Pre-nightmares?

[keifer]

I had trouble falling asleep. I was cold and edgy. I was tired but also wired. As I'd drift off to sleep, I felt scared and would suddenly spring forth awake as if I had a great nightmare.

The first half of my night was like that. The last half went better. This is the third nightmarish night I've had in the last two weeks. It's not fun but seems I'm accepting it as a normal part of my life.

 

[digger]

I do this too....just when I'm drifting off, on the edge of being asleep and awake, I wake up with a start. Physically jolt awake. I've put it down to the amount of nightmares and bad dreams I have. I guess my body and mind both don't feel properly safe with the idea of sleep.

 

[JustBe]

Yup. I'm with you. I have to have the TV on or an Audio book playing and even then I wake a few times a night in a panic....vivid nightmares.

 

[WillyKat]

I've had that kind of thing forever. I've convinced myself that I do it to avoid having a nightmare. Makes for a sleepless night, followed by a crappy day, which gets me down, which makes it hard to sleep...rinse, repeat.

I wish I had an answer with some kind of solution attached. I guess the solution has to be to keep working on finding ways to cope and deal with PTSD, which should help sleep. I'd like to rinse and repeat that.

 

[StrongHeart]

Try to come up with some comforting words that reorient you when you wake up like that. I had an awful nightmare recently along the same lines of what I've had for the past couple of years, during my divorce - that my kids are in danger and as hard as I try, I cannot help them - not difficult to figure out why the dreams come, but they're scary, just the same.

I had one recently where I woke up with a jolt and couldn't remember where I was. I talked myself down the same way I would someone else. I said, "I am in my comfortable bedroom, in my safe house, with my cat at my feet and my dog snoring on the floor.

My kids are in their beds, and everyone is doing fine and sleeping soundly." I find that having an inventory type of calming talk with myself really does help. I wish I could give every one of you hugs when you wake up like that; what we really want is comfort that everything is ok!

 

[nomedic1]

I do the same thing it's annoying it's like your body is telling you your in for a bad night.

 

[franciemarnie]

This is probably superfluous to say, but jolting awake a half hour after going to sleep or drifting off is a symptom of PTSD. Darn hormones on their crazy ride living a wild dream. I have it too.

If I am wake until four or five am, it doesn't seem to happen as much, but the rarer times I drift off early, I can count on the jolt.

 

[keifer]

Thanks for the replies. Its nice to know I'm not alone, when I feel alone most of the time. I really have no one to talk to close to me. My friends support me but they dont understand. I've tried to explain and all I get are deer in the headlights look. I just keep quiet now. My PTSD yoga instructor quit her job here at work. She was the only one I could talk to.

I only had that happen once for a pre-dream that I noted last night I have dreams early as well as later in the night. Reflecting back, I could have had those and was never aware of that possibility.

Being cold, tired, and wired were 3 things which are part of my event I had not connected with previously. I haven't had a repeating nightmare I'm aware of. I'm hoping next year will be better as the five months I have not enjoyed.