Things that Moan and Groan in the Night

I thought that title would get your attention.  :-)  But no... I'm talking about the beloved Zephyr.  Since last summer sometimes Zephyr moans and groans during his sleep, mostly during the night when I'm trying to sleep.  He didn't do this before he got encephalitis, or a least not to this extent.  I thought I would describe this and then maybe some of you could tell me if any of your dogs do a similar thing.

First let me say that I really don't think it's dreaming.  It seems to only happen when he moves while sleeping, like when he rolls over, stretches out, any type of body adjustment.  A lot of the time it sounds to me like he is uncomfortable or somehow frustrated, sometimes it just sounds like a normal groan.  Sometimes it is so loud that it wakes me up, and that's when the worrying can set in.  You see, in the couple days that Zephyr was sick before we made the mad dash to the neurology center in Phoenix and I found out that he had encephalitis, he was groaning when he tried to sleep because his head hurt.  In addition, I was alerted to everyone of Zephyr's seizures because each began with a very loud kind of groan/yell.

Hence, I have spent many sleepless nights worrying that he is groaning because the encephalitis is coming back.  Luckily everyone of those nights has been greeted with a happy boy who vigorously shakes his head with no pain and goes about wagging his tail.  I try to remind myself of this during the sleepless nights, but there is no logic at 2:30 in the morning.  Oh yes, and there are the few times that I've thought he was having a seizure, thrown the covers off, flew out of bed only to scare the crap out of the animals, sending them flying up and standing there looking at me as if to say "What The Hell Are You Doing, Crazy Lady!!!"

I have a few ideas for why he might be doing this.  I first noticed it in July when I reduced his prednisone and I noticed it happen in December and January when I reduced it.  Even though I did small reductions, 1.25mg, spaced at least 2 weeks apart I think for the first one or two nights it made him achy and maybe that's why he would groan.  For a week now he's only been taking the 5mg of prednisone in the morning.  A lot of the time it does sound like a groan from being achy.  And, I read that when people reduce prednisone it can make them feel not so great and achy because the body has to get used to going back to producing it's own cortisone.  The night after he had his first big run in the snow in the forest he was very moany and groany.  So I figured that was from the fact that it's a lot more work for him to run in pretty deep snow and he was probably stiff and achy from that.  He did seem a little stiff in the morning after that.  But what about the nights that don't follow a prednisone reduction or heavy playing or running?  And what about the nights that he doesn't moan and groan?  Are some dogs just moany and groany when they sleep?  Zephyr is generally a pretty vocally expressive guy, he can really talk it up and tell you what he thinks.  Could the seizure med. do funny things?  Any one have experiences like this or any ideas?