[Partless]

When I was little, if I had nightmares, more often than not I'd wake up in the middle of it at night drenched in sweat and heart beating so fast. I'd go to my parents or something if it was too much for me, anxious if I should wake them up but sometimes I would.

Now in my 30s I'm having nightmares again but never wake up when I'm having them. Sometimes I wake up drenched in sweat like today, I have been having little panic attacks with startle reaction and sweating profusely several times since got up for no reason but I'm pretty sure it was something about a nightmare but I barely remember it. The only part I remember is one of my parents hugging me casually and I push them away and say no don't touch me! I have no history of sexual abuse or anything.

I have told about my problems remembering to my therapist and she says she could help me make sense of it (I have PTSD and OCD and depression/anxiety) but only if I can remember them. It's very frustrating. She had offered me sleep meds and I had slept better but those nightmares are below the surface because even on those meds, I'd wake up some days and feel the same way, only those times not remember anything at all about a dream.

For some reason I think if I could only wake up right in the middle of it, I could figure it out, maybe even process it emotionally. But instead I wake up in weird positions on my bed the morning with my blanket all twisted and pillow wet and my knuckles white and jaw pain and no memory.

I appreciate any help or idea or book or articles about how to remember your dreams or nightmares. Thank you very much.

[NowhereUSA]

i have chronic nightmares. i wanted to remember my dreams (this is how i figured this out), so i started journaling them. it takes a bit for it to get started, but the key is to have a journal and pen right by your bed as soon as you wake up. at first you might just remember a feeling or a stray picture. after a couple weeks, i was remembering them in great detail just as i woke up (if i waited to write them down, then they drifted away).

they were horrible so i stopped doing that and trained myself to forget them :-/

[Rainydaiz]

I have nightmares and night terrors. I use the sleep talk app which records you when it registers a noise. It only really works for my night terrors rather than my nightmares as I talk about what I can see when I have a night terror. I tend not to talk with the nightmares. But it might be worth a shot? X

When I first started doing dream work with my t she told me to state the intention before I went to sleep "I will remember my dreams" and like NowhereUSA said keep a journal and pen next to your bed, so you can write down even any little snippet you remember when you wake up. I still sometimes only get one or two words, or a rough sketch of something. But sometimes I write a page and a half of what I remember from a dream too. It takes practice, like learning anything else, to be able to remember and record dreams. I've been in Tulsa on a work trip all week and have recorded dreams every night - wild.

[BadWolf]

I started Journaling about dreams and reading and rereading them and I got good at remembering my dreams, remember wring to remember what was happening while I was deeaming, being aware I was dreaming, and not I can remember dreams well, I can even make decisions in the dream to make the dream s better. But this is dreams, not terrible nightmares.

Maybe you can bring the journal to therapy and make sense of things with them?

[ChildlikeEmpress]

I also have kept dream journals on and off. It seems like I remember dreams better when I know that I'm intentionally going to write them down as soon as I wake up. I think even if you write the little snippets that you remember right away, over time they might show some patterns even if you can only remember fragments.

[xLosingHerx]

I have one question. Are your dreams and nitemares vivid?

xΚΛΤDΣGΦЯЕх