Nightmares..

OP

I had a therapist to help me overcome this problem i once had.. and she told me to listen to music for half an hour before i go to bed [like ocean waves and stuff] and i tried it for a week but it just feels like silence and my mind just wanders onto other things : / and im too tired to read a book before i go to sleep too : / . . .

Reply 3

ßlαcksωαn

17

councelling, are these dreams just made up in your head not related to anything, or has your mother or someone else actually been abused before? something might be linked...

Reply 4

OP

Well no.. but im always scared my boyfriend will leave me for another girl who is better than me [he is always going on trip things with girls i dont know], and no.. my mum and dad have never been abused but when i think about it , it isnt the first time ive had dreams about them being shot/tortured, ive dreamt about them being killed quite a few times from when i was about 10 until now, but in different ways.
This might sound complete random and a touch unbelievable but.. you know if youve been to a certain place, say Spain or London.. do you ever feel like somethings gunna happen and you say to yourself that a certain thing feels like its gonna happen and then in the news something similar happens maybe a few weeks or a few years later?? I think its called premonitions?? I suppose everyone gets them.. and deja vu . I just feel like a freak show sometimes.

Reply 5

h82think

14

Fruitcakex

This will sound so trivial and childish but for the past few weeks i keep having really really awful nightnmares, and i wake up in a huge sweat breathing quickly. I keep having dreams that i cheat on my boyfriend and then i see him and he's surrounded by girls, or that he breaks up with me for no reason, or that someone leaves me in the middle of a desert and im dying, or that someone infront of me tortures my mum or someone shoots my dad and i see it and everything and its bludy awful :unsure:

the worst thing is when i wake up and for the first minute i think its all happened. And i know everyone has nightmares but i have about 3 a night and it makes me feel awful the rest of the day. Someone help/advice?? [and dont just tell me im insane!]

Before you go to bed, do relaxing things, such as watching a funny tv programme. I find having photos around my bed that makes me happy helps decrease the number of nightmares I have.

Reply 6

Vohamanah

16

Deary me, poor you :eek:

I would suggest making sure you are totally relaxed before you go to bed. Have a bath, spray some Lavender stuff on your pillow, put on warm PJs (in this weather...) then get in bed and try to empty your mind completely. Try some kind of visualization. If I can't stop my mind whirring I imagine falling through a long dark tunnel, feeling the air on my face and the movement all round, but knowing I'm going to fall somewhere soft, and just enjoying the fall. But that's just me :smile:

Dreams are strange things though. I keep having horrible dreams about the place I used to work. Noone is doing anything except me, and I have to keep all the customers happy and they are walking out and Eek! :rolleyes:

I don't even work there any more for goodness sake!

Reply 7

It's not childish at all. I've been getting nightmares for a few weeks, and when mine started, I had about 5 a night. If they bother me in the day though, I try to do something active to take my mind off of them.
I do get premonitions sometimes with my dreams, like when I dreamt that my friend was severely ill, and the next day she was off sixth form severely ill.

Reply 8

Nudlz

apparenly dreams are caused by the things you think about before bedtime so justdo soemthing to chill before you go to sleep it might help

Reply 9

OP

I think the tunnel thing is a good idea :] I think what doesnt help is that my sleeping pattern has gone to plot .. because its the holidays so im not being active or doing anything and thus finding it hard to get to sleep at night and falling asleep at like 3. So ive decided ive had enough of these nightmare things and im completely changing my diet, and im going on runs everyday to wear myself out. Hopefully that might help. I have a disturbing mind , i swear.. lol

Reply 10

Walrus Rider

You may have heard of 'Lucid Dreaming', where you can control what you dream about.
I became interested a while ago, and did a bit of research, and found this:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lucid_Dreaming

It's really helpful if you are up for it - I managed to have a lucid dream on my first night of trying it (haven't tried since, though!).

Maybe if other methods don't work, you could try this, and if anything is happening in your dream that you don't like, just change it!

