Is my cat having nightmares?

Hi,
Last night I was curled up in the best sleep ever with my furball beside me. then all hell broke loose. I was wide awake had a ton of scratches on my arm and a nice one on my chest. My poor cat was sooo freaked out, he was all confused and looked like a dandelion gone to seed. We were both pretty freaked out actually. No one got anymore sleep last night.
This is the second time this has happened without any apparent cause, I've had my cat since he was a kitten and he is the most blase laid back animal so these "terrors" are really odd for him. I'm wondering if it could be separation anxiety or something like it as I have been gone for extended periods of time and my roomate also just moved and took their cat with them. While I understand the trauma this can cause is this a normal response?
Has anyone experience something similar?

Has anything recently changed in your home? Did the neighbors get a new cat? Have you tried a feliway comfort zone room diffuser?

I'm sorry, I have no advice, but I just had to tell you I laughed myself silly re the comment about a dandelion. I have a vivid imagination and could almost picture it.

Hello, thanks for the reply. Well my roomate moved out and took his cat with him. I've had to leave for family emergenicies a few times due to my mom's health. So it is a pretty stressful situation for him but the first time this happened was a few months back when both roomate and the other cat were still there. what is the Kitty diffuser?

you should picture it using a really fluffy 30 pound Maine Coon if you want a real laugh, he was the size of a beach ball. :-D