Recurring Nightmare

[bring em all in]

Another night, the same old nightmare. How many times/for how many years can a person have the SAME frickin' nightmare! It's like the many versions of A Christmas Carol- slight variations of the same plot. And it's been 3 decades of this!

The setting is the same. The conflict is the same. The anxiety and terror are the same.

I thought I'd overcome it when I journaled a while back and shared it with my therapist. I've opened my heart to the source experiences of the dream and bared my soul in discussing them. Shouldn't that be enough?

I've tried reading, watching comedies, meditating, progressive muscle relaxation, chanting meditation, and guided meditation before bed. I've even tried watching horror/suspense TV shows and movies before bed hoping they would at least give me a different nightmare.

I hate to go to bed and when I wake from a nightmare I don't want to go back to sleep. And when I do fall asleep I either continue the nightmare where it left off or start the nightmare over again.

 

[Deleted member 39333]

Another night, the same old nightmare. How many times/for how many years can a person have the...

I have had the same problem for over 35 years. I recently started therapy, and my therapist suggested that I take the start of the nightmare, and then write out a different ending; one in which I am the positive victor in the struggle. Then he told me to write it out by hand several times before I try to sleep, and then when I start the nightmare to try to "channel" it to the new one. It took WEEKS of doing this every night, but it did work. Then when it stopped and the nightmare came back, I just wrote out a different scenario and started again. It doesn't work all of the time, and it did take a while, AND writing it out each night is essential, but it did help sometimes.

 

[Fadeaway]

Thank goodness for Prazosin. I don't of any other way. I lucid dream, but that ability goes right out the window if the dreams are emotionally charged. Nightmares are one of the many yucky parts about PTSD. Even things I feel that I have worked through as much as possible come out in my nightmares.

If you aren't currently on Prazosin, I would talk to your Dr. It is a blood pressure medication that for reasons I don't think they fully understand, also stops nightmares.

 

[bring em all in]

I've taken Prazosin intermittently. It works the first two days or so and then doesn't. It is a nice reprieve every few months, though. And when I was in a day hospital program many people said it worked wonders for them.