Is There A Way To Decrease Nightmares?

[BlackbirdSinging]

I've been having nightmares lately that have been making me upset during the day the next day. It's been making me emotionally exhausted and stressed. I'm starting to get literally scared of going to sleep. Has anyone found a way to sleep without nightmares or have them less often?

 

[Candleflames]

The only thing that has helped with my nightmares is the medication Prazosin taken at night right before bed.

I hope you can find something that can work for you.

 

[joeylittle]

I was helped by a low dose of Seroquel - and currently I take Prazosin instead, and I agree with @Candleflames, it's pretty effective.

I also made a strong commitment to good sleep hygiene - setting up a routine for myself, discontinuing screens (computer, phone) before bed, and doing a guided meditation while in bed to try and give my mind a different target for dream imagery.

Still, I have them very regularly - but I remember when I was terrified to go to sleep, and I'm sorry you're dealing with that - it's horrible. I hate to say medication is the answer, but it was for me. You could also try melatonin or benadryl, those you can get over the counter. Definitely don't drink any alcohol, there are pretty decent studies on how disruptive it is to sleep.

 

[BlackbirdSinging]

Thank you for your responses. Due to other medical issues I haven't been able to take even antidepressants or anti anxiety medication. I'm not sure I can take medication for the nightmares but I hope I can. My therapist asked me to go read about sleep hygiene habits in my PTSD workbook. I'm so tired so often that falling asleep isn't an issue. It's what happens when I fall asleep.

The night before last I had a nightmare and yesterday I was triggered and hypervigilant and anxious all day. I felt so depressed. And then last night or early this morning I had another nightmare that was so bad I woke up suddenly and almost started to cry. I literally said out loud "it was a bad dream" and then I fell back to sleep. Thankfully when I woke up later the fear and the nightmare were far enough away that I didn't feel like it had just happened. Now I'm tired. I'm so exhausted but I'm so worried about going to sleep. I really don't want to have another nightmare tonight. My system feels so stressed out. Tonight I'm going to try to play soothing music before I start getting ready for bed. Maybe that will help.

 

[joeylittle]

Prazosin is actually a blood pressure medication - so it might be in a class of med you can consider.

Music sounds good. And I've also had success visualizing a "safe place" while falling asleep.

Thinking of you.

 

[Candleflames]

Prazosin isn't an antidepressant or an antianxiety, it's a blood pressure medication with the side effect of lessening nightmares. Maybe that is something you could look into.

Soothing music is a good idea as is @joeylittle idea of guided meditation. I have also noticed that my nightmares would increase when the weather was warmer. A cool room so you can bundle up can help you feel safer while falling asleep.

 

[Nam]

I'm sorry you are there. It's not a fun place to be. I don't have many pointers since all I remember doing is just bearing through it. Eventually, it got easier. The dreams less frequent. And I had better coping skills during high anxiety times. It helped to talk about it. I even wrote some of them down. Not sure if that helps everyone though.

 

[Lionheart]

I just wanted to add that I too have had great success with Prazosin (minipress), for PTSD nightmares.

 

[shell]

The only thing that helped me with nightmares was getting my anxiety under control, and facing my fears and denial, which involved working on my thinking. I was having daily multiple nightmares, I have rarely have one now. When I tried to work on my nightmares, they had a pattern and stopped fearing them they lost the power they had over me. I never tried medication.