Bad Dreams & Gripped By Fear

[BlueOcean]

At night I sometimes have bad dreams and when I wake up, my body is still in the dream. It feels tight & I feel fear. This is accompanied by feeling very hot, literally burning up inside like I've just eaten hot peppers. (I avoid all hot spices/foods.)

Anyone else experience this?

 

[WillyKat]

I have had nightmares, on occasion quite bad. My sleep is rarely truly restful. Most of the time, I can't remember dreams and I think I wake myself up as I start to have nightmares.

But, I do know that nightmares are common PTSD symptoms. So considering how abnormal PTSD it, this is normal. (Boy that sounds pretty messed up.)

Do you remember the dreams / nightmares? Whether you do or do not, you should take them up with your therapist.

Take care!

 

[mamachick]

I have nightmares and feel hot like fevered then cold sweats. Just cant compare to hot peppers.

 

[BlueOcean]

@WillyKat Thanks! I do remember them. Dreams are mostly about me being afraid of other people. Some I've known in past and some I don't know. I believe that the people I don't know are just a release of stress in general. A stress that I don't identify with anyone specific, but rather a culmination of all the stresses appearing in the form of someone I don't know.

@brat17 Thanks for your feedback. Several months ago I would wake up in the night from nightmares sweating. But, I don't any more since working with a Naturopathic dr.

 

[WillyKat]

In a lot of my bad dreams (those I do remember), I was being chased by ... I guess they resemble orcs or something. I don't think I ever had a nightmare where I was being chased or attacked by someone I knew.

 

[Britt.f7]

I've had some bad dreams about my childhood, but I have not waken up any hotter then usual from them that I've noticed. I do know they leave me a bit shaken for the day, even though I know they are just a dream.

 

[BlueOcean]

@WillyKat As a kid I always dremt I was being chased by people who I didn't know. They always wanted to kill me. Reflects the screwed up home I was living in..

@Britt.f7 Some mornings it takes me a couple hours to get fully out of a dream. I just go about my morning routine, eating breakfast and so forth to get me grounded in the real world.

 

[macca]

Yep, I'm having a lot of bad dreams at the moment. Mine are mostly being chased by murderers too, and I usually wake up with my heart racing. I wonder how often people without PTSD dream this type of dream? It would be interesting to know! I've had these dreams on and off as long as I can remember, and found out recently that I'd likely had PTSD from a young age. I guess I never thought about it much before, as I just assumed that my experiences were what everybody had! As a child, I had even thought that flashbacks (which mostly happen at night) were some kind of nightmare-hallucination thing, even though I was awake. I actually thought everyone must have them, horrifying as they were. I had no idea!

 

[BlueOcean]

I just assumed that my experiences were what everybody had!

I use to think this way too!! Then, when my friend started telling me about PTSD and that all my distrust of people, hyper-alertness, ect.. is not normal & is a sign of PTSD. I'm learning more now who to trust and hyper alertness has gotten much better too.