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Anyone else experience this? Cannot remember dreams, but remember nightmares?

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Renly

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So throughout my life I’ve never been able to remember the majority of my dreams. The ones I remember are all nightmares and have recurring themes/imagery, but I maybe remember 1 dream a month, if that.

I do wake up in panic multiple times per night (especially recently now that I’m in therapy and facing my trauma) and sleep has been a challenge.

I used to get so mad at my siblings when I was a kid and they would share their dreams the next morning and I never had anything to share. I felt so left out! But now I’m kinda grateful since I sincerely cannot remember even 1 single pleasant dream in my life. The nightmares are awful.

Anyone else have trouble remembering dreams, but have physical sensations (like panic) as if you were experiencing a nightmare?
 
I very rarely remember my dreams - but I'm known for leaping out of bed and punching anyone who tries to touch me until I'm fully awake. Ya -- poor hubby. Only took him a couple times before he learned to call my name to wake me up instead of trying to hug me 😁
 
Definitely. I do all sorts of stuff while I'm asleep and if the doona ends up back to front and upside down it's been a quiet night!

Typically, people go through a few sleep cycles per night that include the dreaming state, so it's likely most people have 3-4 dreams on an average night sleep.

Whether or not we remember our dreams tends to be related to the pace we come out of the dreaming state of our sleep cycle, rather than anything to do with the content of our dreams. And that rate varies from one person to the next.

My personal attitude? Is the dreams I remember? Are friggin awful, usually traumatic, and I'm grateful not to start the day with that on my mind. I wake frequently during the night, and will often wake with a dream/nightmare still in my consciousness, and I try and get straight back to sleep most times so that I don't remember by the morning.
 
I remember most of my dreams, but they are usually extremely vivid and detailed, like a lived experience. My therapist says I should sell the movie rights! If I'm in an ok place I may have dreams I don't remember in the morning, but that's rare. I've learned to let dreams go in the morning, unless they were "psychologically significant", in which case I email my therapist about them!
 
Yup. I very very rarely remember anything about dreams. I could even wake myself in the beginning of a nightmare. I do dream, I just can't remember any of it when I wake.
I have mentioned it to my T. She said interesting and asked me a few questions but we haven't done anything further.

Very much like @Frieda in waking moments. I think in my last hospital stay I scared off at least half a dozen nurses. Not just scared off - sent several running and screaming from my bedside. I had no knowledge of my trauma at that time but I do know they pretty much refused to put the IV in my left hand so they got what they deserved in my opinion.
 
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I remember nightmares but "normal" dreams, nope. I just don't. Some of what I remember maybe don't qualify as full on nightmares but stress dreams, I suppose.And then there's day like today. Don't remember any dreams but woke up with body memories. Have no idea what was going on my sleep to lead to that.
 
I remember nightmares but "normal" dreams, nope. I just don't. Some of what I remember maybe don't qualify as full on nightmares but stress dreams, I suppose.And then there's day like today. Don't remember any dreams but woke up with body memories. Have no idea what was going on my sleep to lead to that.
I have a lot of body memories as well. Pretty much all the time 😑

For those that can't remember dreams, how long has it been since your first trauma?

For me, 45 years.
My first known trauma I was about 6 years old (I’m early 30’s now), but I suspect I have earlier trauma that I don’t remember based on trauma info from my older sibling…although not confirmed.
 
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