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Posted 10/11/2008 8:35 AM (GMT 0)
I was wondering if anyone has any advice regarding nightmares, vivid dreams and waking multiple times a night? I keep have nightmares and waking up crying or with very little voice, as if I have been crying or shouting in my sleep. I wake up multiple times a night and find it difficult to get back to sleep. I've also started to have panic attacks in my sleep. My counsellor has given me a relaxation CD to use before I go to sleep every night and some breathing exercises to do when I wake up but I'm not sure it's helping. Maybe my meds need adjusting but I want to wait for at least another week to see if there is anaother way of helping before I go and see the dr.

Thank you.

Posted 10/11/2008 11:58 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Scattered,

I have very vivid dreams and a lot of it is due to medication, but I always did dream a lot. And I often remember them and they are in color. Once in a while I have a night mare too. They say that your dreams are your fears or your desires. I am not sure if that is true, but it does make sense. My dreamworld is actually like living another life. I know that sounds silly, but it is true. Some times my dreams will pick up where they left off the previous night. But yes I dream a lot. Sometimes I have preminition dreams also. Things don't happen automatically, sometimes a year down the road, but they happen and I get that dejavu experience.

Your dreams are where your subconscious stores a lot of thoughts. A lot of times they don't make sense, but if you really think of it, there is often a hidden meaning in them. You might want to get a dream dictionary. I have one and it comes in handy. Who knows you might have a gift.

Anyhow, not eating at night, helps you not to dream so much. relaxation before sleep, like meditation and thinking good thoughts before you go to sleep helps.

I hope that you can solve your mystery of dreams. I find them very interesting, but if they are disturbing your sleep, you might want to check with your doctor and see if it is related to medication. I take effexor and that is one of the reasons that I dream so much.

Best wishes for a wonderful day.

Hugs, Karen
Posted 10/11/2008 12:38 PM (GMT 0)
Hi there,

I think Karen has covered everything I was going to say! lol I would definately check with your doctor to see if it medication related as it can be a very simple thing to fix. You might find writing them down is a help to you so you can track themes etc...

Darren
Posted 10/11/2008 4:46 PM (GMT 0)
Scattered - I have nightmares too, I share a lot of the same symptoms you do - panic attacks in sleep, and waking up crying. Are the nightmares different each time or are they along the same idea? Has something been bothering you lately, or is there something from the past that you've had trouble moving on from? For me it's a past verbally abusive relationship that has really affected me. I'd talk to a doctor about this to see what the cause might be of your nightmares. That way, once you find the cause you can figure out what to do about it and how to cope with it.
Posted 10/11/2008 8:52 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone. I know my meds cause me to dream more vividly at times, but the nightmares are usually a sign I'm getting more depressed. They are usually linked to one of biggest fears - either vomiting or (and this is going to sound really silly!) falling down hills. I find them terrifying. I have a recurring nightmare, that I've had for years, which involves coming out of a pub that is on the egde of a cliff with the carpark going up the hill behind it. The road surface is made of gravel. As I try to walk up the hill towards the car the gravel keeps slipping out from under my feet and I fall down the hill and off the cliff. I never reach the bottom of the cliff - the whole dream just starts again.

Another one which isn't so much a nightmare as a bad dream is about my teeth falling out. When I wake up I have to physically check that my teeth are still there and they are not wobbly before I can calm down.

I do journal but perhaps I need to do it a bit more than I do presently. I'll keep on with the relaxation stuff. Thank you all once again - it helps so much to be able to say all this to people who know what I'm babbling about!

MoreAmor - How do you deal with the sleep panic attacks? I'm struggling with those right now.
Posted 10/11/2008 11:50 PM (GMT 0)
I also suffer from nightmares. I get soo scared that I yell sometimes. Most of the time, I cry because, the nightmares are about family or pets who have died. Either way, I wake up sweaty and can't get back to sleep. I'm afraid to go to sleep due to the realistic-ness of the dreams!
Posted 10/12/2008 4:12 AM (GMT 0)
Scholiosiskid - I'm the same way. Seems like you, Scattered, and I have the same problem. We should all keep in touch with one another and let each other know if we find coping skills with our nightmares.

What's helped me so far though is that when I wake up I turn on the radio to my favorite station. Music usually calms me down. Or if you have an iPod or MP3 next to you I'd listen to that. Some calming, uplifting music. Some of my favorites at the moment are Shadow of the Day by Linkin Park (Scholisiskid, I noticed you like Linkin Park), Don't Stop Believing is a very inspirational song for me, Viva La Vida by Coldplay, Into the Ocean by Blue October, Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol...some of them, to name a few. I should make a mix of those songs one of these says. But yeah, pretty much something slow and mellow works for me. My alarm clock also has one of those nature sounds on it too, like the rain, ocean, etc. That helps me.

