Waking Myself Up To Escape a Bad Dream

[Midnite]

Usually an hour or two after I fall asleep, I found myself waking up staring ahead before going back to sleep again. Just seconds of spontaneous act, me awaken suddenly, intense staring ahead before falling back into my sleep immediately. Not sure either whether am I truly awake at that moment, only found myself very alert for that few awaking seconds before snapping back to deep sleep. And this has been happening almost every night for some weeks now. In the past, it did occur once in a while but not for this lengthy period as what I am experiencing lately.

And Yesterday, I was not awakening staring but by a bad dream instead, I couldn’t remember the dream but I remembered feeling extremely helpless trying to escape from the dream. Me wanting to set myself free badly. I remembered telling myself to wake up knowing it’s only another bad dream of mine. I managed to wake myself up after some struggled, and immediately I looked for hubby who was sleeping far at the other end of the bed; I gripped and held his hand tightly in mine.

Just wondering is this normal as sometimes, I always try to wake myself up from a bad dream when it went horribly intense. I remembered my grandma found me slapping myself in my sleep when I was kid because I wanted to escape from the horrible dream I was in and wanted it to stop badly, and knewing that I’ll be ok if I woke up from it. I tried to wake up from my sleep then but my body was not responding and I was still trapped in the dream. So I tried to slap myself awake instead but still I could not wake myself up, not until my grandma shook my body, asking me why was I slapping myself in my sleep?

[becvan]

I do the whole wide awake for ten seconds then fall into a coma most of my sleeping. I also attempt to wake myself up from nightmares, although I've never slapped myself.

I think this is normal, for me anyways, as I've had this sleeping pattern since I was little.

bec

[misscrys]

The bad dreams are the worst(!), and I unfortunately don't think I can be of much help. :( Congratulations to you though, and to anyone who is able to realize their dreaming enough to get out of it!!

I'm too stuck in the nightmare to realize that it's a dream and that it's happening over and over and is not real. Unless someone awakes me seeing that I'm in a cold sweat or something noticeable, then the dream always ends before I'm able to wake. I'm known for sleeping through any alarm while having a nightmare!

So to answer your question, I'm not sure if it's normal, but I think it's a start, even if you've always had trouble getting yourself out of it. Some of us don't know we're dreaming!

[batgirl]

I usually can't wake myself up, so I think normal or not, it's a great asset to be able to wake yourself. It sounds kind of like lucid dreaming, where you have some control over your dreams. Overall I think it's a positive thing.

[nov_silence]

I have had experiences where I am in two layers of dreams/nightmares. I will be dreaming and wake myself up only to find myself still dreaming then I wake up for real freaked out. I don't know about "normal" but nightmares (as we know) and issues with sleep/waking up are common for PTSD sufferers.

[Midnite]

Ok let me clarify a bit here, sometimes I managed to wake myself up during a bad dream (not always) but I don't remember any attempt to wake up from my nightmares. I only wanted to escape from those bad dreams and usually I don't remember the content of the dream besides trying to escape badly. As for my nightmares, usually related directly to my trauma day, replication of it and I'll be spontaneously awaken at its peak and I can remember every details of it. Usually bad dreams are not as terrify as my nightmares.

[goingonhope]

I remembered telling myself to wake up knowing it’s only another bad dream of mine. I managed to wake myself up...

Just wondering is this normal...
Midnite, glad you're awake now. Nightmares or bad dreams...they're frightening...different degree's, different intensities, but with all they suck. Just a short time ago I awoke up from a bad dream, that was getting worse. I woke for a moment, layed there, stared and boom....just as fast as I awoke I was asleep again. Over and over, I was convincing I had woken and gotten up and for certain and what I was seeing and experiencing was real. I did finally wake up. But the things I saw having done so, well...they weren't so cool...

...thought I saw a full black, body bag lying alongside my deck in backyard til I discovered it was patches of snow.

With PTSD so much surrounding bad dreams and nightmares is normal...normal for PTSD. Absolutely! And, it doesn't always stay the same either. Back in 94' I had the worse dream ever in my entire life...so terrorfying, bizarre and unusual that even after truly awake, I must have been hallucinating or something...it was as if I could hear from somewhere surrounding me an invisible spirit telling me to go committ murder within that house.

Well!..... we get through it, And from somewhere strength comes...I suppose having PTSD then and choral hydrate for sleep evenings then, had something to do with perhaps hallacinating.

This whole PTSD sucks, and if you can and will in over time, find your way past and through it all I say go for Midnite...go for it!

[Marlene]

I have a question that goes along with this thread. Yesterday, I was determined to relax as it had be a bit of a rough day. I took a hot bath, climbed into some warm PJ's and got into my recliner under a blanket for a small nap.

I was asleep for about an hour when I woke up. What woke me up was the fact that my heart was beating fast and my anxiety was raised. I've never woken up like that. My first thought when I awake enough to have one was 'My heart shouldn't be beating fast...I've been asleep and relaxed'. I was scared to go to sleep last night for the first time in my life because I didn't want to wake up like this again.

