[TheOriginalMe]

I've always been prone to nightmares, in fact one of my earliest memories is of having nightmares where the walls, ceiling and doors all fell towards me. I would wake just before being crushed, I was under 2 years of age because these nightmares stopped when my brother was born just after my 2nd birthday. They stopped because I stayed at my auntie and uncle's house while my mum was in hospital giving birth. I had one of these nightmares then and I remember my uncle comforting me and explaining about bad dreams to me.

Fast forward to adulthood, depression and meds. I've been depressed on and off for more than 30 years. I'm currently taking Cymbalta 60mg, before this I was on Effexor, before that Celexa, before that Prozac. I had more frequent nightmares while on Celexa and Prozac but the Effexor and now the Cymbalta have really increased the frequency and the graphic detail and "reality" of these dreams. While on the Effexor, they became so bad I was afraid to sleep and the increased sleep deprivation ended up with me hallucinating certain elements of the bad dreams while awake. I really don't want to go down that route again with Cymbalta but fear that it is starting to happen.

The next few paragraphs will describe my most recent nightmare, which has scenes from the holocaust. Please don't read on if you could be triggered. I am still distressed by this dream nearly 20 hours later.









The dream took the form of a documentary, where I was the narrator, and also the people who were the subjects of the documentary. The documentary was an investigation into the modern day relevance of the so called "medical research" conducted in nazi concentration camps.

Not only did I describe the details of what happened, I was also a concentration camp "doctor", a guard and one of about a dozen young women who were in the gas chamber, I was aged about 20 and all the other women were like I was at that age. We were dressed in dirty, flimsy cotton shifts. The room had a strange sweet odour, we knew we would die but did not comprehend how this would come about in such a bare, stark room. The guard shut the door and went to the side of the "doctor".

Here my nightmare departs from the story of the holocaust. The narrator described what would happen next. The "doctor" then explained to the narrator why this "research" was "necessary". The women would not be gassed with cyanide, instead a new agent would be used, this would cause the uterus to rupture and haemorrhage catastrophically, the purpose of the "experiment" was to develop a new chemical agent for warfare. I awoke just as the "doctor" started to introduce the chemical agent to the chamber.

I dread falling asleep right now, I fear that there is worse to come. I am truly sorry that I had to describe this vile nightmare, but I could not bear to have these images in my head and I need to know that I am not alone tonight.

[Linna GallowayHuber]

Seems to me these nightmares could be caused from watching scary movies. i don't know if you do that. But would avoid them in the future. i had a nightmare after watching "Nightmare on Elm street." i was the girl who was slid up the wall and dropped from the ceiling to a square black hole. i woke up just as i hit the black hole. So I avoid those types of movies since and i don't have nightmares. also ;maybe pray about it and ask for your nightmares to end.you may need someone to pray with you,but you don't have to take my advice either.

[LaborIntensive]

I have been taking Cymbalta to aid in fighting the crippling depression I have been feeling. I to have noticed that in the first two days of taking Cymbalta my dreams became more vivid and I can remember them when I wake up for a little while. I used to think I didn't dream because I forgot them as soon as I opened my eyes. But now it's as if movies are playing my head and in fact documentaries. I am wondering what you are into and what type of thoughts you have or experiences you have had.



My dreams have varied from one being exactly like I was watching an episode of Tales From The Crypt where I was an audience member just watching and trying to figure out why this was a new show to me and I couldn't recall having seen it before. But it was good show and had the "moral to the story" as in the regular TFTC shows. I awoke recalling the ending of the show and how bizarre it was that it ended just as I awoke. The only difference is that instead of the "Crypt Keeper" the host and narrator was some guy with bad, big teeth and a fifties haircut.

The next dream a few nights ago I was on spaceship with people who I seemed to know intimately. We had been on a deployment to uncover information about a space phenomenon having to do with numerous universes and that the universe we were in did in fact have a physical boundary. We were to study the boundary area where other lifeforms in ships and energy vessels were disappearing to see if they were actually being destroyed or transitioning to the next universe unscathed as the data was inconclusive. As we approached the event horizon it appeared as soap suds but very colorful and we were not watching a screen but seeing the images in our minds (very cool dream). Just then I woke up to one of my cats pawing at the bed.

Needless to say I am taking my Cymbalta with exuberance now! I look forward to seeing these dreams develop and now I am thinking about making a log to fill out as I wake up to better detail and understand the dream. I figure it like this:

1. Wake up - grab notebook, very quickly paint a huge picture of the highlights
2. Once I run out of the big picture view of the dream I can try to fill in the minor details.

Perhaps trying this will shed light on your dreams and provide you a means to controlling the dreams as wit "Lucid Dreaming"

Seeing as this a new event in my life (I don't recall dreaming for almost 20 years) I am excited and hoping to gain a modicum of control of these dreams and tailor them to "go deeper" and perhaps control the events as they unfold.

[TheOriginalMe]

Labor - Is your cat dreaming? It looks like it is trying to catch butterflies.
My dog dreams happy dreams of chasing balls and swimming. At least that is what I tell myself. I do think that animals have happy dreams.

I tried lucid dreaming years back, it ended with me opening the door to a wooly rhino, which then sat on top of me and I suffocated. That was back in the day when I was an undergrad and studying the pleistocene ice ages. I had probably had a wee bit too much to drink.

I don't remember happy or colourful or pleasant dreams just the bad ones. It is interesting that we both dreamt a documentary. I've never had that before.

[LaborIntensive]

I also take a multitude of other over the counter pills that I feel help me a bit.

5-HTP
St. Johnswart
All the Fish Oil and Krill Oil
Multi-Vitamin
DHEA
LCAR (google it)
Lithium Ocatate

[TheOriginalMe]

Originally Posted by Linna GallowayHuber

Seems to me these nightmares could be caused from watching scary movies. i don't know if you do that. But would avoid them in the future. i had a nightmare after watching "Nightmare on Elm street." i was the girl who was slid up the wall and dropped from the ceiling to a square black hole. i woke up just as i hit the black hole. So I avoid those types of movies since and i don't have nightmares. also ;maybe pray about it and ask for your nightmares to end.you may need someone to pray with you,but you don't have to take my advice either.

thank you for replying. I don't watch movies or tv much and I don't even read much right now as my concentration is so poor. So I don't think those things trigger me. I'm glad that your spirituality gives you strength but sadly for me, I don't have spiritual cogniscence. Welcome to PC, I haven't seen your name here before.

[yumi]

Have you ever thought of the possibility of a past life? I'm not sure yet how much I believe in them, but sometimes I wonder. Have you researched the experiment on the women's uteruses? If it was a real experiment done on those poor women and you never read or heard of it before, maybe there is something to it.

Do you lucid dream at all? I do this sometimes and its rather. scary, yet intriguing at the same time.

[TheOriginalMe]

Having had a couple of days to think it over, I believe that part of the dream may have been to do with a health problem I had last year. The thing that abhorred me the most was being the "doctor" and the "guard", killing without emotion.

I don't quite reach the stage of lucid dreaming, except when it is the "can't find the toilet" dream. As a child, I learnt that finding the toilet meant wetting the bed, so I always find something wrong with even the cleanest of toilets in my dreams.

[Thunder Bow]

The "Doctor" is your Depression. It threatens you and your health. Also do not be to hard on yourself. Your depression is injecting negative thoughts into the room. Negative thinking is like that agent he is using. The negative thinking you have about yourself and your female self.