Increase In Nightmares Again

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

Periodically, I go through spells of nightmares, well, if by periodically I mean every couple of days or weeks, but let's not split hairs. Sometimes are not as bad as others.

What I am dealing with right now are nightmares that I cannot wake from and that I am positive are real. For example, I had one non-nightmare dream today that my husband and son were watching some of the Olympics. I could hear the TV in my dream and wanted to wake to go make an effort to join them. I couldn't wake up. The other dreams are truly nightmares, but I don't want to share those. Anyway, when I finally awoke I asked my husband about that one and a couple of others and he said that none of that had happened in real life.

I've been having these nightmares for about 4 nights now and am either getting little sleep because once I do wake myself somehow, I won't go back to sleep. And if I can't wake myself, it's not restful sleep so I feel like I haven't had any sleep.

Can anyone else relate to nightmares you can't wake from or have any suggestions on how to deal with it?

 

[Mim28]

Hi, yes I can relate. I generally don't have sleep problems, but during my PTSD attacks I do. I had one years ago that was the worst. I kept waking and falling back into the same dream. This went on for hours I finally had to call someone I knew who was a night worker. I think just talking to someone else helped break the cycle. I've been waking in a panic almost daily. I just keep trying to rest. I hope you feel better soon. Sorry I can't be much help right now.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

Thank you, @Mim28 . I've had that experience of falling back into the same dream before. Perhaps somehow I can work that strategy of distraction (talking to someone or maybe reading) into this scenario if I wake up. It the feeling of not being able to wake up that is really scaring me. Hope you get rest, too, waking in a panic is no fun.

 

[Mim28]

So are they really lucid dreams? It sounds like you know you are in a dream, but just can't get out?

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

I don't know they are a dream until later and I usually have to check with someone about whether I forgot that this happened. But sometimes they're so scary that I know they're not in reality, but I cannot get out of them which makes them seem real. My therapist says is replaying how terrified I felt as a child, but we don't really have an idea about what to do about it.

 

[Mim28]

I don't know they are a dream until later and I usually have to check with someone about w...

Hmmmm... I wish I knew how to help with that one. Do you remember the details? Would hypnotherapy help? I did EMDR for some issues and at the time it really did help. What didn't help me was running my body ragged after being told that I would need time to heal.

 

[Gadgie]

Can anyone else relate to nightmares you can't wake from or have any suggestions on how to deal with it?

The only reason I wake up from mine, is because I always wake up screaming, and that's what wakens me?

But I do understand what you are going through, and it's a horrible experience! Are your nightmares dreams, or about events from your past, like mine are?

Mine are so vivid, it's like a replay of the event itself, with everything true to life, even things like, heat or cold to wind and rain.

Luckily mine aren't quite so often now, but they used to be really frequent. I hope yours will do the same, good luck

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

I'm confused: Don't we always believe dreams are real while having them? It's never until we wake up that we know they aren't real. And, sometimes, if the dream seems realistic enough, it might take awhile to figure out that it was all just a dream. So, that part of all of this seems normal to me. Or do you mean it takes days to figure this out?

When you say you 'can't wake up', well, that may have something to do with the sleep stage you're in at the time. If you are, for instance, in REM sleep while having a nightmare, you're not going to wake up because you're body is in a sort of 'locked', non-responsive state while in REM sleep.

We dream our most 'important' dreams during REM. During REM, we process all of our daily activities and such, including traumatic events. If you have PTSD, this means you have unprocessed trauma, and so you will tend to try to process your trauma in REM until the processing is complete.

Are you taking any medications? Psych meds, in particular, can really mess with sleep.

Ben

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

Have you tried keeping a dream journal? Writing out dreams, especially nightmares, can be very helpful; you can begin processing whatever is troubling you, take the journal to therapy sessions, maybe do some EMDR, and even try to reprogram your dreams or nightmares with happier, more successful endings.

Ben

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

Do you remember the details? Would hypnotherapy help? I did EMDR for some issues and at the time it really did help.

I do remember most of the details. Hypnotherapy and EMDR can be tricky for me. I haven't tried either because I have dissociative identity disorder and for some people that makes things worse so I haven't been willing to try that approach yet. I may look into it more.

Are your nightmares dreams, or about events from your past, like mine are?

Yes, some of them are. Some of them are playing out of threats that might happen if I were to talk about anything from the past as well and those are scariest. Thanks for sharing and I hope mine will lessen, too.

@BuckarooBanzai , you bring up many good points. I don't know how to distinguish my experience with regular dreams compared to this particular "brand" of nightmares. It's just much worse and much harder to figure out when I wake up if what happened in the dream really did happen. Your point about the stage of sleep makes sense, thanks. I take meds. I take meds to help me sleep and to help with nightmares, but I don't think they're working. I take others, too, but they haven't seemed to be interfering. A dream journal is a very good idea except that I have a very strict DID system and so some of what I dream isn't allowed to go on paper, but I could put the general topic down and that would help. I journal a lot so just including it into that would probably be a good idea.

 

[Gadgie]

Yea! when I was having therapy a few years ago, I was asked to write down everything I could remember about my nightmare, and take it to the next session.

As the T said if I did that, it would stop that nightmare being repeated? I did that, but I ended up having the same nightmare three times in one week? Mind you there was no guarantee it would work?

 

[Mim28]

I do remember most of the details. Hypnotherapy and EMDR can be tricky for me. I haven't...

Breathe, when you say you can't put them down on paper, would it be okay if you have a private/password protected journal that you could type them out. Not sure if that would be something that would work for you or maybe when your ready.