Dreaming About Disasters And Catastrophic Events

[Sideways]

For me, I just take on the idea that my nightmares reflect my level of cognitive distress. I assume that with time, they'll ease as I progress through my recovery and my overall level of cognitive distress subsides.

I appreciate that you don't want to talk about the alcohol, but I'm not really sure that it works like that with self-medication. I'm not aware of too many (if any) ptsd symptoms that can be treated in isolation- the way that we're looking after ourselves is always very relevant. It could be as simple as the fact that the days that you don't drink are the days that you're giving your brain a chance to process some of its distress. Any form of temporary "numbing" of symptoms, in my experience, doesn't actually help you make headway long term...

 

[Deleted member 34060]

@jacx: did you get Risperdal for sleep ? AFAIK this is not meant to help sleeping. And yes, I can relate to your frustration about not being heard ...

@ragdoll: I hear you. And you're probably right. It's just that ... I can't cope with those dreams very well and I'm actually real scared about them. But maybe you're right that I have to let it happen. But will it ever stop ... ?

 

[Sideways]

It will stop at some point. I don't know when, but my head isn't going to be a messed up warzone forever:)

 

[Deleted member 34060]

It will stop at some point. I don't know when, but my head isn't going to be a messed up warzone forever:)

As we say over here: "Your word in god's ear !"

 

[cat-lady]

I don't want to derail this, but I had this exact dream yesterday. I was in a pavilion by the sea en...

Air, I'm not sure what your dream means. Water can symbolize a lot of things to a lot of people. In my experience when I have dreams about water, the area above the surface symbolizes my conscious mind and the area below the surface of the water symbolizes the rest of my mind. Sometimes I'm afraid of what's below the surface, sometimes I'm trying to see what's below the surface.

FrankM, I notice you mention a lot of modes of transportation in your catastrophic dreams like bikes, trains, and planes. I have a lot of dreams about transportation too. I can usually link them up to my feelings about where I'm going in my life and/or where others are going in their lives. I'm not sure if this is the same for you or not. Also, most of the time I can get bad recurring dreams to go away by figuring out what my mind was trying to tell me with them. I hope that helps!

 

[cat-lady]

So, it has been a couple of years now that if I don’t drink any alcohol I just don’t sleep. I can stay up all night if I want and read or do whatever. Weird thing is that during the following day I’m not tired at all. In earlier times when I didn’t get at least 6 hours of sleep then the follwowing I day I would be extremely tired, yawning all day.

Also, FrankM, I have no medical training, but the fact that you're not tired at all the next day if you don't sleep sounds to me like you might need to get checked for a chemical imbalance, especially if that's not always the way it was for you. I had a friend with a chemical imbalance and one of the side effects was intense insomnia. Not sure if that's the case for you but it seems like something physical is going on if you're not tired at all the next day. If so you might be in luck because you might be able to take care of it without alcohol if you get some safe medication to balance it back out. Good luck with it!

 

[Deleted member 34060]

FrankM, I notice you mention a lot of modes of transportation in your catastrophic dreams like bikes, trains, and planes. I have a lot of dreams about transportation too. I can usually link them up to my feelings about where I'm going in my life and/or where others are going in their lives.

You could be very well about this. I've never seen it that way, but now that I think about it ... this is a very good point for me to think about, thanks a lot !!!

 

[Deleted member 34060]

I had a friend with a chemical imbalance and one of the side effects was intense insomnia

Do you happen to have more details about what exactly was wrong about your friend and what helped him ? That would be very helpful, thanks !

 

[Deleted member 34060]

Little update: last night I tried for the first time "Wick MediNait" before going to sleep. In the US this is branded as "Vick NyQuil". It is supposed to help againt cold/flu symptoms, but it also works as a mild sleeping aid. So, without having consumed any alcohol, I took about 1/3 of the recommended dose before going to bed and it worked just fine. I fell asleep pretty soon without jolting up and I slept through for a good 7 hours. At the end of the night I had some quite vivid dreams, but not terrifiying.

You aren't supposed to take this for an extended time, but hey, at least I found something that worked for me. And now, not having had any booze I feel real great this morning !!!

 

[cat-lady]

Hi FrankM, sorry, I don't know what was wrong with my friend. I know that medication helped her but I don't know what kind.

Also, you can get the sleep stuff you are taking without the extra medicine for cold/flu symptoms and this is safer to take long term. I use it all the time. Here it is branded as zzzquil or unisom but I'm not sure what it would be called where you are. Here is an example: Link Removed

I couldn't tell you if this is safe to take long term but at least it is safer to take long term than the stuff with the extra medicine in it. I hope that helps :)

 

[Deleted member 34060]

Dear cat-lady,

thanks a lot for your reply. As for your friend: if you should ever get in touch with her, you would do me a great favour if you would ask her. OTOH, the hormonal systems of men and women are a lot different. But still, I would love to hear more.

I looked up the unisom and as far as I can tell, the diphenhydramine that it contains is pretty much the same. But thanks a lot for the hint !!!
It's just that I happy I found something that works for me. I don't intend to use it all the time but it's a good feeling that there is something I can use in case I can't sleep at all or I keep on having bad nightmares.

Thanks a lot !

 

[cat-lady]

Good luck with the sleeping issues! I have not heard from that friend for a while but if I can get back in touch with her I will let you know.