Nightmares

[tontoe]

I have a history of bad dreams and nightmares.
I had been doing okay, sleeping better and managing to "bear" the waking and get back to sleep, but at the weekend it all started up again, in what feels like a massive backward step
The pattern is that I wake about 3.00 a.m. and am then completely overwhelmed by CPTSD symptoms and am awake, wired, for the rest of the night. Sometimes I can remember the nightmare, but usually I can't. What I am left with is the overwhelm and I can then remain dissociated for two or three days, or longer, which in itself feeds sleeplessness and more dissociation.
I've been resolutely against meds , having had horrible experiences with antidepressants. However it's Wednesday now and I'm wondering how I'm going to work tomorrow as I am once again dreading going to sleep and the ensuing hammer blow of waking into dissociative overwhelm. I feel stuck in a vicious circle which is very familiar and scary because I know how it goes and how long it can last.
I have tried Valerian but it really doesn't touch it.
I've read on the net about Prazosin and how it has helped some people with PTSD by reducing nightmares.
Does anybody here have any experience with it, and was/is it a good one?

 

[Gadgie]

Yea! I dread going to bed as well, as I just know that I won't get to sleep. I feel like a master in a big wheel, running like mad and getting nowhere?

I do most of my sleeping between 5am to 10am, and that will get even less now that the winter nights are creeping in? I had my first "normal" dream in years a few days ago, which was surprising as all the rest have been nightmares!