Do these types of dreams have a name?

[Marm24]

Always had intermittently very vivid dreams for as long I can remember, the busier I am and the tireder I am, the more frequent they seem to be.

For the last 12 years I have (again intermittently) had awful nightmares of various content which I recognise whilst in them are nightmares, and I ‘wake’ myself up, and appear to be in my own bed and at first feel relieved, but then it soon becomes clear I’m still in a dream and more awful things happen (person in room / spiders in bed etc), and it’s a cycle of ‘waking’ myself up several times until I actually wake up. They’re absolutely terrifying at the time, but when I actually wake up I tend to go back to sleep and have a normal sleep and by morning can only remember snippets of the dreams and a vague sense of how traumatic it was.

Does anyone else have anything like this? They seem to coincide mostly when I’m anxious or extremely tired. I’m hoping if they have a name, I can work out how to stop them!

I have been having these lately, don’t know what is causing them but waking soaking wet needing to get changed ( with sweat) I would love to know what’s causing it because usually I’m a really good sleeper!!

I can't answer your question, OP, but those dreams/nightmares sound horrible!

I don't know what they are called, but I have them too. The sense of relief I feel at waking up to discover it is 'just' a dream, only to find that I am still in a nightmare. They are very, very vivid. I have been diagnosed with PTSD so that might be part of it for me.

I also have a thing where as soon as I put my head on the pillow to go to sleep at night, I am instantly transported back to my dream from the night before, as if picking up a book I had set down and starting at the last page I read.

I knew this thread would be about thinking you've woken up but then are still in a nightmare and aren't really awake. I've had them as well. Don't know if they have a name but they're definitely a thing.

Lucid dreaming?

@Marm24 it sounds like REM Sleep Disorder: https://www.nbt.nhs.uk/our-services/a-z-services/neuropsychiatry/rapid-eye-movement-rem-sleep-behaviour-disorder

Sounds like night terrors? Scary.

I get this a lot, and sleep paralysis.

Lucid dreaming, I think. For me they seem to come at stressful times in my life (when mum was ill, then after moving to a different city).

I used to get them, along with sleep paralysis, when I worked nights and had to sleep in the day. Horrendous! You have my sympathy.

Aren't lucid dreams when you know you're asleep and dreaming and can then start 'directing' your own dreams?

If I understand correctly the OP is asleep having a nightmare, wakes up out of the dream, feels relieved, then something else nightmarish happens because she's still asleep, just thinks she's awake. I've had these dreams as well.

I used to have these when I was younger. I haven't had them for many years but it was horrid. I'm sure I read somewhere that you should try to do something that you wouldn't actually be able to do in real life eg flying..then you will know you are asleep. Sounds a bit bonkers but maybe worth a try.

This is my understanding of lucid dreaming!

They are called false awakenings. There are type 1 which are more benign and type 2 which are more unsettling.

I get something similar. It's like I'm having a nightmare - most recent one I was sitting on the toilet & I could see something coming up my stairs like a demon getting closer and closer to me. I told myself to wake myself up and over & I did and when I woke I was shaking back and forth. I get it often

False awakening?

I've had it before where I think I've woken up and am trying to get up, do stuff etc but it feels like swimming through treacle as I'm still asleep!

I don't have experience of this but maybe you could work on your anxiety and tiredness. Meditation, yoga, good sleep hygiene, exercise, etc.

I used to have these as a child. I'd wake up, and turn the light on, but the light didn't come on, then I'd realise it was totally pitch black and I'd gone blind. Then I'd wake up again and reach for the light switch...sometimes going through multiple iterations, Weird and discombobulating.

This sounds like sleep paralysis. I only ever get this when I go on holiday and it's absolutely horrible and terrifying.

That's what I thought. I've only been able to do that once.

I have experienced the 'dream that you've woken up' a few times, like OP describes. Not too often, thankfully.

Yes, so unfortunately Op isn't experiencing lucid dreaming as she could direct it positively if she was.

I suffered from night terrors into my teenage years as well as these kinds of dreams, they're called false awakenings. I still get them sometimes during times of stress.

The latest one I woke up in the dead of night, felt completely like I was fully awake. Leaned over to grab my phone to see what time it was, when some invisible entity wrenched my phone out of my hand and launched it across the room. Then I woke up for real, with a hell of a jolt. Sometimes I go through two or three false awakenings before I actually really wake up.

They're horrid so you have my sympathies!

Yes, that what I was thinking...

Have had these before when withdrawing from SSRI medications - have you taken any?