Nightmares. Do you relate?

Please chime in with your own issues as an individual with Post-Traumatic Stress(Disorder), who suffer from nightmares as a symptom. I am grateful for all posts. And since this thread is about the subconscious reacting to each Post-Traumatic Stress case, I clicked on the trigger icon.

Well,

The nightmares and night terrors are at it again. I awake screaming or speaking loudly in mid-sleep or awake to find myself on the floor in my bedroom after I tried to escape from enemies. When I sleep, some are feverish, and some are repeated dreams that have been part of my inner subconscious since I developed PTSD. Each terrifying experience involves my family, my friends, and sometimes monsters with heavy symbolism attached.

Over the years, I dived inside my own psyche to challenge, educate, and analyze. All for the sake of my treatments and personal curiosity. Does it sound odd that excavating old wounds both soothe and numb me? Through the looking-glass thanks to others, I discovered my true past (non-sugar coated), and I have an urge to discuss it.

And another thing;

Does anyone else get accused of "living in the past"? In my opinion, people (relatives, lovers, friends) use that sentence so they can evade from nitty-gritty subjects altogether, even when they are the ones that initialized the pain. I rather they recognize their role and talk about it. Anyone else feel the same?

Hello. I have expereinced the same as you. Nightmares related to PSTD and trauma as well as the '"stop living in the past' thing. You are right on the button on this. Dreams are a safe place where things we cannot face in waking life -presesnt themselves in this safe envrionment. These nightmares allow us to acknowledge what we hae expereinced and this helps in your therapy with regard to working out the feelingds that are so overwhelming related to trauma.
As for people teeling you to 'stop living in the oast,; I thinkg you are correct that those people who abused you will not wanto to reviit what they did or allowed to happen and that they just want you to go ahead and move on -- as the trauma has had no lasting effect on you. You know better.
In my own situation it was many years before any family member spoek with me about what I had expereinced and it was a very eye-opening and almost unberable thing. I learned that many people knew about what was going on and yet no one stood up and stopped it or defended me in any way. IT was validation after being told I was crazy and never knew what I was talking about but it was also very sad and depressing to know that I was indeed expendable to those people who should ahve cared for and loved me- that is my primary family, aprents and sister.

There are reasons for your dreams and I think it is a way for us to work out feelings that still affect us in our unconscious. Dreams access our unconsious and that is the doorway to past trauma in many cases.

It sounds to me like you are level headed and are expereincing the post effects of being truamatized and then lied to by those people who want to deny what it is that has affected you so. This is a natural course in healing yourself with therapy. I hope you talk to your therapist about this and also realiZe that if youa re hoping for youyr family to change that they will not. That was a big problem for me-- the always present child's desire to make my aprents love me and validate my life. You are the only one -just as in my case- I am the only one who can do this. Hopefully you ahve a therapist and he/she will work with you to understnad that what hapened to you was not your fault or that you in any way deserved this.

Please take care and keep your head up. You are an insightful good person.

Oh, I am so sorry that they knew the entire time, and did not stop your suffering. People can be such cowards and/or controlling individuals. I hope, in some way, you found resolution in knowing the truth and are on the road to forgiveness for you. Not them. But so you can heal and live a more stable existence. That is what therapy taught me.

I remember throughout the years being called a crazy, pathological liar (they would threaten me with mental hospitals, thus developing my fear of them) by my own family because they wanted to cover their tracks about the different forms of abuse and neglect I endured. They even managed to turn one of my brothers against me for a long time. We finally patched things up in the last two years, thankfully. When I was 19, my aunt and uncle called me one evening. While on the phone, I was allowed to talk about my life with them, and in turn, they admitted they knew everything. They cried, saying they were so wrapped up in their own little worlds, they could not adopt me. I am still heartbroken of the 'what could have been', sometimes. At age 21, right before my eldest brother (not the same as mentioned above) had his first son, he phoned me just to beg and cry for forgiveness. I said I forgave him so we could both move on, and in truth, I had forgiven him years earlier because forgiveness is meant for the victim.