Scattered - the teeth dreams are very common. Some interpretations are anxiety of how others perceive you, anxiety of being embarrassed in a social situation, feeling a loss of power, or loss of faith in a higher power. And there's a few others too. Do any of those apply to you?

But yeah, other than the music I also try deep breathing...basic techniques like that. I'm still working very hard though to try to stop them. I have to tell my doctor about them next time I see her.
Posted 10/12/2008 5:18 AM (GMT 0)
i always have a lot on my mind at nighttime.

do you sleep with a small light or a television on? i always try and pay attention...whenever i sleep in the dark i have dreams/nightmares about clowns and vampires. when i have a candle lit or my TV on and silent i don't.

it may have something to do with that? if you're hearing voices I would try adn observe a little more before you get completely paranoid about it or you'll become very stressed

Posted 10/12/2008 1:57 PM (GMT 0)

Scattered13

Good Morning :-)    I have had nightares or more like recurrent dreams about the same thing over and over. I find when I have talked about someone or my job that I retired from I am sure to have a vivid dream and when I wake up I feel like I was in a nightmare.

Great advice by all.  Take care.

Kitt

Posted 10/12/2008 4:36 PM (GMT 0)
I use to have a lot of reoccuring dreams. Then as time went on, they would come true. Not exactly like the dream, but I would get that dejavu feeling and realize that I had dreamed the situation before. It was strange, like premonitions.

I still dream a lot, they continue from night to night. LIke a soap opera. And in my dream I will remember that I dreamed something similar. Strange. My dream world is like a second life for me.

Hugs, Karen
Posted 10/12/2008 7:02 PM (GMT 0)
behindtheseeyes - One of the ways my anxiety manifests is to make me petrified of being in the dark alone, especially if I feel unwell. It isn't so bad here at uni as my room is tiny and I have an en-suite bathroom. I leave the bathroom light on a lot and sleep with my door locked when I can. Back at home, things were getting ridiculous - to the point that I couldn't stay at home on my own. I'm usually very good with being in the dark: I used to find it comforting!

MoreAmor - My counsellor back home said the same about the teeth dreams. I hadn't had one for a few weeks and I'm curious as to what made them start up again. I had another panic attack in the middle of last night and was able to implement some of the breathing exercise I've been taught, so hopefully they'll help.

Karen - I'm glad you get such a positive feeling about your dreams. I'm hoping that once I'm more on top of things I'll get something like your attitude towards them.

Last night was tough night sleep-wise. I woke up roughly every 2 hours and had a big panic attack. Tonight will be better. Fingers crossed!
Posted 10/12/2008 7:10 PM (GMT 0)
Last night I talked to some people on the chatrooms here, and that helped me a bit. I still got some nightmare flashbacks during today (one bad one cuz of an argument with a family member), but last night I slept alright. Nothing too traumatic. What's been helping me is talking to people before I go to sleep, people that make me feel good and are a good, positive influence on me. It calms me down.
Posted 10/13/2008 6:36 AM (GMT 0)
Don't know if this will help or not, but when I was small and had nightmares my dad gave me a special tool to help me. I was always afraid of going back to sleep because the nightmare would come back or continue. Dad said to imagine the dream away. If I dreamed I was falling he would tell me to imagine that I always wore a parachute under my clothes. If there were big dogs after me I would find some meaty bones behind the next tree to throw to them. Whatever the problem was in the dream, I was to continue to think about it as I fell asleep but I was to fix the problem with my imagination. The worse the problem the funnier the solution, the better I felt.

After Kennedy was shot I had dreams of war and my family being shot so he helped me turn all the guns to water pistols and bubble machines. It took some heavy duty imagination on my part to get around these things with my conscious mind but now I can even do it while I"m dreaming. Makes for some interesting dreams but I don't end up crying anymore.... It may work for you. You just have to sort of order your dream to go the way you want as you fall asleep. It's kind of hard to explain but if I can do it, anyone can. Hope this helps.
Posted 10/13/2008 4:22 PM (GMT 0)
Jeannie - Are you doing a form of lucid dreaming? I have friends who can lucid dream and I really wish I could. Sadly my brain isn't wired that way. I have heard that it can run in families and psychologists are doing lots of research on why some people can lucid dream and some can't.

Quick question about deep relaxation: I've been doing the CD my counsellor gave me and I'm encountering a problem I've had before in the past. Whenever I try to do deep relaxation I fall a state of disassociation: I can no longer feel my body and feel like I'm watching myself. Does this happen to anyone else? Is there anything I can do to stop it?
Posted 10/13/2008 4:58 PM (GMT 0)
If you're having that problem, then maybe the CD alone is causing too much relaxation where you become numb. Try doing something else while listening to the CD, such as reading a magazine or a good positive book, or a quiet hobby you like to do. I like scrapbooking and writing poetry and songs. That way you're relaxed, but still in touch with reality.
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