Same Nightmare Every Night For Years

[Deleted member 18673]

I have nightmares about my childhood every single night. Mostly I dream about trying to escape and not being able to. The nightmares are really frightening and distressing and I've had them every night for years. It makes it hard for me to go to sleep at night since I dread having them. They're so bad that they often cause me panic attacks in the middle of the night, and they ruin my mood when I wake up in the morning because they're so vivid and disturbing and triggering. I don't know how to make them stop, and they're driving me insane.

 

[ericaboo]

The nightmares were the first symptom that led toward my PTSD diagnosis.

Now I take medication to sleep at night, but I still wake up in the morning remembering the last dream I had. It definitely affects my mood.

I'm sorry you're having to go through this - I hope you are seeking out help, because you need to get your rest...

 

[WillyKat]

I think I have nightmares too, but I rarely remember them. My wife tells me that I sometimes seem to be crying in my sleep, but I just don't have any memory.

 

[maddog]

I'm sorry to hear this Conquer, I too have nightmares of my childhood on a nightly basis, often just as you describe with panicand extreme mood disruption in the morning, and I completely relate to how draining, distressing and lonely this endless cycle can be. I too began to experience the nightmares as almost the first consistent symptom of my PTSD, and more than 3 years later, they are still here.

The danger is that the longer the pattern continues, the more it does lead to trying to limit and minimise sleep, and to all sorts of related sleep and nighttime negative behaviours and routines as a result.

Medication helps many people, and it's worth the frustration of persevering until you find something that works if you can.

There are also a whole range of grounding strategies that can help to manage the distress upon waking, and many other sleep hygiene-related routines you can try to implement to increase your sense of safety and calm as you try to fall asleep - not sure what you've tried in the past?

I do so understand the suffering and distress though, not to mention the impact that this has on your ability to function with such sleep deprivation.

Lots and lots of empathy coming your way Conquer.

Maddog

 

[Venusian]

Hi Conquer,

I can relate to what you wrote. I have a recurring nightmare that I have had sinceI was a child. I could never remember much when I woke in the morning but it was always terrifying. It always started the same way and there was a point in the dream where it turned into the nightmare that I could always remember.

When I was a teenager I read an article in a science magazine about directing your dreams and it helped me immensely. While you are awake you have to determine how you want that dream to unfold. It takes a while to train your mind to recognize that you are dreaming, that you can change what you are dreaming about. In my case there was always a phrase that was a part of all my nightmares, "Where am I?" I used that as a trigger to change the nightmare into a dream. Instead of being in a nameless terrifying place I could go anywhere else that I could imagine. It took several weeks for it to become a habit of my sleeping mind but it worked. Not all the time, but enough.

I hope you get lots of help for this.

 

[Deleted member 18673]

I've asked my doctor about medication and he won't prescribe me any; he says that only therapy makes the nightmares go away, not medication. Well I've been in therapy on and off for three years now. Hasn't stopped the nightmares yet. I play soothing music or guided meditations all night to help me fall asleep and so I have something to immediately calm me down if I wake up in a panic, and I always have a light on. I've been trying lucid dreaming and it works for my regular nightmares but not my childhood ones... because I NEVER recognize I'm dreaming in those, they're so real, and based on real memories.