Sadly, I cannot do the same with my parents. They ignore me or continue to sweep things under the rug. My father never puts blame on himself and has a tendency act like a child when confronted. It is always difficult to say you love a father that actually But... I do. I see him as my dad and as a friend. Though, sometimes I refer to his name, instead.

You are right. The journey is about self. And I think you are brave for going through your hardships and being able to talk about them. I wish I could give you a hug, 1976kitchenfloor.

Thanks for commenting on my post. The nightmares are hard to handle. I was on prazosin for awhile and that helped but it also made me feel fuzzy. I hate fuzzy.

#Life is a beautiful lie#

No problem. I am happy to know others go through PTSD nightmares. They are the worst. And that sounds like a tricky medication since it helps elevate blood pressure. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Hi Prism Bunny. I'm new here. Just joined last night.

I also have a problem with nightmares. Plagued with them for years. I started with a psychiatrist a little over a year ago that prescribed cyproheptadine which stopped the nightmares almost completely the first night I took it. It's an antihistamine that for some reason helps with nightmares, but they don't know how. I've been on it a year now and its working great and without any side effects. Every once in a while I'll have a dream that should be a nightmare but I don't experience any fear or anxiety throughout.

Before I consented to try the pills, I Googled for information on any research they've done on this, and didn't find a lot, but what I found looked promising. They have mostly been studying the effects on combat veterans, but most in the studies found cyproheptadine helped them, but how much was different for everyone.

--Ceara1010

I often wonder which is worse, nightmares or insomnia...

I can relate to the nightmares they are awful. I would stay up a lot of nights cause of them.

Yeah, they're really awful. If I sleep I have nightmares. If I'm awake I have flashbacks. There's no winning.

Yep. I've been doing well lately, and my mom came to visit. It triggered PTSD nightmares about my narcissistic father. My mom said I talk very clearly in my sleep. And very loudly.

I used to stay awake to not have the nightmares - then I would get so tired I would sleep for 24 to 48 hours - only waking with a nightmare to fall back to sleep cos I was so tired.... for me the nightmares are\were worse - if I was awake I could play games on my phone or laptop - veg to tv - come here - but the nightmares....there seemed to be no escape from them

what I did was keep a book near my bed -write the nightmares down and re-assure myself I was safe at the time - leave the light on - I still sleep with the light on - it also helps with depression the amount of light you are exposed to - in the morning or when I was able i would go through the nightmare and try to take away its power by normalising it - reliving it but chaning the outcome or what happened - say I was attacked - this time in my head i would imagine being attacked by a fluffy bunny :-) didn't always work - sometimes it did with lots of going over it

take care - be well

P7

I used to have night terrors as well. They make you feel as if you have no control and powerless. I used to do a lot of meditating before bed and while it took a lot of time to over come....I finally feel like I have. Stay strong.

I dream about it all times. I expatriated, left the country and it still feels as though the memories are haunting me. It's just too ... vivid. I don't know how to get rid of it. Wish I knew how to.

I have night mares all the time and I scream and talk in my sleep all the time, Some times I wonder if my neighbors hear me because I am quite loud and it will wake me up, Like a example would be shut the **** up, I might also scream out **** you, I swear all the time in my sleep, I also have the same thing as you do people saying that I live in the past and I shouldn't, Well they fail to realize it's still my present

I have nightmares too. I often wake up feeling panicked and sweating. I have daytime flashbacks as well. None of my family (parents, siblings) knows I have ptsd because unfortunately they won't be supportive.

I just began having night terrors 2 nights ago. And I thought nightmares were bad! The panic and confusion when my husband wakes me up make me feel so vulnerable.

Thank you for all the responses, though I am sorry that everyone faces the same challenges, at least we know we are not alone.