Or, as a last resort, you could get sleeping pills prescribed (or even non-prescription ones) which are supposed to induce a dreamless sleep.

Hope that helps!

Reply 11

My earlier ones were, but now they're pretty weird :s-smilie:

Reply 12

OP

This lucid dreaming thing looks interesting, and more reliable , ive been told so many different things about dreaming .. such as that you have millions of dreams a night but reading this i now know this isnt true, thanks Walrus Rider :] Im actually scared about going to sleep tonight.. i feel like Harry Potter or something : / lol.

Reply 13

I know that it's going to be harder than it sounds, but try and relax before bed. I think that being scared can lead to horrible dreams.

Reply 14

.ACS.

19

What do you think about while lying in bed before falling asleep? Do you eat soon before going to bed or have a lot of cheese?

Think about possibly changing your diet, and also try to think ‘happy thoughts’ while lying down before falling asleep – try to think about good times you’ve had with your friends, or role play certain events in your mind.

Reply 15

Nally

10

I regularly have nightmares where I wake myself up in a state because I think someone is trying to break in, or I think my Polish neighbours have drilled a hole in to my closet or there are thousands of spiders crawling on my bed etc etc etc, my sleep was so disturbed by it, and it got to the stage where I was pretty scared of going to bed! I've been putting lavender oil on my pillow and also wearing ear plugs which has REALLY helped.

Reply 16

.ACS.

19

Nally

I regularly have nightmares where I wake myself up in a state because I think someone is trying to break in, or I think my Polish neighbours have drilled a hole in to my closet or there are thousands of spiders crawling on my bed etc etc etc, my sleep was so disturbed by it, and it got to the stage where I was pretty scared of going to bed! I've been putting lavender oil on my pillow and also wearing ear plugs which has REALLY helped.

A bit of a wild imagination I think! ^o)

Reply 17

. sav .

1

i had really awful dreams, worse than yours.. I was actually doing the killings, the abuse and things like that (i'm not an axe wealding murderer by the way..) and it got so bad i made myself scream in my dreams so i could wake my self up, or someone else in my house would hear me to wake me.

It got a vicious cycle where i was afraid to sleep, so my mind went into overdrive to keep me awake so i couldnt sleep at all. So I drank to make myself tired, and eventually i'd fall asleep, but alcohol made my dreams worse, and then in the morning i felt rough as, so i was sleepier but my mind didnt want me to sleep and it just kept over and over, really hard to break out of.

In the end I found that listening to my faourite relaxing albums, things like norah jones, dido, the softer amy winehouse tracks and a bit of jazz stuff helped me fall asleep but also dream of nicer things. I had to think of holidays, of the sea, of happy times with my boyfriend or my mates and really completely relax and empty my head of everything. Its really tough and it takes a while to master so all the best with it, but it can be done.

Oh, and no cheese or nuts before bed. Bananas help sleeping tho apparently!

Reply 18

OP

Thanks everyone :smile:

Nice to know im not alone! Yeah ive been thinking of changing my diet and going on runs, was gonna go for one today but this guys asked me to go for a walk with him [ :smile:

] and yeah.. i think i might try to do the hypnosis thing my therapist taught me.. if anyone wants to try it its blummin amazing.
first of all you lie down and close your eyes. then you slowly make sure every muscle is completely relaxed by going through each muscle in your mind working from feet to head. then count to 20 seconds really slowly. then you have to imagine you are in your favourite place such as a garden or beach or somewhere isolated and beautiful. but you have to imagine your going down a path towards the place and when you finally get there thats when your happiest. then you walk back and then you count from 20 to 1 then open your eyes. :] better when you have a professional guiding you [i fell asleep the first time!]so yeah... if anyone wants to try it :]
And Nally, you are not crazy i used to think that someone was gunna dig there way through with shovel into my closet : / im crazy i know lol x

Reply 19