Recurring Nightmares and Afraid to Sleep

Hi Everyone,

I haven't written on here in a while and I will try to make my story as short as possible. I'm having really bad nightmares, now almost every night, about an ex boyfriend of mine I left after a physically abusive relationship (you can read the story here: http://forums.psychcentral.com/depre...aid-court.html). I actually moved away and wasn't having nightmares anymore, but I recently moved back to the same town (I didn't have too much of a choice, job situation). Ever since I moved back, my nightmares are getting increasingly worse and happening more often, and I have also started grinding my teeth during them. I know this has also partly been because I recently saw my ex in town and snuck away before he could see me.

To make matters worse, this weekend I woke up from a nightmare to seeing a house fire about 100 yards away from my apartment. I called 911 and the fire department came, and no one was hurt luckily because it was a very large fire. Last night it took me a long time to get to sleep, and even when I finally slept it wasn't good sleep. Waking up to the fire seems to have made matters worse and I'm afraid to go to sleep because I don't want to have the nightmares. Has anyone else dealt with nightmares before, and if so, what has helped you? Thanks for any help.

dogzrule, Moving back to the same town would hugely add to your stress level. I'm not surprised you are having nightmares. Have you spoken with your doctor about this? Are you in therapy to help you learn ways of coping?

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was in therapy before (over a year ago), but I made a lot of progress and my therapist and I decided to stop meeting. Of course, I'm always welcome to go back. The problem is I don't have health insurance right now, I'll probably get it again in January.

Last night was a better night for me (I actually woke up to having dreams about my dogs, which was nice). I just wanted to know if anyone else has dealt with this before, and if so what has helped.