I think that nightmares deserve their own thread

[mdmc]

Sleep my be the most important aspect in dealing with mental health issues.

But how can one get good sleep if they have chronic nightmares?

My girlfriend has chronic nightmares. She uses a bi-pap machine to help her with her breathing. But is there anything that can be done to stop nightmares?

Check in and let me know how you deal with bad dreams and nightmares.

[mopinko]

1. hooooo boy, that has been a problem for me.

all my life. often left me shook up when i woke. had many about DH fooling around that were so real, sometimes i wouldn't speak to him all day.
it is funny, tho. i recently had a sleep study that found that i was having apnea, but mostly only when i was dreaming. i was not surprised. i have really been having very vivid dreams, and dreams where i really felt that i was awake. some nights seems like floating through dream after dream. i also have always had dreams that i call scratching and biting dreams. dreams of helplessness. of fighting to get away, of running but not moving, of striking back at an attacker that wouldn't stop. i know these dreams are about fighting to breathe.
i got a cpap, and don't remember a dream since the first night. i had to take a few nights off this week because i had a cold. so, i was sleeping worse than usual. i dreamed and dreamed and dreamed.
iow, it is about remembering them, and having them break into your conscienceness. did the bipap make any difference when she got it? she should have her bipap checked.

[mdmc]

2. i don't think she dreamed or slept before the bi-pap machine

The bi-pap machine allowed her to sleep and dream...

[mopinko]

3. i have had long stretches of seeming not to dream, also.

times when i was so exhausted that i just blacked out at night. that is an incorrect statement of cause and effect, but that is the way it felt.
nonetheless, she should talk to her sleep doc about this. it is easy to make light of dreams. but this is serious. anything that is ruining sleep is serious.

[mdmc]

4. she sees a therapist for the ptsd

It seems that the nightmares are all related to her ptsd.
She seems to sleep best in the morning from 6am to noon..
She says that she feels like she gets the best sleep when I am getting ready for work 6am-8;30am..

I know that she talks to her therapist about her sleep. She hasn't seen her pulmologist (the bi-pap guy) in over 6 months, but i don't think her nightmares are breathing related..

[mopinko]

6. i just feel so strongly about sleep, and docs just do not take it seriously.

even pdocs. probably the pulmonologist doesn't really see it in terms of her mental health, just her heart, etc. if she didn't see a sleep doc to get the bi-pap, if she can, she should. there is so much that can be done to help sleep, and there are so many things that can go wrong with sleep. i don't mean to suggest that her nightmares are like my nightmares. just to say that there may be biological factors at work that can be fixed. the best meds are the ones that a well rested brain makes for itself.

best to the both of you. peace.

[EFerrari]

5. Sometimes I wonder if nightmares aren't an indication that you trust

your environment enough (at some level) to have really scary thoughts. I know that when my depression deepened and the suicidal stuff started, I immediately stopped dreaming at all -- as if my system was trying to split off that thinking, contain it, shut it down by shutting it away.

[david13]

7. Oh, I sure don't know. Now that I am getting suicidal again, my dreams/nighmares

are varying wildly.
I have had long periods where I did not dream, or as they say, did not remember the dreams.
Of late, I have elegant wonderful dreams, alternating with gut wrenching nightmares.
Few days ago I dreamed of a man and a woman, I knew them for 30 years, both deceased, but they were there with me, we all having a good time, they treating me so nice, as they used to do.
Do I think I am going to join them in death? Or what?
Shakespeare. He writes 'sleep, that state that washes away the cares of the world'.
Oh, I wish it would.
dc

[redqueen]

8. I don't have many bad nightmares.

I have some bad dreams but they don't really scare me or shake me up. In all my life I only remember a few like that.

I like to write my dreams down... maybe keeping a dream journal will enable you to see any patterns, and maybe at least recognizing them might help. If you're seeing a therapist or psychologist or someone, discussing them in a session may help as well.

[Lindsey]

9. I wish I had found this post moths ago (when it was posted in

Oct. and here it is Dec.) Anyhow, I've had bad dreams my ENTIRE life. It's been a hard life - a lot of major childhood trauma. I've had years of therapy and it has helped but not so much with my dreams. If I'm taking sleeping aids some of them even make the dreams more horrific. Some nights the dreams are "just disturbing" which is better than nightmares. I'm thrilled when I can't remember them. I can count on one hand the number of really good dreams I've had my whole life. I've done a little research regarding how to deal with them. The best thing I've come up with is subliminal CD's. If anyone is still reading this thread, I'd love to hear more suggestions and I hope my suggestion of the subliminal CD's can help someone.

[EFerrari]

10. Hey, Lindsey. I don't know anything about subliminal CDs.

But as a teen, I figured out that I could suggest a topic or a scenario to myself just before I fell asleep and I'd dream about that. It was sort of wild. I'm wondering, would doing something like that help reshape your dreaming?

What I've been doing lately is going to sleep to quiet reasonable talking -- long segments at CSPAN of good people like Skip Gates talking about his Africana project or something like that. Lewis Levering talking about WEB Du Bois. Things that interest me, that are removed from my immediate worries, that are soothing.

Have you talked to your therapist about your dreams?

[mdmc]

13. I have one suggestion my friend, but I don't know if it will help you

I find that I do not have nightmares when I am very tired. When I get up early, work hard all day, and exercise, I sleep better.

My nightmares are very existential - I dream about people that I love that have passed on. I also dream about losing loved ones in my life (like my parents).
These are not "nightmares", they are thoughts about real life. Everyone I love will eventually suffer and die. I admit I have a hard time with this kinda thought.

[HereSince1628]

11. Nightmares seem like the psychic equivalent of high blood glucose

You can work all day to contol glucose, and to deal with the things you think deserve your attention...
and then in the middle of the night, the liver and the brain do with blood glucose and bad dreams any damn thing they wish.

I have had recurring monothematic bad dreams for 8 years going on 9. Either they wake me or I wake up and remember them 2-3 times a night.

[Odin2005]

12. For a couple months after my friend was raped I had horrible, reoccurring nightmares

Generally consisting of me being tied up and being forced to watch her get raped. :cry:

fortunately they have stopped.

[AlienGirl]

14. I have bad ones. Had sleep paralysis episode last night, combined with it.

The sleep paralysis wasn't accompanied by any images, but a strong sense of struggling to move. I was trying to push myself sideways or roll over. There was something I was trying to say, but between paralysis and my dry vocal cords all I remember of it was my voice, very hoarse and raspy, still talking as I came fully awake, saying "I'm going to have an idea..."

Tucker

[Lorien]

15. I've always had nightmares. Usually end of the world stuff, or being told that

I'm ugly, worthless, useless, etc. Being harshly judged is a constant theme because I WAS always harshly judged growing up; bullied constantly at school and being put down constantly at home. It's odd, but I know many people who have never had a SINGLE nightmare in their lives. I can't even imagine how that could be possible.