Recurring Nightmare

[Starlite]

I have been having the same nightmare every night. Since my attack that happened almost 2 weeks ago.
It seems so real like I'm reliving the event over and over again from start to finish. I can hear them and smell and feel them. I wake up gasping for air. Feeling like I'm suffocating (as that's what to me happened during the attack). My body even aches as though it just happened. I'm scared to go back to sleep once I've woken up. I'm even scared to fall asleep every night. I've been running off of about 3 hours of sleep a night. Can't get these nightmares out of my head. Can barely function at work during the day. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of nightmares? I'm desperate and open to any ideas one might have.

 

[Melody coates]

are you receiving counseling? if not then we all advise you to do so. PTSD is a serious condition and if not treated can get worse

 

[franciemarnie]

Your mind is grappling with the enormity of what happened, which is a normal response to an abnormal event.

Go to a trauma therapist as soon as possible if you can. The sooner you get help, the sooner symptoms can subside.

 

[Kefira]

Seek out a trauma therapist. You also might bring up with them or your Dr medication, at least for sleep. I'm seriously anti-med but after my last trauma I needed light sleep meds to keep me functioning because the sleep deprivation was really making everything even worse. You're going to need to find a way to sleep to work through this.

 

[arfie]

A dream journal helped me past similar. I kept a notebook and pen next to my bed and made it a habit to write my dreams, both good and bad, the very moment I woke up. I kept it up for a goodly while after I stopped having so many nightmares. If nothing else, it soothed and calmed me, but I still believe it helped me learn how to look deeper at my the wounds in my psyche and sort through what I found there.

Gentle support, Starlite. Nightmares are no fun...

 

[Recovery4Me]

:hug:'s if you accept them. You went through a horrible experience and nightmares is part of the aftermath. Please consider yourself worthy of receiving assistance to heal. It is a hard step and there is a lot of fear sometimes attached to opening to a stranger or therapist but you deserve to feel so much more than pain.

Prayers and peace offered if you accept them...

 

[Justmehere]

Did you have ptsd before the recent attack? Or earlier traumatic events? If so, seek a therapist who is a qualified trauma specialist.

If the symptoms started with the attack, then you are still in the acute stress phase - it's awful, but its also the best timeframe to prevent later development of PTSD. If it was a sexual assault, then talking to a rape crisis counselor may provide some relief. Contact RAINN for more info. If it was a different physical assault, then it still would be a good idea to seek counseling to process the trauma so that your brain doesn't keep trying to work it through at night.

 

[lookingup]

Having PTSD and sleeping seems impossible, Getting a good nights sleep will only come when you deal with the traumatic event that hurt you. I struggle with nightmares often. Going to sleep is not one of my favorite things. Counseling with exercise seems to help.