Man’s terrifying nightmares were a sign of a fatal brain condition that left him fighting for his life in intensive care

A Kent man’s disturbing nightmares were the first sign he was suffering from a rare and fatal brain disease that left him seriously ill in intensive care.

Ben Tarver, 29, from Folkestone, woke up in the middle of the night on September 11 and told his partner he had experienced something worse than a nightmare.

The hellish dream was of a burning house, which Mr Tarver was ‘trapped’ in, leaving him terrified to go to sleep.

This marked the start of a series of alarming symptoms, including panic attacks, headaches, hallucinations and seizures.

However, after visiting the emergency room twice, doctors sent him home when the scans appeared completely normal.

Doctors didn’t take his condition seriously until months later, when a catastrophic seizure landed him in intensive care.

He was eventually diagnosed with a rare condition called Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis, which occurs when harmful antibodies attack the brain.

However, doctors are currently unclear about the underlying cause of this – usually a brain tumor.

Mr Tarver is currently unable to communicate and is confined to bed at London’s King’s College Hospital – and it is unclear how long he will remain there.

When the ordeal began, his partner Liam Nougher, 26, said: ‘Ben didn’t suffer from anxiety or seizures, but on September 11 he woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream.

“But he explained that it wasn’t just a nightmare, and he felt like he was in the dream.”

Remembering the dream, he said he had been in a house fire and “it felt like reality.”

Mr Nougher added: ‘Afterwards he was afraid to go back to sleep, in case he found himself in this strange reality again.’

Mr Tarver then suffered from 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, to about twelve a day.

And then came a terrifying attack.

“He looked at me, started talking gibberish, and then his body seized up, he fell to the floor and started convulsing and frothing,” Mr. Nougher recalled.

Mr Nougher called 999 and was told to begin CPR because Mr Tarver was not breathing properly.

Paramedics soon arrived and Mr Tarver was taken to hospital where he underwent further scans – but still nothing of concern emerged.

Doctors told him not to return to A&E if there were any further episodes and he was advised to contact his GP after each attack.

He was also told that paramedics could stabilize him if he had further episodes.

Over the next two days, Mr. Tarver experienced audio and visual hallucinations – and suffered another seizure.

On the third day, Mr. Tarver woke up in the middle of the night with a panic attack; he shouted and talked ‘gibberish’.

That night he suffered a third violent attack.

Mr Nougher called 99 again and Mr Tarver was rushed to William Harvey Hospital by ambulance.

His heart rate was over 200 beats per minute – far above a normal resting heart rate of 60 to 100.

Medics desperately tried to stabilize him and had to perform a cardioversion – a procedure used to stabilize an abnormal heart rhythm.

He was then forced to stay in hospital, where teams from psychiatry, cardiology and neurology spent time investigating his baffling case.

Mr Nouger said: ‘During the nine days in the hospital, Ben became extremely paranoid and tried to run away and attack people.

‘His symptoms got so bad that he no longer seemed like himself at all.’

Mr. Nougher had to stay at Mr. Tarver’s bedside day and night in case he tried to escape.

He said: ‘Ben planned escape attempts and sometimes ran away – until he was pinned down.’

Doctors experimented with different medications to control Mr. Tarver’s symptoms.

After three days without having a seizure, he was discharged, but had another “very serious episode” that evening.

Mr Tarver was taken to Kent and Canterbury Hospital, where he was eventually diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis on October 15.

He was later transferred to the intensive care unit at King’s College Hospital in London, where he has remained ever since.

Mr Nougher visits his partner in hospital every day, but the commute from Kent is proving expensive.

A GoFundMe site has been set up to help with travel and accommodation costs during his journey there and back.

Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is a neurological autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in the brain.

The body produces antibodies that fight the NMDA receptors in the brain, disrupting normal brain signaling and causing swelling of the brain or ‘encephalitis’.

Altered mental status, behavioral changes, seizures or seizures, hallucinations and sleep disturbances are all symptoms of the potentially life-threatening autoimmune disease, according to the NHS.

The condition, which affects about one in 1.5 million people each year, is usually caused by tumors.

However, doctors have been unable to find any tumors in Mr. Tarver’s body.

Mr Nougher claims Mr Tarver’s the immune system is very strong and plays against him.

“If he had had a weaker one, he probably would have recovered from this because his body would have given up producing antibodies,” he said.