Nightmares

[embrassezla]

This is really strange.

So, I've been averaging about 4-5 nights/week for the last month where I have at least one (usually more than one) nightmare.

Before then, I almost NEVER had nightmares. I have been stressed out lately, yes, but I've been stressed out lots of times and never had it manifest itself this way. I have tried going to bed full/starving/everything in between - there doesn't seem to be a correlation with meal timing. The content of the dreams varies - no reccuring themes. Nothing that stays with me and at this point, nothing that really scares me once I wake from them. In fact, lately I've been lucid dreaming just because I think my mind recognizes by now that if something wierd or scary is going on, it's likely that I'm dreaming.

I can't figure out what could be going on to cause this, but since the dreams are very random, I don't see much point in trying to psychoanalyze them. At this point, I'm wondering if I could be deficient in some nutrient or something. Anyone have any thoughts?

[wordsmith]

I typically never remember dreams.

But I remember nightmares, and I've had runs of having lots and lots of them. And it's always during times of extreme personal stress and anxiety.

[embrassezla]

And it's always during times of extreme personal stress and anxiety.
I suppose that has to be it. Maybe I'm more stressed than I even realized.

It's more annoying than anything, because the nights that I have nightmares, I'm like a zombie the next day.

[Tayl405]

Do you sleep with the tv or radio on? That can cause crazy dreams.

I've been having snake dreams a LOT lately (I'm terrified of them). I'm assuming it's stress, but it's getting really old.

[yankeeyosh]

I've had terrible dreams the last couple of nights...with the sense of death and doom and misery every moment. Yet, for some odd reason, I'm sleeping now on weekends more than I ever did, and am starting to get really concerned. I threw up last night, and today, I feel so lightheaded and somewhat weak and I can barely think.

[Feverish]

I've grown up having terrible nightmares all of the time. I either remember them well or just wake up with an overwhelming feeling making it clear that I had been having nightmares. I just recently brought it up to my mother and she told me she has had nightmares her entire life as well. On top of that, she said that my sister always has nightmares also- perhaps it's genetic. Who would've thought?

[yankeeyosh]

Actually, now that I think about it, last night's dream wasn't really a nightmare more than it was a strange convolution about a million things on my mind, like moving, money woes, sickness, etc...and there were some weird things in it too, including a debate about the work ethic of Generation 'Y'. I think I've been QLCing way too much :googly:

Friday night's was much worse, though...

[old_school_soul]

nightmares can be fun. seriously. you have to read about lucid dreaming. Learning how to lucid dream gives you techniques to know when you are dreaming.. So once you realize it's a dream, you face your fear, and your nightmare is over.

[yankeeyosh]

Third night in a row I had very vivid, disturbing dreams. Something is definitely messed up.

Meanwhile, I continue to feel like crap...essentially I feel as though I'm in a drunken stupor without having any alcohol in my system.

[embrassezla]

i have been lucid dreaming, just because i've been having so many nightmares that my mind has learned to realize it. yeah, the dream usually ends when i become aware, but that doesn't really help. i just want the nightmares to STOP, because they are very disruptive of my sleep.

last night i dreamt i had cancer. *headdesk*

[yankeeyosh]

i have been lucid dreaming, just because i've been having so many nightmares that my mind has learned to realize it. yeah, the dream usually ends when i become aware, but that doesn't really help. i just want the nightmares to STOP, because they are very disruptive of my sleep.

last night i dreamt i had cancer. *headdesk*

{{{hugs}}} Please don't think that way...

My dreams have been terrible. Friday night, my nightmares pertained to people in my family dying almost to a point where I was almost desensitized to it. Saturday, it wasn't as bad...just a convolution of a million things on my mind. Last night was a maelstrom of experiencing bigotry and hatred first hand, and having to escape Queens for some reason because of it.

Something is seriously messed up in my mind.

[embrassezla]

My dreams have been terrible. Friday night, my nightmares pertained to people in my family dying almost to a point where I was almost desensitized to it. Saturday, it wasn't as bad...just a convolution of a million things on my mind. Last night was a maelstrom of experiencing bigotry and hatred first hand, and having to escape Queens for some reason because of it.
seriously! at this point, i know i'm just stressed, but i've done everything i can think of to de-stress and nothing's working. i took a bath yesterday, went running, relaxed for most of the day. maybe i just need to give myself a chance to relax.

i know why i had the cancer dream...i watched Mystery Diagnosis on Discovery Health (I'm totally addicted to that channel) yesterday afternoon, and they had a story about a guy that had a mysterious pain that turned out to be a tumour. i'm gonna be super bummed if i can't watch DH anymore - i love that channel!

