and horrible, as well as seeing things that weren't there at all), all the while asleep. At first I'd thought he had lost his mind. It's hard to say who was more hurt by all this, since ds would close his eyes and wake up without a single memory of it.

 

:grouphug:

 

My nephew went through the same sort of thing and my younger nephew (3) has nightmares as well.

[specialmama]

I'm sorry your little guy is going through this Karyn. FWIW I can totally see how Carebears could have the propensity to evil. ;) Maybe removing all carebears stuff from the room will help. I've been sick the last few days and have been feverish and having weird dreams too, but my dreams are pretty much always weird so I'm pretty useless as far as a fever/dream barometer goes. I'd say you're totally doing the right thing by talking with him and just holding him and making him feel safe. Whether or not he understands the words I think he is understanding the comfort and the security that you are conveying to him. My ds is non-verbal and often times I don't know what the triggers of his meltdowns are. What I do is just get down to his eye level and have him look me in the eyes while I do a deep compression bear hug and tell him he's okay. By having him look me in the eyes it "snaps" him out of the stimming and ranting of the meltdown and helps him calm down faster. I hope that helps. I'm so sorry your precious boy is feeling bad and suffering. HUGS to you and your little man.

Thank you Ibbygirl... I do appreciate it. I did try a deep pressure hold yesterday and it worked for a few seconds which is better than nothing!

 

All of the males in my family -- for several generations -- have more intense dreams and sleepwalking / halluciantions episodes when they have high fevers. It's hard enough to deal with under regular circumstances without adding in the complications that I'm sure autism brings.

 

Cool story, though -- it actually saved my Dad's life one time. He was VERY sick, with a high fever, for an extended period of time. He was hospitalized as he continued to get worse and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him so they couldn't cure it. One night, as he was hallucinating, a nurse listened to what he was saying. On a hunch, she called my Mom and asked if my Dad had ever been in the South Pacific. It turned out that he had acquired some rare Tropical Disease when he was stationed on an island during the Korean War, but that it had lain dormant in his system for about 13-15 years. They never figured out what triggered its activation, but once they were able to diagnose it and treat it, he recovered.

 

Thank you, MyThreeSons... and OH MY! That is a very cool story! Thank you for sharing!

 

 

I can't help with ds but I used to have some pretty vivid fever dreams. I'd only sleep walk while I had a fever too.

 

I also think you are doing great explaining to him and holding him.

 

 

 

Thank you momofkhm. Interesting you use the word vivid. I wonder if that's what happens, that dreams are more vivid. It would make sense that vivid dreams induce (for lack of a better word) sleepwalking and perhaps make them more realistic and more memorable. hmmm....

 

Older ds had "night terrors" with every fever. He would walk around, eat/drink, and react to things that were actually there (although "seeing" them as something different and horrible, as well as seeing things that weren't there at all), all the while asleep. At first I'd thought he had lost his mind. It's hard to say who was more hurt by all this, since ds would close his eyes and wake up without a single memory of it.

 

 

 

My nephew went through the same sort of thing and my younger nephew (3) has nightmares as well.

 

Thank you lionfamily1999. That sounds like a whole bunch of sleepwalking and hallucinating and night terrors. I hope your guy doesn't have a lot of fevers!

 

OK so it seems that fevers do increase these episodes. I can't wait for this to go away and hopefully be forgotten! Thank you for sharing.

[cougarmom4]

My dd10 has night terrors and totally freaks out when she has a fever. It is scary. Every time it happens, I think about how long ago people thought others were possessed or needed an exorcism (you know all those old movies...)...and I think this is what it must have been like! She will be screaming and reaching out at things and yelling things that don't make sense. We just hold her and talk to her. Trying to get her to concentrate on something seems to be what helps her snap out of it...for us, we do math facts with her. Now that I've gotten used to it and know when they are likely to happen, they aren't as scary...and she cracks up to hear the crazy things she's done the night before.

[lionfamily1999]

Thank you lionfamily1999. That sounds like a whole bunch of sleepwalking and hallucinating and night terrors. I hope your guy doesn't have a lot of fevers!

 

OK so it seems that fevers do increase these episodes. I can't wait for this to go away and hopefully be forgotten! Thank you for sharing.

Ds will do this every once in awhile without a fever, but the fevers make it unbearable (for me). :grouphug: Thankfully, he is very rarely sick.

[Impish]

:grouphug:

[lionfamily1999]

My dd10 has night terrors and totally freaks out when she has a fever. It is scary. Every time it happens, I think about how long ago people thought others were possessed or needed an exorcism (you know all those old movies...)...and I think this is what it must have been like! She will be screaming and reaching out at things and yelling things that don't make sense. We just hold her and talk to her. Trying to get her to concentrate on something seems to be what helps her snap out of it...for us, we do math facts with her. Now that I've gotten used to it and know when they are likely to happen, they aren't as scary...and she cracks up to hear the crazy things she's done the night before.

What's crazy is that most of the time we can tell ds to go to sleep (in the middle of one of those dreams) and he will! We've figured out a few ways to shorten the duration, volume, and violence too. Sometimes, it's sending him to the bathroom (we have to guide him and make sure he's pointing in the right direction), other times it's just telling him to sleep. The one thing we've learned that doesn't help ds at all is touching him. It hurts, but he ends up even more terrified if dh or I try to hold him or calm him down. I'm glad it's different for you. There's something very helpless in not being able to comfort him.

[Ibbygirl]

Cool story, though -- it actually saved my Dad's life one time. He was VERY sick, with a high fever, for an extended period of time. He was hospitalized as he continued to get worse and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him so they couldn't cure it. One night, as he was hallucinating, a nurse listened to what he was saying. On a hunch, she called my Mom and asked if my Dad had ever been in the South Pacific. It turned out that he had acquired some rare Tropical Disease when he was stationed on an island during the Korean War, but that it had lain dormant in his system for about 13-15 years. They never figured out what triggered its activation, but once they were able to diagnose it and treat it, he recovered.

 

Wow! That is an amazing story! Thank God the nurse was so sharp!

 

Thank you Ibbygirl... I do appreciate it. I did try a deep pressure hold yesterday and it worked for a few seconds which is better than nothing!

 

:grouphug::grouphug: I hope he feels better soon poor little guy. You're such a good mama! :)