Why the fuck is this happening to me??

[scarydreams]

Has anyone ever been through a phase of having awful nightmares? How can I stop it happening?

basically I’ve never had a problem with nightmares before but now I get them every night. It’s always the same type of dream where I’m in my room looking at myself sleeping. Sometimes I’ll stay in my room but other times I’ll walk about my house but there’s a really menacing thing there and it makes the most awful laugh and I get a horrible dread feeling because I know it’s watching me and coming for me, then I run back to my room and go to bed and I end up waking up. It’s exactly like the movie insidious except obviously I’m not actually watching myself sleep, I’m just dreaming that I’m doing that, and I’m dreaming about the menacing presence but when I wake up it’s still bloody terrifying even though i know it’s just a dream. When I wake up I can hear the laugh ringing in my ears for ages afterwards, it’s horrendous

this has started out of the blue and I don’t understand why or how to stop it. Yesterday after it happened my heart was beating over 175bpm when I woke up because I was so terrified and my bed and pjs were absolutely drenched in sweat. I’m scared to go to sleep now because I know it’s going to happen.

please tell me someone has some advice on how I can stop this? I’m fucking petrified to fall asleep now because I know it will happen.

Fold the duvet back at the foot end, so you're only covered down to your knees. I have nightmares and night sweats if my feet get too hot.

Might be worth a go. Good luck.

The season is changing, so it may well be to do with temperature.

I have bad dreams when I'm too hot in bed - Borne out by your being drenched in sweat.
Maybe try opening the window or a lighter Tog quilt.

Really similar thread here, I thought it was same OP (clearly you are not alone!)

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4669561-to-be-fucking-terrified

I have had a similar reaction when I took melatonin.

Are you semi-awake? I got a lot of sleep paralysis when my first was a baby, it was a combination of overtired/poor sleep quality and napping a lot during the day. Mine were never overly scary I always thought someone was in the room but usually a family member but I couldn't move. Wiggling your toes can help to bring you out of it if it's that.

sorry, hadn't read the full post- realised you've said it's not sleep paralysis sorry!
No advice but not sure if it's a full moon right now, I have the weirdest dreams at the full moon.

I had this on and off for years. At one point I went to the GP because I was worried I was going mad. Or worse, that my house was haunted.

Before bed, try visualizing yourself surrounded by golden calm light. Do some calming breathing exercises. The golden light pushes out from you and protects you from whatever presence you feel in your house.

It is most probably caused by stress, do whatever you can to mitigate it.

Might sound stupid, but how hot is your bedroom? If I am hot whilst sleeping (near impossible to avoid during the menopause night sweats), I have horrendous, terrifying night terrors. A very cool shower before bed, wetting my hair, a fan and sleeping in the knack helps me out. I hope you figure out what works for you. It sounds awful.

Potential solutions:

1. Meditation
2. Dreamcatcher (total woo, but when I was a child I suffered terrible nightmares and my step mum, for all her faults, bought me a dreamcatcher and explained that it caught all the nightmares and let the nice dreams through. I stopped getting nightmares!). I'd say similar "woo" solutions might work as it may be linked to some kind of sleep anxiety.
3. Cool the bedroom down
4. Go to the GP if they don't

When I was in my 20's I smoked a lot of weed and when I had a break from smoking, I'd get very vivid dreams for a couple of weeks as a widthdrawal symptom.

Your out of body dream is a common hallucination from a few recreational drugs too. Just in case you're overdoing the partying ;)

*if they don't work

God yes! Melatonin gave me awful nightmares.

Sympathy OP

I took codeine last night before bed (broken arm) and had a horrible thing where I'm half awake and half asleep and can hear someone calling my name in a really frantic way. I always get this is I take any opiates. You aren't taking any meds?

Yes first thing is to check temperature levels

I've had nightmares for years, horrible ones, somehow I managed to teach myself to wake up when I have one, during the nightmare I say "you're having a dream wake up" and I do. I have no idea how I learned to do this but

For a couple of years I had been seeing a psychotherapist, we spoke about nightmares and I told her how I manage these nightmares, she replied that they actually teach this to people.

I've never been able to stop my nightmares but learning how to cope with them and stop them mid nightmare has been a life saver

I don't know how you would go about finding someone who can teach this but it might be something you could look into, I'd ask my psychotherapist but I no longer see her

I hope you manage to get to the bottom of it, good luck

Ok, I have dealt with extremely violent dreams and night terrors over the years. The only thing that worked for me is praying. Have a look online for protection prayers and repeat them every night before bed. The bad dreams will go - guaranteed.
Please try it tonight and do let me know if it works! I feel almost certain it will.

I have similar dreams. I had one recently & I know for a fact it was an out of body experience of some sort.

I left my body & walked down the stairs & right to the end of my street. I was awake in my brain but my body was asleep. I was just stood at the end of the street in the dark with the street lights on. Then I walked back in to my house, up the stairs & back into myself & I woke up. Sounds like a horror film but it was genuinely horrifying.

I find I get these dreams more when I sleep flat on my back. Don’t know why but I just do. I remember having the same experience as a child. I was floating all around the street. I was watching myself do it in my dream then I went back inside the house & into my body again & I shot up wide awake.

Not sure if it’s supernatural or just a very vivid imagination but either way it’s utterly terrifying.

I get terrible nightmares when my iron levels are low. Within a few days of taking iron tablets they stop. I’d try that

space clear your bedroom! which basically means do a declutter, really deep clean. Clear anything from under the bed so energy can freely flow. Change pictures or objects that are potentially depressing or representing difficult scenarios (could be anything) or just have a bad feel about them, and burn some incense. Clap in corners to free up "stuck" energy, air it out by throwing the windows over and give it a little blessing maybe with bells, flowers, music and candles. Hopefully the energy will change! Have a google about space clearing. It could help - worth a try!

Like some pps I get these when I am too hot.

also - could it be linked to menopause / peri??

You have open a realm to a demonic entity with some form of occult occupation , yoga, or anything else which the Bible calls a sin. despite how unpopular it will sound, you need to see a specialist preacher and cleanse your thoughts, your life, annoint your whole home with holy oil, pray and plead the blood of Jesus over you, your family, sleep, belongings, etc.

I get this whenever I’ve been to the theatre (which is quite regularly). The only thing that helps is to keep the room pitch black as I fall asleep.

I went through a period of having awful, terrifyingly real dreams..and dreams within dreams within dreams.

Waking up and being drenched in sweat and shaking, but relieved I was awake. Then glancing round and the monster was in the room. Then sitting bolt upright in bed, glad that I'm finally awake...walking to the bathroom...and being attacked, still dreaming. Sometimes I'd 'wake up' three or four times in a dream. I thought I was going crazy. My arms were black and blue after a few days because I started pinching myself, hard, many times to make sure I was awake.

My cause was stopping smoking and using patches. Apparently it's very common with nicotine replacement products. As soon as I stopped them, the dreams stopped.

Do you use any essential oils before bed? In particular I’ve used Vetiver for sleep and it causes nightmares for me, I believe there are others that are linked to nightmares.