Nightmares as an adult. Anybody find something that helps?

How do you feel about lucid dreaming? I rarely have night terrors, so I'm sorry they happen to you. I usually know that I'm dreaming and can take control if things go wonky. A last resort is *kitten*.

Don't eat before bed if you don't do that already. I dunno. I have nightmares ever since 2 years ago when I almost died in a house fire with my daughters. I wake up with panic attacks. Not fun. I find though, when I talk my sleeping pills, I'm more calm and they don't happen as often, or same with my anxiety medication. Not that I'm saying meds are the way to go, just what helps me with mine.

You are not alone. I suffer from very bad/disturbing dreams that affect me even after I wake up. From feeling like I never slept at all, or having a difficult time reassuring myself that what I experienced was in fact just a dream. I have found therapy has helped tremendously as well as avoiding sugar before bed.

People who suggest to enjoy them don't understand what a truly horrifying dream is. They are not like regular dreams, they are not mini movies. Usually with a dream your subconscious as well as your conscious brain state is aware at least to some degree that you are in fact asleep.

These dreams completely fool your subconscious as well as your conscious brain as to what is real. Now that may sound "fun" to people who haven't experienced it, I can tell you it is not fun at all.

They can be very dangerous to anyone who tries and wake, or console you. I have gone so far as attacking people trying to wake me or stop me from shouting, thinking that my life was in danger. Therapy is key. In my case, I suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and facing and dealing with my trauma has helped alot.

I went through a really bad patch when my ex and I split up. I was having nightmares that someone would break into the house in the night (because I was living on my own after he left) I started taking some tablets called Karms (I think) it was like a herbal way of reducing stress and anxiety before bedtime. I also try and meditate as much as possible to some calm music this helps to calm you down. I know it sounds weird but maybe buy a dream catcher, I am not saying they work but your mind will make you think like the catcher does work, if that makes sense?

i have nightmares too; really bad. then i practiced lucid dreaming and it kind of helps them a lot. you should pick a time of day where you arent tired at ALL and lay down, and try to go to sleep. you`ll slip into this weird kind of half sleep/half awake realm where you can dream but KNOW that youre dreaming, and practice controlling your dreams so that way when you finally DO sleep, you have the tools to control the nightmare.

sometimes i sleep with the light on so that i can wake up easier if i am in a nightmare. then once i am awake i get up and make sure i am FULLY awake so i dont go back to sleep and have that nightmare again.

limit caffeinated beverages, definitely. also maybe if you have a hot cup of caffeinated chamomile and honey tea before you go to bed, it will help you? its more calming than anything. good luck babe!

Seek counseling. They may refer you to a medical doctor for medications to help what ever imbalance that is causing your nightmares- but you should do something about it; it is not healthy to continue on with disturbed sleep. Best wshes!

^^ YES!! YES!! YES^^^
Are you anxious, depressed, stressed out...? Are you taking medication?

cognitive behavioral therapy, melatonin, dream catchers, journaling before bed, meditation. i have nightmares often as well. i am so sorry! good luck!

I have a weird question, based on my own experience with nightmares...

My nightmares were not the kind that involve horrible things happening. Typically, the subject of my dream was some anonymous person, usually doing nothing scary; but for some reason, in my head during the dream, that person's presence or otherwise innocuous behavior would be interpreted as extremely aggressive and endangering to me. There was never anyone else I care about in the dream. And usually in my dream I felt like I had woken up in the room I was asleep in, and this person was not supposed to be there. Then I would let out a blood-curdling fat lady scream (no offense intended) that would give my wife a heart attack.

The funny thing is, even though I was terrified in my dream and screamed (every single time) to the point that my scream woke every living thing up within a 5 block radius, by the time this happened 6 or 7 times, I got to the point that I started laughing when I did wake up because I could hear myself screaming that way... and it was ridiculous, based on what just happened in the dream.

I could go into details of the dreams, but most people would be bored to tears here, I'm sure... Freud or some other dream symbolism fanatic would probably have a field day with them though. ;-)

Sooo... my question is, is there anything specifically scary happening in your dreams? Or are you just terrified while you have the dream?

Actually sometimes nightmares can be caused by an allergy... I knew someone growing up who was allergic to Red#40 (one of the food colorings used in a lot of candies and things) and he had terrible nightmares whenever he had something with that in it. I saw a previous poster had mentioned gluten... also might have been an allergy effect.

I think all of the pillow turning, green olives, moon stones, etc are placebo effect. Lavender would help soothe you and help you to fall asleep but I'm not sure it would help get you to deep sleep.

Melatonin is generally accepted as a harmless natural sleep aid... you may try that to see if maybe it takes you into deeper sleep. I have taken it in the past and haven't had any ill effects.