A Kent man’s disturbing night terrors were the first sign he was suffering a rare and deadly brain disease that’s left him critically ill in intensive care.
Ben Tarver, 29, from Folkestone, awoke in the middle of the night on September 11 and told his partner that he had experienced something worse than a nightmare.
The hellish dream featured a burning house, which Mr Tarver was ‘trapped’ in, and left him terrified of going to sleep.
This marked the beginning of a cascade of alarming symptoms, including panic attacks, headaches, hallucinations, and seizures.
However, after visiting A&E twice, doctors sent him home when scans appeared completely normal.
Medics only took his condition seriously months later, when a catastrophic seizure landed him in intensive care.
He was finally diagnosed with a rare condition called Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis, which occurs when harmful antibodies attack the brain.
However, doctors are currently unclear as to the underlying cause of this — which is typically a brain tumour.
Ben Tarver, 29, from Folkestone, Kent, (pictured) awoke in the middle of the night after he experienced something worse than a nightmare
He stared to experience panic attacks, headaches, hallucinations, and even seizures in the coming weeks, but doctors were unable to figure out what was wrong when he went to A&E
Mr Tarver is currently unable to communicate and bedbound at London’s King’s College Hospital — and it is unclear how long he will remain there.
Discussing when the ordeal began, his partner Liam Nougher, 26, said: ‘Ben didn’t suffer from anxiety or seizures but then on September 11, he woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream.
‘But he explained it wasn’t just a nightmare — and felt like he was inside the dream.’
When he recalled the dream he said he had been in a house fire and ‘it felt like reality’.
Mr Nougher added: ‘After that, he was scared of going back to sleep in case he went back into this weird reality.’
Mr Tarver then began experiencing headaches and panic attacks and went to A&E where he was given a CT scan and nothing abnormal was found.
But a few days later, his panic attacks became more frequent, reaching around 12 a day.
And then came a terrifying seizure.
His partner Liam Nougher, 26, (pictured) called 999 when Mr Tarver experienced his first seizure
Mr Tarver was rushed to the William Harvey Hospital via ambulance when he suffered his third seizure
‘He looked at me, started talking gibberish, and then his body seized up, he fell to the ground, and started spasming and frothing,’ recalled Mr Nougher.
Mr Nougher dialed 999 and was told to start CPR as Mr Tarver wasn’t breathing correctly.
Paramedics soon arrived and Mr Tarver was taken to hospital where he had more scans — but still nothing worrying showed up.
Doctors told him not to return to A&E if there were further episodes and he was advised that his GP should be contacted after each seizure.
He was also told that paramedics would be able to stabilise him if he had other episodes.
Over the next two days, Mr Tarver started having audio and visual hallucinations — and suffered another seizure.
On the third day, Mr Tarver awoke in the middle of the night suffering a panic attack — he was screaming and talking ‘gibberish’.
That night he suffered a third violent seizure.
Doctors experimented with different medications to help manage Mr Tarver’s symptoms. After he went three days without having a seizure, he was discharged — but then had another ‘really severe episode’ that night
Mr Tarver was transferred to Kent and Canterbury Hospital where he was finally diagnosed on October 15 with Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis. He was later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at King’s College Hospital in London, where he has remained since
Mr Nougher called 99 again and Mr Tarver was rushed to the William Harvey Hospital via ambulance.
His heart rate was more than 200 beats per minute — far above a normal resting heart rate of 60 to 100.
Medics desperately tried to stabilise him and had to perform a cardioversion — a procedure used to stabilise an abnormal heart rhythm.
He then had to remain in hospital where teams in psychiatry, cardiology, and neurology spent time looking into his perplexing case.
Mr Nougher said: ‘Across the nine days in hospital Ben became extremely paranoid and was trying to run away and attack people.
‘His symptoms got so bad he didn’t seem like himself at all.’
Mr Nougher had to stay at Mr Tarver’s bedside at all hours of the day and night in case he tried to flee.
He said: ‘Ben was planning escape attempts and did run away sometimes — until he was pinned down.’
Mr Nougher has been visiting his partner in hospital every day but the commute from Kent is proving expensive
Doctors experimented with different medications to help manage Mr Tarver’s symptoms.
After three days without having a seizure, he was discharged — but then had another ‘really severe episode’ that night.
Mr Tarver was transferred to Kent and Canterbury Hospital where he was finally diagnosed on October 15 with Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis.
He was later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at King’s College Hospital in London, where he has remained since.
Mr Nougher has been visiting his partner in hospital every day but the commute from Kent is proving expensive.
A GoFundMe site has been set up to help with the travel and accommodation costs as he journeys back and forth.
Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis is a neurological autoimmune disease which causes inflammation of the brain.
The body creates antibodies that fight the NMDA receptors in the brain, disrupting normal brain signaling, causing brain swelling or ‘encephalitis’.
An altered mental state, behavioural changes, seizures or fits, hallucinations and sleep disturbances are all symptoms of the potentially life threatening autoimmune disorder, according to the NHS.
The condition, which affects about one in 1.5 million people per year, is typically triggered by tumours.
However, doctors have been unable to find any tumours in Mr Tarver’s body.
Mr Nougher claims Mr Tarver’s immune system is very strong which is playing against him.
‘If he had a weaker one, he likely would have recovered from this as his body would have given up producing antibodies,’ he said.
