Bedroom doors opening, loud banging and sometimes shouting, the hallucinations Rebecca Drayton suffers from on a near daily basis make sleeping soundly almost impossible.
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But it's also why the Orange mother is speaking up.
With the National Sleep Health Foundation's annual Sleep Awareness Week looming, Ms Drayton knows the frustration of sleep deprivation all too well and believes it's crucial to highlight the importance of educating yourself on quality sleep and the effect sleep has on your present mood and overall wellbeing.
The parasomniac, who suffers from Exploding Head Syndrome due to stress or extreme exhaustion, said she is lucky to get four to five hours of sleep on nights of an episode, and the lack of sleep affects her current mood and overall well-being enormously.
"Basically, my form of parasomnia causes me to have visual and auditory hallucinations either as I'm falling asleep or waking up," Ms Drayton said.
"It's caused by stress or extreme exhaustion. In terms of the auditory hallucinations, I'll usually hear sounds like my bedroom door opening, loud banging and shouting.
"It's as if somebody was standing right next to me doing it."
Ms Drayton said hallucinations are usually flashes of light or dark figures she sees standing next to her bed.
... while it's happening it feels like it's actually (real), and sends me into a full-blown panic thinking somebody's broken into my house and is in my room.
- Rebecca Drayton
"Whenever I have these hallucinations I get sleep paralysis as well, so I'm unable to move."
Sleep paralysis is when, during waking up or falling asleep, a person is consciously aware but unable to move or speak.
"I'm aware these visions aren't real after it's happened but while it's happening it feels like it's actually (real), and sends me into a full-blown panic thinking somebody's broken into my house and is in my room," she said.
"I usually can't fall asleep for hours after which makes me even more tired and can cause it to happen multiple times in one night.
"There's, unfortunately, no direct treatment for it except for managing stress and making sure I get enough sleep.
"The only thing I've found that has helped me to stay asleep and not have episodes upon waking up is a weighted blanket. I still get them when falling asleep though."
Ms Drayton said she never knows when an episode is going to happen, and so avoiding it is difficult.
The National Sleep Health Foundation's annual Sleep Awareness Week will be run from August 5 through to August 11.
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