Approach To Preventing My Girlfriends Nightmares?

[Tim218]

My girlfriend is vocal in her sleep and I can often times wake up and hear her struggling with a nightmare. When this happens I move around a bit in bed or poke her sometimes. It seems to quell her moaning and since I've been doing it, she hasn't woken up in a terror. Has anyone else tried this? Im just curious if it could actually be helping...

 

[Friday]

It can be sublimely helpful... It can also be wicked dangerous.

I've lashed out in my sleep more times than I can count, and I've come awake -still in a nightmare- in response to external stimuli. Conversely, sleeping with combat types, I've also woken up being part of someone else's nightmare. Thank god for partial sleep paralysis, or my throat would have been crushed on a few occasions, not that it didn't hurt but could have definitely been worse. I've also gotten some stellar bruises as well as a broken nose to add to my collection from knees, elbows, fists, and one head butt. Not how I like to wake up, but sudden pain is better than sudden cessation of oxygen. Especially since peeling hands and forearms away enough to talk usually results in bruises, anyway. Dude! Wake the f*ck up! I can't breathe, here. You soooooo owe me dinner for a week. And I'm not doing dishes this month, period. C'mon. Help me set this. Sigh. My poor battered nose. All stunted and lumpy. But they always mean to hurt me as much as I mean to hurt them... Aka not at all.

Doesn't mean it's not still dangerous, though, just cause it's not meant. I have a firm rule of nothing that can be used as a weapon (no lamps, cords, pens, bedside tables, etc.) within arms reach when I'm in a bad place and sleeping in the same bed with anyone.

The upside to sleeping with someone is that they do nix about 99.9 bar % of my nightmares. The sublimely helpful part. The downside is the risk of my hurting them in my sleep, or being woken badly.

 

[Kintsugi]

I know that some sufferers can be violent when woken. I used to be. I haven't been in years. When my partner nudges me/wakes me ever so slightly to say it's okay, I typically feel much better, although sometimes I go back into sleep right back to the same nightmare. Nevertheless, I so appreciate it.

 

[Sweetpea76]

I do the same thing with my sufferer. It seems to be working for now, so we'll roll with it until it doesn't.

 

[Antidote]

I haven't woken up from a nightmare in months (I'm quite relieved for now), but my boyfriend used to come to bed later than me and he found when I was in a nightmare rubbing my back amd telling me everythings ok and its just him worked wonders, half the time I wouldn't even wake up the dream would just change.