Anxiety Increasing Nightmares

[CBatheart]

So obviously I am here because I have experienced a traumatic event. In my case, 3 major earthquakes and hundreds of small ones.

I keep having nightmares about new traumatic events in places that I go to regularly: school, home, the pharmacy and gym. Sometimes they are about earthquakes, other times they are not.

I had one this morning at 6 am. I was in the pharmacy we always go to and 3 people came in. 2 males and 1 female with an AK47 Tactical gun. They made me put blue tape (which I have for sports injuries) over my mouth and sit in the corridor by the lift. The female disappeared and came down the lift (it was a bit mixed up) and the doors had holes through them. She walked up to me and said "I had a shooting spree" in a nasty low voice. The other people in the store had blurry faces and were few and far between. Then I was taken outside and shot multiple times and I saw myself from in front of my body, chest up with blood running down my chin (not the first time I've thrown up blood ) and I was singing one of those songs that they play in movies when someone is shot. A sad song sung by a female. Before I died, I thought that I would never get to speak to my family or my mentor friend overseas but then I said this is the best thing for me and I got to chose whether I fell on my back or my front. I had control over what happened but at the same time, I had no control over it.

I woke up (had to mentally drag myself from the nightmare) in shock and stared at the ceiling for 50 minutes. Then I cried and continued crying and was too frightened to go back to sleep. I finally went back to sleep when I had both cats on my bed, my music playing, my lamp on, and my special lavender teddy next to my head.

This nightmare was different from all the others. I can't explain it but the atmosphere of it was different. Because I dream up new traumatic events, it seems to add to my anxiety or creates a false world/anxiety. It worries me.

Any advice for how to come back down from panicking from a nightmare or has anyone had nightmares like this? I'm really confused :confused:and honestly scared to go back to sleep. :eek:

 

[Jenfa]

Those nightmares are the scariest because they come from a place that seems so much bigger than us. A natural event is something that leaves people feeling very, very small. Feeling helpless, or small in the grand scale of an earthquake is so normal. The nightmares reflect that helpless feeling. For example, I worry about if my son will make it in life on his own, or will need assistance. It worries me to the point where my dream shows me an aquarium (I'm a fishkeeper) with many beautiful fish.. until one huge fish comes along and begins to eat all of the other ones. The big fish is my baby, too.. so what do I do? It's a mental puzzle that will sort itself out eventually, but you need some good sleep first. Melatonin? Something very mild and relaxing might help, and it doesn't leave a hangover so you can take it in the very middle of the night and still be able to function in the morning.