I hope you had at least an okay day, Catchingthesun. Nightmares are just awful. Sleep is important to everyone but I have always thought that, if you have a major mental illness, sleep is just beyond crucial. For me, it may be the only part of the day when I am not freaking and miserable and not wanting to exist. If I don't get that, well, there's no telling how bad it could get. All of which is to say that I finally had to stop my Ambien. It definitely affected my dream life, I sleep walked and sleep cooked. And to be honest, I just don't think it's that great of a sleep med--at least for me it isn't. There are other drugs that have worked much better for me in the past (trazodone, remeron, seroquel are a few). I see there are quite a few people here on PC on seroquel. I was on it for awhile, but stopped it. For me, the diabetes risk just wasn't worth it (I realize that not everyone feels this way). But this is all stuff you can talk to your pdoc about, if you choose to explore alternatives to Ambien. You also mentioned racing thoughts and I have found that in me, bad sleep really exacerbates racing thoughts big-time. So, that might get better with some good sleep.

Sleep is complicated in people like us. I would urge you to talk to your pdoc about what is going on and see what sorts of options he/she comes up with. I am sure you can come up with a solid plan together. Keep us posted. Good luck!!