Nightmares About My Past Experiences Driving Me Crazy!

[Lee-Lottie]

I am having night terrors every night. It's always a strange jumble of the traumatic things in my life (my sexually abusive ex-fiancé; my neglectful, physically abusive parents & miscarrying twice) and is driving my insane. I've always had the nightmares but they haven't been this vivid and this often before. I'm dreaming several times a night, waking repeatedly and suffering panic attacks about going to sleep. I am wondering if any of you can figure out why? I'm in a settled and somewhat happy (we argue a lot. He's hurt me emotionally but we're working through it at the moment) relationship and falling asleep in his arms. Surely I should be feeling better at night now than I was before? I've tried sleeping pills but they just cause me to wake up feeling groggy and strange and then I drift off again without realising and nightmare during the day (not a good thing when in a Starbucks writing like the other day!)
Does anybody else have similar issues? How do you cope with sleep?
Much love!
Lee x

 

[Friday]

My nightmare cycles are almost completely unrelated to my daily life. Sure, something can be as obvious as a lead brick from time to time, but most of the time they simply come. And it will be a few days, a few weeks, a few months. They ramp up. They stay for too long. They go away. Rinse, lather, repeat.

 

[EveHarrington]

Sometimes symptoms spike when life is at its best as the mind realizes it's safe to express the buried trauma. :hug:

 

[MichelleMillen]

Hi Lee Lottie, I too suffered for years from traumatic nightmares. Every time I fell asleep I was fighting my abusive ex-husband from taking my children from me. (Which he did, about 12 years ago ). I would run around a massive house made of unlocked windows, trying to lock them all before he could get in. Some of the dreams were violent, most just frightening, me uselessly yelling at him to leave us alone and him looking at me with a smug look on his face, knowing there was nothing I could do to stop him. I would wake up with complete confusion as to whether I was in reality or not, and it often took me a long time to realize that he is in Toronto, I'm in London, and now in constant contact with my now grown children, and that my children can't be taken away from me. The nightmares were so debilitating that I told my psychiatrist about them, and he prescribed me prozasin. It's a blood thinner, but it's been proven to reduce and even eliminate traumatic nightmares in victims of military PTSD victims. It worked immediately for me. I still dream, and vividly, but I have had maybe one or two nightmares about my past since I started taking it a couple of months ago. Maybe you could ask your doctor about it. It certainly worked for me. All the best to you, take care. Michelle

 

[lovely.rabbit]

I keep having horrible nightmares, its almost every night now, about past abusers and not being able to get away. i wake up and the whole day is ruined BUT i know that i have a choice to leave the dream behind and choose to focus on the good in my life. doesn't mean it comes easy.

Breathing techniques might be helpful, we rarely breathe how we should (slow and deep) and it can be very calming.
I still sleep with a teddy bear and im 25 so i shouldnt really talk...lol

 

[MichelleMillen]

Hi lovely.rabbit, I suffered from traumatic nightmares for years. Whether or not I thought about my past while awake, the trauma would replay in my dreams every time I fell asleep. I would have to get up in the middle of the night and watch TV until the nightmare faded, and then I would try to go back to sleep. I told my psychiatrist about my nightmares, and he prescribed me prozasin. It's a blood thinner, but has been proven to reduce nightmares in victims of military PTSD. It worked for me right away. I still have dreams that leave me confused or upset, but I haven't had a nightmare about my trauma since I started taking it. Perhaps you could ask your doctor more about it, and see if it works for you. Take care, lovely.rabbit. Michelle.