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Feelings In Nightmares?

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I had a traumatic event in October of 2013. I was detained with 28 others by police for one hour surrounded by cops in riot gear. We go to court in February but it is preliminary. I had some mild PTSD symptoms (as found in many symptoms checklists out there) and my symptoms placed me in the mild to moderate range according to these online tests. Anyway, to the subject of dreams. I dreamt that I was going into a subway station and there were two rito police with huge rocket launchers and I did feel afraid in the dream.
 
Yes,

I'm not sure whether mine are phantom pains, somatic flashback or just due to me being totally pissed off about what happened.

I got a big lot pain a few weeks back the morning after I remembered a series of triggerings from when I was between the ages of about 9 to 11 (about 40 years ago), and made the realization that what I'd felt back then was triggering.

I have no conscious memory of the original event (I was too young), but the results are clearly visible, so I know that it happened. I think the pain a few weeks ago was my body letting me know that there is a trauma there which needs addressing when I'm ready to do it.
 
Yes. Not every night but a few a week I am woken up by gagging, and then vomiting. Part of the rape and it goes on and on. I try deep breathing during, sometimes I can get a breath and another. My dog I focus on her as she is upset by this. 3-4Am, pet and soothe her and it helps me, try to read, then take her for a long walk at dawn. During the day I can sometimes keep the panic at bay. Not yet found a way to keep it out of my sleep.
 
Yep, happens to me too. One of the most annoying symptoms ever. But I'm glad to have moved through it being emotionally and physically devastating to it being just another symptom to navigate. Hopefully you are doing some processing work on your trauma; that has been the only thing that alleviated certain aspects of nightmares, for me.
 
Joeylittle, What processing work has helped you. Please be specific. Traumas are old, but I have to find a path, just keeping it all at bay is not possible any longer. Thanks.
 
@Changeling, I do a combination of EFT and DBT - but the processing work I do is EFT. You might find this whole thread really useful:

What Does 'processing' Mean For You?

Reading your introduction post, I gather that you aren't working with a trauma therapist right now. I think, given the symptoms you are describing, you would really benefit from finding one. It's always hard to figure out; you could ask your primary care doc if they recommend anyone. You can also look up the Therapist Listings part of the magazine Psychology Today - they have an online searchable database that can be a good place to start making a list. It's easy to narrow down by which gender therapist would you feel comfortable with? What insurance (if any) do they need to take? What kind of commute are you able to do?

And then you'll have a list, and you start calling them or looking up their websites and finding out more about them. See if you can feel a "click". Listen to your gut.

Otherwise, you could also try adding meditation before bed. I have found it can decrease the severity of my night symptoms. I like the guided meditations by Jon Kabat-Zinn, I just use the free ones I can find on YouTube.

Back to the therapist: there are many different ways to treat trauma, and it might take some experimenting to find what you are comfortable with. If you are someone who relates very strongly physically to your trauma, and you don't want to have to talk much about it, you might like somatic therapy. If you are a "nose to the wheel, shoulder to the grindstone" type, you'll probably like Prolonged Exposure. EMDR is very effective for many people, but can be hard going; you'll want to be able to carve out time for self-care in addition to therapy. I like EFT because it has many of the benefits of EMDR but lets me better control the sections of the trauma that I'm working on.
 
Thank you guys. This is frustrating but knowing that other people experience it it gives you some kind of relief.

Im into therapy. I'm doing psychodynamic therapy. I had all the symptoms of PTSD for years but i couldn't remember the event till recently.
 
I also feel a lot when I have nightmares. Sometimes, I have the feeling that I feel even more in my nightmares than I do in my numb reality.

I feel the fear, the pressure, the vicious looks of others, the loneliness, the pain...

And I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone with this but I wish for all of us to get better. *hugs for everyone who needs one*
 
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