# Ask the guy with Exploding Head Syndrome **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604 "2010-10-18T23:55:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/21 "2010-10-19T16:27:51Z")
Holy crap, this is a real thing?! I just figured it was my subconscious fucking with me on occasion. \…I’m not alone anymore… Ya know, I just realized something. This used to happen to me a couple of times a month, but it hasn’t happened once since I started using earplugs while sleeping (couldn’t take the cats being noisy anymore) last winter. Can’t help but think there’s a connection. ---
**Author:** ![davidNZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@davidNZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidNZ)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/22 "2010-10-21T04:35:04Z")
How bizzare, I actually believe that I have this condition I also after checking it out on the net that it is caused by stress. That makes total sense because this has been happening to me quite often over the last 7 weeks, and I am very stressed. Its like and explosion but I wake with a fright at the same time, it is fu…ing horrible! ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/23 "2010-10-21T04:59:52Z")
This happens to me from time to time, except it’s a tremendously loud TWANG, like an out-of-tune distorted power chord, as if a really drunk Pete Townsend had taken residence in my cranium. There’s no visual component to mine. It happens maybe once a year or so, generally as I’m drifting off to sleep. I also have hypnagogic jerks from time to time, often a sudden movement of my arms. Those are annoying. ---
**Author:** ![SaxFace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SaxFace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaxFace)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/24 "2010-10-21T05:28:18Z")
I, too, had this once and was super freaked out! Thanks for putting a name on it. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/25 "2010-10-21T14:04:14Z")
> [@evilbeth](#): > > I have had these but only while on Effexor or on the downside of weaning off other anti-depressants. > > While on Effexor, I had them frequently and would interrogate my husband, refusing to believe that there was a possibility he didn’t hear that massive explosion that rocked me awake. I had them weaning off of Paxil, which I did earlier this year. I still get them very occasionally, but their frequency has become less and less over time. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/26 "2010-10-21T14:10:32Z")
So…am I the only one that kind of enjoys them? It’s weird, but I find it to be such an interesting phenomenon that I look forward to them in a way! When it happens, I tend to want to it to happen again, just so I can pay more attention to it next time. Of course, I can’t ever force it to happen, and then I forget about it until it happens again…! ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/27 "2010-10-21T16:44:26Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > So…am I the only one that kind of enjoys them? It’s weird, but I find it to be such an interesting phenomenon that I look forward to them in a way! When it happens, I tend to want to it to happen again, just so I can pay more attention to it next time. Of course, I can’t ever force it to happen, and then I forget about it until it happens again…! I also (kinda) look forward to having them, but only because I hate them so much. I know I’m overdue for a cluster, and it’s the wondering when it’ll happen that’s the worst. It was a novel thing at first, because like you, I wanted to pay more attention to it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/28 "2010-10-21T18:03:22Z")
I have never heard of this before. I’m glad it’s not as final as I’d thought. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/29 "2010-10-22T00:19:51Z")
Having read the description, I get this quite often except the noise isn’t “extremely loud” - it’s more like a burst of fairly quiet static (the description of an “electrical short circuit” on Wikipedia is exactly how I’ve described it before now). “Fizzing Head Syndrome” doesn’t seem too impressive, though. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/30 "2010-10-22T05:32:11Z")
I have something like that. I usually get door slamming or a loud bang when I get it. I always figured it had something to do with falling asleep and being halfway between dreaming and awake. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/31 "2010-10-22T05:50:07Z")
I get something similar pretty often, though the sound isn’t massive or overwhelming. It’s almost always something pretty low frequency, like a “whoosh”. I _think_ I’m in the midst of dreams most of the time I experience it. It does sound like it’s outside my head. Sometimes it’s in the middle of the night, sometimes I wake up that way. OTOH, sometimes I dream that I wake up. I have no real idea if the “sound” is generated in my head, or is something real that my brain is amplifying. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/32 "2010-10-22T12:46:37Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Exploding Head Syndrome is not what I thought it would be. What I thought it would be could only happen once. That’s what She said. /try the veal! ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/33 "2010-10-22T15:12:01Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > I just recently realized I have [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome) condition thingy. > [@Nocturne](#): > > I also have this disorder. Just to ease everyone’s explosive minds (heh) I want to point out that this condition is _not_ a mental disorder, nor is it typically indicative of any neurological dysfunction. Exploding Head Syndrome (and its variants, including hypnagogia and The Tetris Effect) is completely harmless, and it’s sole measure of being a “disorder” is based entirely on whether or not it is disrupting your life. (So I’ve been told by the neurologist who I visited after several months of believing I was developing a brain tumor…he told me, most likely, these “explosions” were due to the extreme stress & exhaustion I was experiencing at the time. Funny thing, after he put my mind at ease, the “explosions” stopped completely, and since then have only happened occasionally – I truly believe that the “stress” was exacerbated by my own worry about what was going on inside my exploding brain!!) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/34 "2010-10-22T15:48:59Z")
My people! I don’t suffer from EHS, but I get sensory hallucinations while sleeping (or just drifting off) every second month or so. I don’t think I’m crazy or having a brain tumour - I think I start dreaming before I’m well under, and it places dream stuff in my actual bedroom, which is freaking weird. It’s usually an intruder in my bedroom, or something crawling in my bed (under the covers or on the bed). I sit bolt upright, convinced that THIS time it actually is someone in my room (it never is, knock wood), and check the bed and room for things that shouldn’t be there. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/35 "2010-10-22T16:19:42Z")
I’ve had all of them - the sudden chord one is annoying! - but at the moment I’m getting a lot of the hypnic jerks, probably 'cos I’m short of sleep since going to hospital. Could do without being disturbed while I’m trying to get to sleep, but not to worry I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604/36 "2010-10-24T04:56:20Z")
Holy crap! I have had this happen - good thing it is not constant. My experience is that I imagine a loud noise that wakes me up, I realize it is nothing real, and eventually get back to sleep. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-with-exploding-head-syndrome/557604.md?page=1)