i hate the dreams!

triggers...The ones of the SA. While my dreams, no matter how morbid, dont tend to actually scare me, the ones that are SA dreams leave me feeling terrible when i wake up. Last nights dream i was able to fight back, i was trying to protect a 4 year old and 7 year old. I kept hitting him over and over as hard as i could but my hits were nothing more than small taps.
i get my conscience is trying to work through my past but after dreams about SA, my sleep is ruined for the night and i start to feel uncomfortable and un safe all day. Wish i was safe from my dreams...

I am so sorry.

Horrible dreams

I wish that we could get them to stop. Have you tried any meds to help you sleep through the night? My psychiatrist did put me on a med, Topomax, to help me make it throughout the night without waking up terrorized.

You may want to see if your doc can help you get through the ongoing nightmares and crummy sleep.

Thank you pbutton and shezbut. I went to the pdoc yesterday. She didnt give me meds at all and dismissed me as a patient. Since they believe my primary mental health issue is DID and meds dont help, therapy is all im getting. I guess its for the best, let me get through this on my own i guess. But t says things will get much harder in therapy soon, once we start digging into the abuse.theres a lot of thimgs i dont remember and i have w very sharp memory. But ive always thought, if i didnt remember then it didnt happen. This year had provided the most anxiety ive had in ages, and i was mostly unmedicated, i guess i can continue.
my sleep is terrible, i have a lot of abusive dreams at least 4 nights a week, so much that they dont scare me too much anymore unless they are extreme but they always leave me feeling really uncomfortable after i wake up. The docs dont want me on sleeping meds, say they dont want me to rely on them for the rest of my life.
Im going at it alone, im worried but perhaps its for the best

I'm so glad someone else brought this up! I have awful S.A dreams on a regular basis and sometimes i wake up and am in a hazy dream like state for hours afterwards, this is when i self-harm, to try a feel something. I have very morbid dreams too about dead children etc. Thing is in waking life, i have very little memory of any abuse taking place, just this awful feeling that it did. Accompanied with issues with intimacy and medical examinations.

You're not alone, purpleflyingmonkeys.

I am so sorry. I ahve the same problem ,or similar, worse in some ways, not as bad in others. My P-doc just prescribed clonidine (normally psychiatrists prescribe it for ADD in kids and reg. docs prescribe it as blood pressure med for adults??)for me to help me with the violence of my dreams due to years of abuse. He explained this novel use as docs are beginning to use it with Veterans who have PTSD coming home from Iraq and Afgahistan who have trouble sleeping and nightmares and it has been VERY effective in helping their intense /graphic nightmares lessen...maybe that would help if your not taking anything and you want to? I sorry to hear about this. Nightmares have a way of following you through the day. It is yucky. Sorry hon, I understand. Facing Chains

After reading everyones post and seeing how much we all are suffering I am going to ask my p-doc for the Clonidine/PTSD Veteran Nightmares article and then post it here so that anybody who wants to take it to their p-doc is welcome to. We shouldnt have to suffer all day AND all night. Veterans arent the only ones reliving the past and fighting for their lives while they sleep.
The Battle is Real: Facing Chains.

I have a lot of bad dreams too, and sometimes I am also left feeling dazed the next day. When that happens, I let myself have a little caffeine (cup of coffee or one glass of diet coke, something like that) and I exercise first chance in the morning. It helps clear my head and get me out of dream mode in my head. Helps me feel more grounded in the waking world.
Also, do you have a sleep routine for yourself? You probably have one for your daughter, brush teeth, read a story, etc., but a lot of adults forget to do that for themselves. It can help to go through the same routine every night before bed.
I never get very much sleep, but I personally do not recommend sleep medication. I want to be able to wake myself up if the dreams get too bad.

I try to have a sleep routine but with my job it's almost not possible. I work 3 1/2 nights a week and don't get off work until 11. I don't get home until 11:30 and when my daughter is home I have to be up at 8am so I pretty much have to go straight to sleep when I get home.
But I've learned with my anxiety and sleep, along with sleep affirmations, getting a back rub really helps me go to sleep quickly. My fiance has been doing this for me every single night for about 4 weeks now. I'm so lucky! But even with that it doesn't stop the dreams.
I just don't like the feeling when I wake up. Most of my dreams, I can be brutally attacked and even feel the pain to an extent but I am not afraid in the dreams, sometimes I am but most of the time I'm not. I just don't like the memory of the dreams, the images that tend to linger of the dream and the groggy out of it state I get in all day after. But that's a great idea to exercise, I bet it would make things easier.
Thank you all for your replies. I hope we all can get a horror free night of sleep tonight!