Scared To Sleep

[Mrs. Martinez]

I have an issue with nightmares, last night it happened again, the dreams are so real and haunt me. The entire day it plays through my head over and over, I would swear it really happened, I know my big issue is not being able to take my meds and I know. stress makes it worse. I just don't know what to do! I'm eight months pregnant and get no rest , I'm terrified to go to sleep because of what might see, I can't talk to my husband about it, then he freaks and gets stressed, on top of him just really not understanding. All I can do is cry , I find myself watching my daughter like I'm preventing something, and in reality its all in my head. I'm so tired, and so stressed , I just want it to go away!!!!!

 

[John7377]

First of all, congrats on your pregnancy. My wife and I have 4 grown kids and since we lived far from relatives, my wife had to, out of necessity, find a friend or two that she could talk to when she was stressed. If you have someone you can talk to, it might help. If you don't have a close friend, a local clergyman may be a good person to spend time talking to.

I'm new to this PTSD scene and I actually haven't been officially diagnosed yet. I'm still seeing a doc at the VAMC. As far as being "scared to sleep," I'm in the same boat. I pray every night that I wake up at a normal hour with no memory of dreams. That happens maybe 30% of the time.

My dreams aren't always about the assault on my wife, sometimes they are just really odd. Other times, they involve me not being able to find my wife in a tense situation. Sometimes it's not being able to protect her. When my dreams do involve my wife, I typically wake up with anywhere from a severe headache to a migraine. Since I retired a year ago and I have more free space in my head, my dreams have occurred more often and I have terrible insomnia. I'm probably averaging no more than 5 hours of sleep per night. Last night it was 3 1/2 hours of sleep and up at 5 am with no chance of going back to sleep. So, I've been up since 5 am and now it's 12:20 am the next day and I have no feeling that says I'm sleepy.

John

 

[Sues]

Hi Mrs Martinez! I'm so sorry you are having such a hard time. I'm afraid to go to sleep a lot too. I had just posted about it last night. I have nightmares and I hate it.

Sleep is such a hard thing for a lot of people here. I haven't found any real answers on how to combat nightmares yet. Sometimes I'll sleep with the TV on and the voices make me feel like I'm not alone and that'll help for a while. Other than that, I don't know.

Have you talked to your doctor about some medications that won't hurt your baby but will help you sleep? I know that's just a short term help, but you do need some rest too.