To ask about my night terrors

[amms36]

Hi everyone.

I was wondering if anyone has any experiences or suggestions.

I have always been susceptible to poor sleep and strange dreams. Recently, however, these seem to be getting a lot worse.

In particular, I have multiple dreams about my teeth falling out. When I'm having them, the dreams are so realistic that I can feel the pain and sensation of a tooth snapping away from my mouth, along with blood.

These have now got to the stage where I am calling out in the middle of the night and waking up DH.

It is also really hurting the quality of my sleep. I have always slept badly but am waking up multiple times per night. I am also waking up at about 5am every morning because I can't sleep and so just give up on it.

It's at the stage where I am chronically tired, but absolutely dread going to bed because of these nightmares.

I am aware this probably all sounds ridiculous but I am really struggling with it.

Teeth falling out is a really common nightmare. I went to a dreams expert about it and apparently it’s means you have something you need to say to someone but you’re either too scared or prevented from saying it.

I have dreams about my teeth falling out, and I attribute it to having quite enjoyed the pain/discomfort of having braces and pulling loose teeth out, and knowing I’ll never have that again.

I have extremely vivid and disturbing dreams. Sometimes I wake up screaming and my OH has to walk me up and calm me down. Teeth falling out, spiders, all sorts. Sometimes I wake up feeling very uneasy and distressed all day but I can't remember the dream.
I know it's bad but I used to have a wine before bed as it made me sleep better. My dreams are obviously anxiety related (usually work but other life stress too) and the wine took the edge off. I don't have any trouble getting back to sleep so it doesn't affect my daily life as much.
Not great advice sorry. Maybe a visit to the gp? Relaxation exercises before bed?

God you poor thing, it sounds miserable! I can really empathise because I've had sleep issues all my life and know how distressing nightmares can be. (What you describe are nightmares by the way - not night terrors, which is a totally different thing!) Losing my teeth is a regular one for me too.

Do you happen to know if you grit/grind your teeth at night? I do, and had a sexy (and expensive!) little plastic tooth thingy made by the dentist. It's not bad to wear at all and it certainly helps a lot. Your brain might be giving you 'losing your teeth' dreams because you're clenching them at night, just a possibility.

Other things that have helped massively with my dreams include making sure I'm well hydrated (the tricky thing is drinking enough that I'm not thirsty, but not so much I'm up peeing instead!) and looking at my diet. Of course there's the old wive's tale of cheese giving nightmares. I've not noticed that specially but I definitely have more if I've had a salty supper (dehydration again I suppose) or have had certain biscuits or treats (those oreo icecreams are basically guaranteed to affect my sleep - I do much better if I have a homemade smoothie lolly!) though whether down to additives or what I don't know. I would certainly look into eating 'wholesome, homecooked, healthy, low salt' suppers for a week or 2 and see if it changes things.

To be honest I think what's helped most is medication though. I don't take it every night but I have a muscle relaxant 'Baclofen' which I will take if I need a proper night's rest.

I've had vivid dreams about teeth falling out. A quick google gives lots of potential meanings/ reasons.

Could it be stress? I get awful nightmares when I'm stressed or sliding into a bad place with my mental health.

I don't have nightmares but can have a sleepless night after enough valium to drop an elephant if I get over stressed. When that happens, my (very) underactive thyroid loses the plot and I start running on adrenaline.

What I have found really helps is a melatonin capsule each night. Deficiency can cause sleeplessness, so I thought it was worth a go.

Maybe the placebo effect, maybe not, but much better than taking atarax and waking feeling hungover

Sympathies OP, I’ve had nightmares/night terrors / sleep walking since childhood.

It stems partly from seeing a couple of horror movies with siblings too young but I think I would always have been sensitive to it.

When DH is away, I sleep with a nightlight, which I hate.

No advice sorry as I haven’t been able to conquer it myself but .

What pp said about stress is too, it’s devotedly worse then.

I have suffered from night terrors for years (screaming, not knowing who dh is, hallucinating, heart racing and sweating from head to toe). I have attached dh on a number of occasions in these states. I find triggers include stress, lack of sleep and alcohol. Has anything happened to stress you at the moment? Unfortunately if you're over tired then they're likely to keep coming. Try a night light, reduce caffeine and listen to something comforting before bed. I hope they ease for you.

Attacked not attached*

Vivid dreams can be brought about by stress, which a lot of us are at the moment; if, as a pp suggested you're grinding your teeth that could lead to the teeth dreams.

If might be helpful to get a good relaxing routine before bed. Find what works for you, a warm bath, some light reading, calming breathing and relaxation exercises, for example. I'm sure there must be a lot of online help available.

Make sure you turn off all your screens well before going to bed; a completely dark room helps relaxation.

Try to get into bed before you reach exhaustion point; don't delay going to bed in an effort to put the dreams off.

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it.

Yes sorry, the title should be nightmares. I will blame it on the lack of sleep.

I think stress is the cause (recently became unemployed). The problem is it's obviously a vicious circle... the lack of sleep makes me more stressed and anxious.

I do have sominex tablets and have previously been prescribed prescription sleeping medicine. I do limit this to once per week though so I don't become reliant.

The issue is the dreams are becoming more graphic and 'real'. I have always had this weird tooth dream, but last night I could literally feel the tooth falling out of the socket, and could see/feel the blood pouring out of my mouth.

I guess I'm going to have to address the anxiety issue and hope that then helps resolve this one.

You should look into sleep apnea, it could be you’re stopping breathing in your sleep and the nightmares are when your brain kicks back in.

I've heard Floris CBD oil is excellent for changing difficult sleep - 3 people I know raves about it (the stronger dose) no can I id is in it obviously - good luck