Afraid Of Sleep

[SadBunny]

I keep feeling like if I fall asleep i will have a nightmare. My nightmares scare me alot. Most of them are really vivid and it leave me thinking about them all day. My theripist has me write them down in a dream journal type thing so we can talk about them. I guess it does help to talk about them but i'm still afraid to fall sleep and have another nightmare. My boyfriend tries to be supportive and listen to me when i talk about them and he will talk to me when i wake up in the middle of the night. I still cant help being afraid to sleep and have the nightmares. I know that i wont have one every single time i fall asleep but it's not enough for me i guess. Any one else know what this is like?

 

[atl22]

Yes, I feel exactly like that. That's why I have been working myself to exhaustion for the last 20 years. It's just not working anymore because I am engaged and I must learn to control my anger or she will leave me. If she leaves me, I will be on the subway back home in 10 minutes right back where I was traumatized and I would probably last 6 months, maybe.

I remember most of my nightmares, at least what they were about. I am really disturbed that I do not remember when she wakes me up and talks to me. On the positive side, I say funny ass things when I "wake up", although I don't really wake up. I kicked a fan across the room in my sleep and told her "What's the ruckus?!? I'm trying to sleep over here!" (It was a really, really good Wing Chun kick! Really proud of that one! Nice heel connection!)

She talks to me and tells me I'm having a nightmare but I don't remember any of it. I'm thinking of asking her to give me a cold, wet cloth so I can put in on my face and really wake up. We actually talk, I acknowledge that I am having a nightmare, roll over, and I go right back into my nightmare. She wakes me up again. She has learned to back up and keep out of swinging distance because my dreams are violent and I sit up, make clenched fists, and get ready to attack. I have never hit her in my sleep, which I am proud of, but that possibility is always there. That makes me really afraid because I have been studying violence since I was 7.

Anyway, I'm hoping therapy will help me. It must. What I am doing now is not sustainable.

 

[ronin47]

Oh gosh, that's something I'm more familiar with than I'd care to admit. Nightmares are usually a manifestation of stress that is going on in your waking life. I had horrendous nightmares when it was sprung on me that I was going to see the stepfather that molested me for the first time in many months when I went home for Thanksgiving. Contending with your problems by talking about them with people and reducing anxiety in your day to day life hopefully will help you sleep better.

 

[Cheshire]

Very familiar with this, unfortunately. I used to go to extreme lengths to avoid going to sleep at night because I was so scared of the nightmares I'd have.

A previous psychologist I was seeing suggested something that's been somewhat useful for me. Along with the dream journal thing, she had me write a set of.. affirmations, I guess, or instructions for myself to read before bed. I wrote things like: Yes, you will have a nightmare. Yes, they're scary. No, they're not real. No, they can't hurt you. Really simplistic stuff, but the theory was that I would acknowledge before I even went to sleep that there was the possibility that I would have a nightmare, that there was nothing I could actually do to prevent it, but that when I woke up I would still be safe and alive.

I don't know if this is helpful for anyone else at all, but it has helped me a little. To be honest, the nightmares haven't eased off in the slightest, but at least I can convince myself to actually go to sleep now, and when I have nightmares, I wake up, I get up and out of bed and get a glass of water or sit and read for 10 minutes or have a smoke (not that I'm condoning smoking... :cautious: ) or something to break the feeling of being in bed and surrounded by my dreams, and then I go back to bed and start the whole process again. Like I said, not a cure, but a coping mechanism for me.

 

[Bordo66]

I'm glad if I fall asleep at all, had an awesome sleep this night. feels good tbh,

btw I used to scream in my sleep for no reason when I was younger, I think I know why...

 

[Tosh]

I do know what this is like! Nightmares have been a constant struggle for me. So has getting to sleep and staying asleep. Some nights I don't think I sleep much at all. I am going to try something new, my therapist told me to try and put a happy ending onto the nightmare. She said to stay in that half awake state and daydream a good ending. I wonder if this will help?

 

[Abbi]

Very familiar with this, unfortunately. I used to go to extreme lengths to avoid going to sleep at night because I was so scared of the nightmares I'd have.

Yes, yes! My nightmares were/are either really weird or like 1st person reliving stuff, including waking up with physical pains related to the dreamed about trauma.

I don't have nearly as many nightmares as I did at one point. I came up with a new problem...I actually tell myself in my sleep "ok wake up if you sleep much longer you will have bad dreams". Literally my mind tells me to wake up. Subconscious staying out of REM sleep perhaps?

Now I sleep in the small spurts 25-45 min at the time. So frustrating, and yea I'm exhausted all the time. There are some early studies of Prazosin and sleep/nightmares. Its FDA approved for hypertension, not for PTSD or sleep disorders. More conservative pdocs may be somewhat skeptical to prescribe.

 

[livergirl70]

I remember being like that too scared to sleep because of the dreams. I just had short naps of about 30 - 60 mins at a time, it's enough to re-energise but not long enough to dream if you have 6 or 7 of these naps through the day you do not feel like a zombie. I then lengthened the nap time to about 1-2 hrs at a time

 

[IchBin]

So used to nightmares myself I can't even quantify how many I've had. Recently I started keeping a dream journal (because I am seeing a dream therapist) and doing this can be pretty helpful. Especially if you're in therapy sometimes you can see elements changing for the better before your (mental) eyes, pretty cool! But yeah, they get incredibly complicated and terrifying in any number of wildly creative ways, I can totally relate to that. And the worst part is that, even when I seem to get enough sleep hours-wise, the nightmares make the next day kinda crappy. I don't know what that is - a creeped out brain I guess?

 

[Bordo66]

So went to bed @2;30am and fell asleep with some music in 30 minutes but I'm now awake almost 6 hours later because of a nightmare AGAIN! so I have 2 questions here.

1. Does every1 wake up like in those movies where your lying in bed and your eyes just pop open?

2. Does every1 have to fight for their lifes in their nightmares?

Thanks in advance

 

[hazen]

Well I can't speak to the nightmares too much from personal experience... I've had a few but never consistently. The few I've had have been memorable enough that I wish I could forget them.

My problem is getting to sleep... for me, laying in bed is the terrifying part. I lay in bed terrified every night without fail. It wears on me. I listen to my wife sleep and sometimes just cry wishing I could.

Anyway, as far as nightmare help: I once got advice from someone who had studied dreams and sleep a lot. She said that if I'm having a dream where I'm being attacked I should try to do something silly in my dream like hug the attacker. She really felt that people should try to act assertively in their dreams and take control of them. It all sounds easier said than done of course, but I like the idea of trying to view your dreams in not a passive way. I do recall having a few dreams myself where I become aware that I'm dreaming and try to start doing silly things within the dream. Just not consistently.

I hope that doesn't all sound too ridiculous. I'm so sorry that everyone is having such a hard time with sleep... I know how you feel.

 

[AngelaMarie]

I do become afraid of falling asleep. Something about the night really scares me. If the nightmares and fears become too much I have noticed I sleep better in the day. I don't have as many nightmares then.