How Do You React Waking Up From A Nightmare?

[Coffeegirl83]

Some people scream I guess, but I am only crying... When I wake up trembling I can't even stop, it takes a lot of time to not cry.
How do you react waking up from a nightmare?

 

[Eagle3]

I usually jump up swinging, heart racing. I may cry after i realize it was a dream, but usually I come out flailing. Good thing I still sleep alone!

 

[Coffeegirl83]

I usually jump up swinging, heart racing. I may cry after i realize it was a dream, but usually I come out...

Thank you for your reply <3

 

[theshadowoftheliving]

Sweating, heart pounding, confusion as to where and when I am. Then, it's a struggle to keep my body awake, as it wants to immediatley crash back into the dream - I try to stay up long enough to break the nightmare cycle.

 

[WillyKat]

I just wake up feeling somewhere between angry and frightened. I rarely, rarely remember anything I dream whether its a nightmare or "dream."

 

[Firefighting ptsd]

Some people scream I guess, but I am only crying... When I wake up trembling I can't even stop, it...

On my feet usually, sometimes running... Always soaked in sweat with a racing heart ... Sometimes in terror that I can't breathe in and I can't scream out.. The pain is torture.

 

[Ronin]

Depends the kind of a nightmare.
With all of them, I just asess where I am at the time and with who. And most often comment to myself that it's alright to make noise and vent the anger, because I'm safe. When it finally clicks to me I am, that is.

 

[Lionheart]

I used to have to take medicine to keep me from being violent in my sleep because I would wake up and be striking out with my fists and cussing my partner and we had to sleep in separate beds for awhile...But that was a long time ago.

Since then, I have had a few anxiety nightmares that found me waking up deeply disturbed for as long as a week, (sometimes more).

Now, however, I am on a medication called Minipress that partially blocks the effects of adrenaline while sleeping and I very rarely even remember my dreams and have stopped having nightmares altogether!

 

[KwanYingirl]

I awaken in a full on panic. I can never get back to sleep again. I migrate to other rooms to try to feel safer. I have had significantly less nightmares since getting Reiki treatments and therapy with a skilled trauma therapist.

 

[Ocean5]

Depends on nightmare, but pillow soaked in sweat - state of panic. Like a scared animal that cannot move.

Learned not to even try going back to sleep. The nightmare will continue. I get up for several hours to try to break the cycle.

 

[Truthful_Whispers]

I have several different waking reactions to nightmares/night terrors. Last night, it felt like my bed was thumping, the earth shaking, because my heart was pounding so hard and fast. Difficulty catching breath. Mind racing. Panic state of mind. Takes several minutes to calm things down.

 

[Melody coates]

i usually just wake up and maybe if i'm lucky go back to sleep. is it weird not to yell or making any noises? cuz i don't most of the time.