Having horrible nightmares EVERY night making me wake up sweaty, heart racing and depressed

[QuakingQuiche]

Having horrible nightmares EVERY night making me wake up sweaty, heart racing and depressed

I don't know what's causing them and I don't think it's one particular reason or person featuring in all of them but they're always really bad dreams (which I remember tiny bits about sometimes but often not any particular detail) - I wake up in the mornings close to tears, depressed and sweaty.

I am not sure if it's gotten worse since lockdown (potentially) but I've had a fair few months at least of this so it feels traumatic to go to sleep.

I don't think there's anything particularly in life which is bothering me (I've had much bigger problems in the past) - only issue at the moment is a weird passive aggressive housemate but nothing aside from that but I'm having dreams of my partner rowing with me and any other negative dreams you can think of etc even though we're fine at the moment

I'm not a massively social person so this lockdown hasn't made a drastic difference to me in that regard (aside from working from home)

I suffer with diagnosed anxiety. Horrendous dreams are a side effect for me. Im also on an medication (paroxetine) and I believe a side effect of that can be vivid dreams.

I know exactly what you're experiencing and it's horrible BUT they are only dreams. Try not to dwell on them.

Have a think about any causes of anxiety and how you can address them, have a look at some anxiety reducing techniques such as meditation. YouTube has guideded meditation, which are quite cheesy but give it a go and see if it helps.

Limiting/avoiding alcohol, cheese, generally high histamine level food might help.

Lots of people are having nightmares and/or weird, vivid dreams at the moment and there's a reason why: metro.co.uk/2020/03/27/life-lockdown-might-make-weird-dreams-12464378/

According to several articles I've read, it's because we're sleeping more (due to lack of commuting) so we're more likely to get to the REM stage which is often interrupted by alarm clocks.

I had similar pre lockdown. Doctor's recommendation was to drink no tea coffee or other caffeine containing drinks after midday. and get back to a solid dependable rhythm. Go to bed at the same time each night, get up at the same time each morning. Took about two weeks but I now sleep through without waking during dreamsleep.

People aren't dreaming any more than they used to. They're just waking up in the middle of them more because our normal patterns of behaviour are disrupted.

Thanks everyone so far

Same here. I have quite bad anxiety usually so it's off the scale now. I found a very small glass of milk before sleeping helped slightly, but that's possibly a placebo.
Look up sleep hygiene and try doing some of that.

I do think that underlying stress or anxiety over the current situation is a factor. I've WFH for 2 years so my routine/sleep pattern hasn't changed at all since lockdown and yet I have also been having weird/scary dreams.

Are you taking any medication that can cause night sweats? I take Sertraline and I get horrible night sweats. I spoke to my GP about it and I had a blood test to check I wasn't going into peri menopause, that came back negative, so she is confident my medication is causing the sweats. Your GP may want to do the same blood test to rule out anything hormonal.

I have horrible nightmares, I have had them since I was a small child. I completely understand what you have said about dreams making you depressed, sometimes they can stay with you all day and it takes time to relax. Perhaps it may help to write down what you do remember when you wake up, even if it's just how you are feeling. That way you're not carrying it around with you all day.

I don't know what's causing them

Sites like this with the endless stream of ghoulish posters droning on and on and on and on about CV.

When this first kicked off, I was feeling very jumpy for a good week, very unlike me. I coincidentally stayed away from MN for a few days after that and the fog of anxiety lifted. I think it was because I was controlling what and when news/news sources I consumed, it wasn't being pushed on me from every angle, in even the most innocuous threads or titles.

Can you block MN for a few days and limit news consumption to times and places of your choosing, and see how it goes?

Could you be perimenopausal?
I had similar symptoms in my mid-forties.

I'm finding audio books good for nights if I'm struggling to settle. It's good to have a voice talking about something random and external to the state of the world.

Not the age bracket for perimenopause and it did start a few months back before covid (I’ve always been prone to nightmares generally anyway I think so just wanted to get rid of that)

Thanks for all the replies so far. I’ve tried meditation apps at bedtime but still not making much difference