waking up exhausted from nightmare

[brokenpony]

sometimes i wake up totally exhasted and sweating from a nightmare even if i get a full night of sleep. the past couple nights before i slept only 4 hrs and yet this morning i woke up after 7 hrs from a nightmare and could barely drag myself out of bed. i’m still walking around my house like a zombie feeling fogged and confused. is it the nightmare? does this happen to you? it was a nightmare that involved a lot of fleeing so maybe i moved around a lot? ugh.

 

[frogthroat]

PTSD and sleep problems are pretty common. I go through weeks of restless sleep even when I'm exercising and eating right. Even if the dreams aren't incredibly horrible it feels like I haven't slept I've just been in dream world all night. This can be so frustrating especially when it's for a prolonged period of time.
Are you in therapy and/or on meds? Besides a regular routine this can be helpful. My psychiatrist wants to see how my antidepressant helps me sleep before prescribing me anything to help with that.
If it's been awhile since you've had decent sleep I'd see a doctor. It's hard to deal with anything rationally when you're exhausted.

 

[AliciaEff]

Nightmares are probably my most common PTSD symptom and they seem to really live me lately. For the past week or so I’ve had a nightmare nearly every night (categorized by being woken up by the scary dream) and bad dreams on the other nights (categorized by sleeping through the night and finishing out the dream). It’s left me feeling tired and depressed and I’ve spent a lot of time just watching tv when I should be working. I work from home 1 day a week and never got in my 1 day last week, so I should be making up for it today, but I’m tired once again.

I haven’t been to therapy in 4 months and I know I should probably go back, but I’m dreading it. Feeling tired and busy means adding something else to the plate will not be fun. However, I do know that my nightmares lessened after a few sessions of EMDR, so I know I should go back. I agree with RuffledFeathers- if you are not in therapy or seeing a doctor, please do so, it can really help. There isn’t much else to do about nightmares and exhaustion.

 

[DharmaGirl]

I have 3 to 6 nightmares a night. Mostly every night. I find that I get my best sleep after 4am, so I nap. I am used to the constant broken sleep, I've had sleep issues for the last 22 years. I was able to push through the tired feeling and work, but now I can just go nap if I want to. It is exhausting having nightmares, and there is a blood pressure medicine that doesn't work well for blood pressure, but does work for nightmares call Prazosin. Maybe you could ask your doc about it. It work well for me until it caused an allergic reaction, so I can't take it. Clonidine, another blood pressure med, works for nightmares too. If you are ok with going the med route until you get better.

 

[AliciaEff]

Is the med for high or low blood pressure? My blood pressure is quite healthy so I can’t really risk taking anything that might lower it.

 

[Seasounds]

sometimes i wake up totally exhasted and sweating from a nightmare even if i get a full night of sleep. the past couple nights before i slept only 4 hrs and yet this morning i woke up after 7 hrs from a nightmare and could barely drag myself out of bed. i’m still walking around my house like a zombie feeling fogged and confused. is it the nightmare? does this happen to you? it was a nightmare that involved a lot of fleeing so maybe i moved around a lot? ugh.

Yes, I’ve been through nightmares like this. You are in good company. Traumatic nightmares are exhausting, and left me feeling like a zombie, too.

I used many methods to work through the nightmares. Everyone has their preferences of modalities to free up the traumatic experiences. Would you like me to share what helped me?

 

[brokenpony]

Yes, I’ve been through nightmares like this. You are in good company. Traumatic nightmares are exhausting, and left me feeling like a zombie, too.

I used many methods to work through the nightmares. Everyone has their preferences of modalities to free up the traumatic experiences. Would you like me to share what helped me?

yes, please do