Exploding Head Syndrome... Yes, it's a real illness.

[DetlefK]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome

Exploding head syndrome (EHS) is an abnormal sensory perception during sleep in which a person experiences unreal noises that are loud and of short duration when falling asleep or waking up.[2][4] The noise may be frightening, typically occurs only occasionally, and is not a serious health concern.[2] People may also experience a flash of light.[5] Pain is typically absent.[2]

[unblock]

1. cool, didn't know there was a name for that. i get that all the time.

maybe a few times i wake with a start, but mostly it's familiar and normal to me so it doesn't really bother me anymore.

tends to happen as i fall asleep so i think of it more as a twilight thing.

i assume it's related to my chronic migraines, although it's not specifically related in timing, i.e., it's not a sign i'm about to get a migraine.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. I have experienced this a few times in my life

There’s no pattern I can discern and it happens so infrequently that I don’t recall the last time it happened. I do remember being startled whenever it happened.

[Runningdawg]

3. I was woke up by it this morning

It sounded like someone dropped every pan in the kitchen. The only way I knew it wasn't real is that the 4 dogs and cat also sleeping in the room never twitched. It happens maybe once a month to 6 weeks and is most likely on waking. Never knew it had a name.

[Doodley]

4. Yes, I've had that on waking. A loud explosion in my head.

[Binkie The Clown]

5. I've had that once or twice in the past, but even stranger...

... was something I experienced a few times many years ago. I think of it as "a flash of dark". I was in bed, just waking up, with my eyes closed, when like the negative of a lightning flash, the darkness I was seeing with my eyes closed got even darker for just a tiny fraction of a second. It was like everything went totally black black. Not just black, but totally black black. It lasted for about as long as a flashbulb would last. It was weird. I think it must be 30 or 40 years since the last time it happened.

[frogmarch]

6. I have it. Also so-called "night terrors."

And the only thing that cured me of sleepwalking was becoming disabled and unable to walk without a walker, and falling onto the coffeetable. I wasnt hurt, and I thought it was pretty funny.

[Blue Owl]

7. Whew I thought it was the other exploding head syndrome