I don't know if I was dreaming (I don't remember my dreams) or what.

Has anyone ever woken up like this before? Is this another new, fun PTSD thing I get to deal with now? :mad:

[goingonhope]

I've woken up like that many, many times. For that matter I think I do more often than not. Marlene, don't be discouraged though bc healing from the trauma of PTSD does exists. And, I believe so does miracles. And, I'm one whos has lived far too long with unknown, untreated and uncontrolled PTSD and trauma, (not all do), it doesn't have to be this way for many, and with the results of healing comes some great relief from symptoms. This I know is true, but now I have a question. Can thouroughly healing our trauma completely evaporate all PTSD symptoms, (if we're managing and controlling our PTSD)? Or is what I put in parenthesis, the answer? What's what?

[Midnite]

Hi Marlene,

Whenever I am shattered by a provoking incident while sleeping, I’ll be awakening many times during the following nights with a racing heartbeat. Its beating so fast usually made me feel like fainting. At some point, worrying it may give way and stop beating totally. I know there is nothing to fear as my home is safe and hubby is with me but I just can’t help but feeling terrified. I got so carried away by my physical responses; making my mind thinks the fear is real and I may collapse. At the end, exhaustion will put me back to sleep.

[Midnite]

Thanks for sharing, goingonhope.

[veiled]

Marlene, that is an anxiety attack, panic (what term you choose to use). I used to wake in the throws of them and not have a clue what I had going on in my head. In the beginning docs had me have a dose for middle of the night to calm me it was so common. Weird to have a scheduled dose for the middle of the night. But panic is very normal to happen in your sleep. The further I have gone into treatment and addressing my issues and emotions, to more to term I have come to terms with all it has to do with it the sounder I sleep. My nightmares are not almost never there. My panic in the middle of the night is almost non existant now. I have even been sleeping at night and so quickly welcomed it that I felt shattered I was up all night last night.

It will ease in time. Healing takes time.

[Midnite]

Sometimes I wonder, does the trauma alone lead to ptsd or those reoccurence of nightmares everynight after the trauma contribute too?

[veiled]

Hope when you heal yes the symptoms are practically not there once you learn your boundries not to push you over. Managing. Except during PMS. I am convinced you can be at your best put PMS alone fill up the damn PTSD cup of stress we can handle! So one week a month take extra care. A perk for the ladies. ugh.

[veiled]

The nightmares are a symptom of, not a cause.

[Marlene]

Thanks, guys. Just that it happened for the first time the other day and kinda freaked me out.

*sigh* Are we having fun yet????

[mac]

Waking Myself Up To Escape a Bad Dream

I'm not successful at doing that. When I start having a nightmare, I can't seem to get out of it. I have to ride it out and survive. I have to do everything... run, fight, kill, hide, sometimes save my family... to survive either war zones, natural disasters, unfriendly cities, workplace stress and/or alien beings (similar to that movie 'war of the worlds'). It can be real exhausting. When my wife and I used to sleep together, she told me about all the flailing and whatnot. This is why I'm not inclined to fall asleep, or go to bed early... I stay awake as long as I can so that I am hopefully too tired to be affected much by my dreams. My dreams are usually so realistic that they negatively impact my mood once I'm awake again. Sht, its 04:50am, I still haven't gone to bed.

[Borderline]

I can waken myself from one of the nightmares I have. I used to think I was waking near the start of the nightmare. However I am in such a state that I must have been dreaming for a long time before waking, I seem to forget the dream.
I have nothing within arms length of my bed as I lash out in my sleep. One other thing I have found I need, is some light in the room, as when I waken I need to see something familiar to "tell" me I am back into the "real" world.
After these nightmares I dont usually go back to sleep as I am hyper, totally fully of stress hormones.
I recover quicker as I get older, especially now I am starting to learn about my PTSD.

[maus]

I have had nightmares all my life, terror, trying to wake myself up, thinking I made it out in one piece, and finding myself still asleep but awake in my nightmare realizing this after I finally did wake up. I seem to groan and move around in bed struggling to wake myself up.
Now for 3 years, (because of my trauma happening again), I can’t sleep at all. So no more nightmares (rarely) for me anymore. I started sleeping again now for 1 year or so. I sleep 2 hours the light superficial alpha sleep, after that I wake up, so I don’t slip in the deep delta sleep or REM sleep in which stage the dreams/nightmares occur. I fall asleep after that immediately and wake up again after 2 hours. So I do "rest" but don’t "recover". After some days I crash and sleep more hours. I don’t remember nightmares. I used to jump out of bed, scream, hurt myself etc. That’s gone now after this trauma happened 3 years ago.
I wonder if I found a remedy to prevent REM sleep, and therefore nightmares, subconsciously. Do I wake myself up before it goes wrong?