Nightmares please help me

yourhiddengem

I know this doesn't directly have to do with food or weight but

I have really bad nightmares every night and only get a few hours of sleep. It's influencing every aspect of my life and I don't know what to do. The only solution I've found is to wake up and listen to music but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or suggestions or encouragement?

Sorry if this is dumb. I just feel so destroyed right now. It's 4am here so sorry if this isn't reading smoothly or something. Everyone I know in real life is currently asleep.

pootle1972

I had bad night terrors after my mum passed away and was on the point of collapse as I refused to sleep. The doctor put me on a short course of tablets (they give them to schizophrenics and it quiets down a part of your brain that causes dreams) short term because you do need to dream. They helped enormously. I still get bad dreams occasionally but found not watching horror/phsycoligal terror type programs and meditating a bit before bed has helped to quiet my brain.

Edit for terrible spelling

yourhiddengem

Yeah I only watch funny/stupid tv shows at this point.

Maybe I should call my doctor on Monday. Thank you so much for replying. I don't usually post non food related topics on the boards but everyone I know irl is currently sleeping

pootle1972

You are most welcome....please do see your doctor and DO NOT underplay your symptoms. Be truthful about how many times you wake up tell them that you are scared to sleep and how it is affecting you. You might benefit as well from some therapy to try and pin down the root cause if this is new (ish) thing.

SisterSueGetsFit

Are you possibly taking any medication that could affect it? I know when I took Chantix to quit smoking it gave me nightmares. If you are taking any medications, he may want to carefully read up on the side effects. If this is not the case, I agree you should speak to your doctor. good luck.

ValerieMartini2Olives

I am a lucid dreamer. My dreams are very vivid, very real, very colorful. I can feel everything that happens in a dream. I also get graphic, horrible, painful nightmares. I haven't had one in a while, but I usually get them when I am severely stressed out. Manage your stress. Eat well. Exercise. Learn to wake yourself up a nightmare. It took a while but I can wake myself up from one now. And when you do wake up, make sure you are fully awake. If I don't wake up enough, when I go back to sleep, I go right back into the dream.

StrongLife

If the excellent suggestions from those before me don't help maybe try something that's worked for me. I gave my mind some suggested dream content before falling asleep. I believe dreams are just on interpretation of the deep healing that is needed by everybody. That is why the content is random. Giving suggestions is like you forming a partnership with your inner self. It really did work for me ... but maybe it's the belief that worked.

ObsidianMist

all my life I had nightmares reguarly, multiple times a week most weeks. I didn't realize this wasn't normal until I was in my 20s and talked to some people about it. I've also always had issues with sleeping, I suck at falling asleep and staying asleep, was always waking up multiple times a night so generally never getting good quality sleeps. since getting on medication that helps me fall and stay asleep, I rarely have nightmares anymore. so I figure for me, it was partially to do with the fact that I was sleeping so lightly. I also think it's linked to my mental illness, but that's another story.

robertw486

Frequent nightmares in adults is very indicative of possible PTSD symptoms, though not always. Those with higher anxiety levels, poor sleep habits, and people who go quickly into REM sleep often have more nightmares as well.

In some cases people have nightmares that result in very elevated heart rates and such, and some research shows that this is almost always linked to a traumatic event that has not been fully processed. It seems like overall it's a grey science, and there isn't a lot of agreement withing the medical community.

I know I went through a very long period of essentially no dreams of any sort when the stress levels in my life were very high. This eventually changed to "normal" dreams for a while, and then when my PTSD reared it's head led to insanely violent and graphic nightmares.

If it's keeping you from getting a good nights sleep, it's worth getting in to talk to a doctor about. The longer the cycle continues, the harder it is to break. I usually don't take medications of any kind if I can avoid it, but after the nightmare period accepted that without a sleep aid of some sort it would just get worse and worse. For me just breaking the cycle and getting better sleep for a night or two usually got me back to normal again.

yourhiddengem

robertw486 wrote: »

Frequent nightmares in adults is very indicative of possible PTSD symptoms, though not always.

I have PTSD so it's most likely that.

Thanks for the advice and support everyone. I really appreciate it! Also I didn't have a nightmare last night so that was really nice

robertw486

yourhiddengem wrote: »

robertw486 wrote: »

Frequent nightmares in adults is very indicative of possible PTSD symptoms, though not always.

I have PTSD so it's most likely that.

Thanks for the advice and support everyone. I really appreciate it! Also I didn't have a nightmare last night so that was really nice

For me several types of PTSD therapy helped in the long run. It wasn't real pleasant at times, but facing and dealing with the event(s) that caused the PTSD were in the long run very helpful and in some cases instantly helpful. The Veterans Administration also actually has an app they recommend for some people. But essentially until you fully process the event(s), it's back there in your subconscious mind and will come to the surface when you encounter your personal trigger events.

I'm far from an expert on the subject, but my recommendation based on my experience is to deal with it sooner rather than later, regardless of the cause. I still have ups and downs with it, but overall am much more in control of the situation and see it coming now. When I didn't see it coming, it hit me like a freight train, and I don't want anyone dealing with that if they can avoid it.

GsKiki

Try relaxing before sleep. Drink some nice herbal tea (my favourite is mint and chammomile), light some candles, stretch or do some yoga, and do a relaxing activity like reading, or solving crosswords (I enjoy sudoku every night before I go to sleep.). Also you might be eating too close to your bedtime?
If the reason is not physical, try figuring out what your nightmares mean. Is it something or someone in real life that's causing them?
When you realize the cause you will be able to figure out a solution.

yourhiddengem

Thanks everyone for your help! I've been trying to relax before I sleep and also set up a sleep routine. I'm also trying to give myself suggested dream content as was mentioned on this thread. I think it might have worked last night. I'm also getting help for my PTSD which I think is actually the reason the nightmares came back in the first place tbh. It's bringing back up stuff I thought I had successfully shoved away. If the nightmares continue I'm going to talk to my doctor. Last night was a good night.