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Kathryn Lukehurst

Kathryn shouts, screams and walks around her flat in her sleep.

Fact title Fact data
Age
33
Occupation
Business Development Manager
Sleep disorder
Night terrors

She has done this her whole life. Her friends, boyfriend and flatmate have extensive experience of her behaviour and Kathryn says everyone she knows has a story of her night time antics.

Kathryn experiences some form of night terror most nights. Around once a week she will get out of bed and run in to her flatmate’s room, convinced there are intruders in the house, or snakes in her room.

Alison, Kathryn’s childhood friend and current flatmate, says seeing Kathryn in this state is really scary. She describes Kathryn as physically shaking with fear and appearing petrified. Kathryn is now used to her strange night time behaviour but her flatmate is really feeling the strain- Alison feels exhausted if Kathryn wakes her up on consecutive nights. Kathryn often goes straight back to sleep but Alison is left worrying if she is alright and wondering what will happen next.

Result

A classic case of parasomnia, very possibly inherited from her grandfather- there appears to be a genetic element to this condition.

Kathryn didn’t want to take medication for the condition so Jason and Kirstie concentrated on minimising disruption to Alison’s sleep, in which they succeeded by fitting motion activated alarms in Kathryn’s room.