[yankeeyosh]

seriously! at this point, i know i'm just stressed, but i've done everything i can think of to de-stress and nothing's working. i took a bath yesterday, went running, relaxed for most of the day. maybe i just need to give myself a chance to relax.

i know why i had the cancer dream...i watched Mystery Diagnosis on Discovery Health (I'm totally addicted to that channel) yesterday afternoon, and they had a story about a guy that had a mysterious pain that turned out to be a tumour. i'm gonna be super bummed if i can't watch DH anymore - i love that channel!

A lot of my dreams have come from my fears and what's on my mind...last night's was very different, though...Queens turned into South Africa circa 1985 (it was called an apartheid state in my dream) and I couldn't tolerate it and had to escape...as I saw the pure hatred of people. Meanwhile, there were long lines of people trying to escape, and there were government controls on who can leave and who can't. Don't know how this came about...perhaps it has something to do with my bigoted boss, but I'm not sure.

Right now I'm just trying to wing it through the day. I have no brain power whatsoever, and getting through today will be tough.

[blueyes]

Em - I've stopped watching CSI, even though I dig it, b/c it was freaking me out too much right before bed. And I'm addicted to SVU, but I really can't watch it after like 8 b/c otherwise I go to bed and have straaaaange SVU dreams, like borderline nightmare. Maybe DH does have to go...? :(

[embrassezla]

Em - I've stopped watching CSI, even though I dig it, b/c it was freaking me out too much right before bed. And I'm addicted to SVU, but I really can't watch it after like 8 b/c otherwise I go to bed and have straaaaange SVU dreams, like borderline nightmare. Maybe DH does have to go...? :(
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! haha maybe, I don't know. it's never freaked me out before...maybe i'll abstain just until the nightmares stop :)

[yankeeyosh]

No nightmares last night...just a disconnected dream about something pertaining to grad school and boats (?) and Key West. But it wasn't a good night's sleep. Like Sunday night, I probably didn't doze off the first time until about 2ish. And then, I must have woken up a good six, seven times for the rest of the night. Maybe I got a three hours of "real sleep". This isn't the first time this has happened...I rarely get more than six hours of "real sleep" during the week, and then on weekends, I just completely zonk out and sleep more than 12 hours a night. Something is messed up...

[drdeadringer]

My tendancy to dream increases if I drink alcohol [beer-form more so]. Two nights ago I had an odd dream involving a noose, a half-ful many-gallon jug of Pepsi and walking around in the woods by a local river -- but having the dream could have been influenced by my having a dose of Valerian beforehand to help me sleep.

No, my 'recent' sleeping problems have nothing to do with my dreams.

I kinda like dreams -- even if they're freakish. As long as I do wake up from them. The nested-wakings, though cool, sometimes give me pause.

[avi25lab]

Do you sleep with the tv or radio on? That can cause crazy dreams.

I've been having snake dreams a LOT lately (I'm terrified of them). I'm assuming it's stress, but it's getting really old.

I have snake nightmares too sometimes when I'm stressed. I'm super scared of rattlesnakes, probably b/c that's my main fear while hiking anywhere around here, since they could hurt me or kill my dog, their enormous fangs seem like weapons of death. I also read a book when I was about 7 about a boy who got bit by a rattlesnake and suffered thoughout the book, not a good thing for a little kid to read. Luckily, I haven't had a snake nightmare for a long time, but they usually involve a rattlesnake leaping out to bite me and occasionally I try to kill it with some sort of tool but fail. This was a recurring dream during high school, especially before math tests. I also had recurring nightmares about a robber during high school and college, but don't remember them anymore.

I agree about not sleeping with the TV on, since it disrupts your sleep cycle. Back in the day before my upstairs neighbors woke me up at all hours of the night, I remember that trying to clear my mind of all negative thoughts, relaxing all my muscles, and drinking chamomile tea a couple of hours before bed were all relaxing things that helped keep away bad dreams. Try to relax before bed, that should help. Also, exercise earlier in the day (at least a few hours before bed) will make you sleep more soundly and relieves stress.