Waking up with scratches?

Hey guys, figured I'd ask y'all about something weird that's been happening lately to try and get some feedback on what this might be. I also hear that this happens to a lot of people, but most of my research online has ended up with tons of random people claiming it's ghosts and demons and shit.

So I've been waking up with these little cat scratch looking things 1-3 times a week for the last 6 months. Much of the time I don't notice them, and most often I seem to get them on the sides of my neck and other people point them out to me. I woke up this morning with some weird bond villain scratch◊ along the side of my face(it was much more pronounced in the morning, it's had time to heal since then) and decided I'd try to figure out what the heck is causing this.

I sleep on my stomach with my face in my pillow, and I'm a really light sleeper. No animals, my nails are short and trimmed. Does this happen to you guys too? From what I've seen online so far, this apparently happens to a lot of people, but I haven't seen any definitive or uniform answers as to what it could be, or at least any that I feel apply to me.

edited 27th Jan '13 8:13:18 PM by Barkey

Feather pillow? If they're really small scratches (not the one in the picture) it could be that you've got feather spine-ends working out through the pillow ticking.

Other than that, remember that even short, trimmed nails can scratch.

edited 27th Jan '13 8:21:27 PM by Madrugada

You don't have anything rigid near your head correct? The only thing I can think of would be that your rubbing it against something.

I did hear that depending on the pillow fabric, if it's not covered up correctly, it can cause skin irritations.

Hm, does your pillow have a seam in it? Or a zipper on the cover?

Do you ever sleepwalk?

If your bed is really ghetto it might be a spring poke.

How soundly do you sleep? And, can kittens get into the room? <tries to look innocent>

When I was living in my smaller apartment, I'd use my bed as a sofa. Every once in a while I'd wake up with a grass seed or pointy plant bit poking me.

Come to think... I had a particularly aggressively scratchy blanket, once. Rashes achieved, even through sheets. <wriggles remembering> I think I managed to palm it off onto my brother for use as a disguising chair throw, before he got the sofa replaced...

edited 27th Jan '13 8:53:59 PM by Euodiachloris

These weren't really irritations or rashes, or anything like that. They look exactly like cat scratches.

I guess it could be me scratching myself in my sleep, but I'm a pretty light sleeper, and assume I'd wake up. That and with my face deep in a pillow and one arm tucked under it, it's not like I can scratch myself easily.

I'm thinking maybe pillow seam.

edited 27th Jan '13 9:00:38 PM by Barkey

Scratching yourself is a good a theory as any. Even if you are a light sleeper, you'll hit a deep period of sleep where you can do some crazy stuff without realizing. Especially in the neck-face region. You could be trying to scratch an itch in your sleep and end up doing it too hard.

I have the same issue, Barkey. Scratches like a cat/small dog has gone to town.

I've chalked it up to my toy poodle doing it to me in an effort to wake me up(I'm a heavy sleeper, and could see myself not waking up to such a thing), but some of the locations I've found(usually while taking a shower) made me question it at the time, as I sleep with a shirt on and the shirt doesn't have issues but the scratches appear in locations they really shouldn't(I had a set of three scratch marks almost right down my spine at one point a year ago).

But, since our dog died, and I've gotten more of them... I can't very well suspect the dog anymore... I think the whole "you're doing it to yourself" idea is the most applicable to the situation(but that makes me question the whole "down my spine" aspect even more). And assuming that is the case, I have no idea how to go about stopping it...

edited 27th Jan '13 9:46:58 PM by Swish

I wake up in the morning sometimes with bruises and I can hardly ever figure out where they came from on waking. It takes a while but I can usually trace them to having banged my leg or my arm on something the previous day but not having any sign of it until the following day.

You might have done the same sort of thing, Barkey.

Well I have two theories on how you could of got it.

• You go at night in your sleep and murder people.
• You scratched yourself on a pillow zipper.

Keep us posted.

Wait, we've gotten this far in this thread and nobody's mentioned the...

what was I talking about, exactly?

Sleepscratching. It happens.

I watched CCTV and saw a person diagnosed with sleepwalking (proof via planted cameras) and every night he sleeps, he wails on his own (while sleeping), gets up and paces back and forth (while sleeping) and starts banging on wardrobe and TV (while sleeping) and he wakes up at morning feeling pains without knowing what he did.

I'm pretty sure that isn't what I'm doing. So much random shit and hazardous objects in my room, I'd have tripped and woken up and/or impaled myself on something by now.

There are various degrees though. Same as gnashing teeth y'know? That's one of the lower levels.

Maybe you're having dreams that you're really, really itchy.

Pazuzu.

I would change the pillow out and see if it gets worse or better.

I am anemic on top of being pale as death. My boyfriend swears I must be fighting crime in my spare time for all the horrible bruises I wake up with, and I sleep in a mass of pillows, so it must be self inflicted somehow.

D'you have a cat?

Cats are Mean.

Nah, I don't have any pets.