hi--just wondering if this happens/ed to anayone--you have a nightmare that's part memory and part what could have happened...it's both blurry and very vivid at the same time?

i used to have this (now...i don't think i even reach REM sleep) and it involves a memory i have of being on a ship and an intoxicated soldier playing around with a hand-granade (nothing actually happened but in my nightmare it explodes)...i don't remember what he looked like...and in my dream his face is always blurry...but the images of the consequences are very vivid...

hey
i cant explain why it happens but its the same for me, like your mind is telling you "this is ANOTHER way your life could have gotten worse"

With recent studies about dreaming, nightmares and flashbacks when sleeping, we are often our own worst enemies, as our brains will create our own stories, renact an actual event, or change a real event to mix with our own scenarios.

This is normal with PTSD in a uncontrolled state. Dreaming of trauma is often a sign that your mind nor body has actually processed the trauma as yet, and trauma therapy still needs work so you become at one with your trauma, and no longer trying to reject it or deny it as such.

When we sleep, studies show that we can actually change what we dream about, before we even go to sleep. This means, that if your thinking about an event before you go to sleep, and thinking about the different scenarios the event could have taken, chances are, your going to dream about it and the scenarios in a much worse state.

Saying this, you can also change your dreams in a positive light, where if your thinking about an event that occured, you can also think about positive outcomes whilst your going off to sleep, and if you dream about that event, your brain has stored the positive events as most recent, thus will use these events within your dream, and provide a much more pleasant dream and scenarios, compared to the harsh ones we often portray and have endured.

This type of application though needs to be used in conjunction with a doctor within this area though, as it can have detrimental effects if used wrong, in that you can begin to create scenarios so terrible, you think they actually did happen to you, because the mind believes them.

RD, what this jumps out as, is that you need to start trauma therapy, and get all this trauma out of you, with no secrets left, no little pieces of the puzzle left, no stone unturned, until such a point where your sick of hearing or reading about the events, you just no longer are affected by them. Trauma therapy is harsh, it does hurt, it does cause significant effects afterwards, but then suddenly it is like the weight of the world has been released from you.

hi--thanks for the info...as for the therapy...it's tough because i find it hard to open up but i agree that i do need to adress this asap

I definitely have recurring nightmares still, even though i've been going to therapy for almost three years.

Sometimes I think I'm going crazy because I can't differentiate between the flashback sequence of a dream and if my mind is creating a fiction.

For a while I was lucky in that I could ask my brother (who witnessed some of the abuse that triggered my ptsd later), whether some of the things I was dreaming seemed familiar to him--if he remembered some of them happening in real life. In that way, some of my nightmares even helped me to reawaken repressed memories.

I think the dreams will continue for a long time, perhaps as long as we have unresolved vivid memories of violence. I do know that at least they have decreased in frequency the more I learn about my issues and the more I talk with therapists.

Hope that helps at all!

-Kay

You hit it on the head Kay. That is exactly what its all about. Once you come to terms with the trauma, once you accept it and no longer fear your trauma, all the other aspects of PTSD subside quite quickly, leaving only traces and fragments to pickup and work upon... which is the easy stuff compared to dealing head on with the trauma itself.

It really is a matter of once your ready for the ride, jump onboard and ride it out, then be amazed at just how much easier things become. If its not a secret anymore, it can't continue hurting you!

Thanks Kay--it does help. I know what you mean when you say yyou thought you were oging nuts...I knew that part of it didn't happen...and so the blood and gore involved made me htink I was some kind of a psycho...maybe some of the images I saw throughout the war got mixe dup with that particular event? I odn't know...

I can't even remember the last time I had a dream of any kind--obviously, one doesn't remember all dreams even under the most normal of circumstances--but I just don't remember any...but then I have trouble falling asleep in the first place--I toss and turn for most of the night and then "wake up" at 5 am...I am so sleepy and tired most of the time and I'm so scared to take anythig for it (ie pills) and the natural stuff (camomile tea ect) doesn't seem to really work for me...i'm freaking out because school's about to start and I'm more exhausted than I was when it ended :(

i don't think i ever dream anymore, prob because i only sleep a couple hrs at a time. I don't know if it's the end of a dream or what, but i am often awakened by someone saying my name, i have to jump up and start scrubbing cabinets or cleaning out closets or something because the flashbacks will start right after, and cleaning seems to help me stay "here". after i am so tired i can't wiggle, i can go back to bed and maybe fall asleep.
cookie

Yeah...I know what you mean...I sometimes get up and walk around my room til I literally drop back into bed...and even then there's no guarantee that I'll fall asleep