Tantruming when waking from a nap, should I be worried?

[Flower of Bliss]

DD is 3.5 years old. She's given up naps in the last 6 months. Lately, if she falls asleep in the car and I carry her in, she tends to wake up and have a tantrum. I've assumed that was because she was overtired and woke up disoriented, and so I wasn't too worried about it. I've done my best to help her through it and moved on.

However, lately she's been tantruming anytime she falls asleep in the middle of the day, even if I don't wake her. Today, during "quiet time" she actually curled up on her bed and fell asleep I didn't wake her, though I planned to make sure she didn't sleep for too long. She woke up, and came into me crying and crying. She asked to be held, she was shaking violently, shaking her hands, running around, throwing herself onto the ground, asking to be held, asking to be put down, screaming and crying. It was kind of scary. She's done this one other time recently (two weeks ago?) after falling asleep during quiet time after about 3 hours of park play, but today was not nearly so strenuous. I helped her through it, held her when she wanted, put her down when she wanted, and eventually gave her a rescue remedy chew. She eventually settled down, and we had a nice time reading books and such However, I can't shake the concern that something is WRONG.

Has anyone else gone through this?

[sbgrace]

How long is she sleeping? We had that with my son and it was lowish blood sugar levels. Some people are very sensitive to fluctuations and have a point where they are very affected. For my son it was in the 70's if I remember right. Everytime he had one of those episodes his blood sugar was w/in a few points of the same number. I've had adults tell me that when they get to their number they are very much out of sorts and not themselves. Anyway, fueling him up before naps and then getting something in him to raise it immediately after helped (a bite of applesauce, a squirt of juice, etc.). He didn't have a problem in mornings because, presumably, he was lower than the point that triggered him.

Next time this happens I'd try to get something that will quickly raise her blood sugar in her. It might be hard when she's in that state (it was for my son...we would syringe juice like medicine). He would very quickly go back to normal once he got the juice. If she responds/stabilizes I'd be looking at it as a blood sugar issue.

[MaterPrimaePuellae]

My DD is almost 3. Until the past couple of months, she has always taken one brief nap a day (45 min-1 hr). Recently, though, she has been sleeping for 2- 2.5 hour stretches (!) at a time. She's going through a lot of emotional/physical development, which (I think) is why she needs the extra sleep.
Anyway, if she wakes up after 45 mins-1 hour, she has nasty tantrums (or at least long episodes of whiny, clingy behavior) almost immediately. So, if I were you, I might be encouraging naps again. It sounds to me (just from the small description you've given-- I could be wrong) like she needs more sleep.