[KAnne1989]

does anyone else find that stress can make your flashbacks/nightmares worsen? Especially when its related to the trauma itself?

It's been a year and a half for one of the causes of my PTSD and two years for the other. Both still give me a LOT of nightmares and trigger anxiety and panic/fear from certain television content, conversational topics or even simple gestures people make everyday.

[HealingNSuffering]

Yes, I don't watch television and have to be careful with movies. Both serve to trigger flashbacks and nightmares from me. I've been triggered by conversations and am hyper-sensitive to people's facial expressions. If somebody looks angry my fight or flight response is triggered which can lead to panic attacks and intrusive upsetting episodes in which I photographically recall traumatic memories.

[unaluna]

It's been ten years since I started having work nightmares and last got fired, and I had another such nightmare last night. Mine are only about computers and offices and bosses, so on a scale of such things, I guess they're not that horrible, but they definitely are not happy dreams.

[jadedbutterfly]

Originally Posted by KAnne1989

does anyone else find that stress can make your flashbacks/nightmares worsen? Especially when its related to the trauma itself?
It's been a year and a half for one of the causes of my PTSD and two years for the other. Both still give me a LOT of nightmares and trigger anxiety and panic/fear from certain television content, conversational topics or even simple gestures people make everyday.

Stress definitely plays a role in my ptsd symptoms... nightmares and flashbacks are worse. think the body/mind gets hyper-vigilant when we are under stress, so we are even unconsciously sensing triggers.....

[Heart2Heart1]

I have really bad Insomnia and hardly recall ever dreaming my entire life. I went into a deep sleep with something I took fairly recently. The dream was a total nightmare of one of the situations that causes my PTSD attacks to kick in. I was wishing so much for deep sleep, now after that I'm hoping I don't sleep that deep. It horrified me to no end. Try to think about happy things before you go to bed. Maybe that will help. Good Luck.

[MotownJohnny]

Absolutely. I don't have dreams/nightmares often, because I have insomnia, but when I do they are often about things from 40 years ago. I have more unpleasant dreams than nightmares, but it's quite common for me to wake up crying with one, and that puts me in a foul mood all day.