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BPD and nightmares?

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BPD and nightmares?

Postby moni87 » Sat Oct 18, 2014 1:24 am

Hi, I am very recently diagnosed (3 days ago) but I haven't been able to find much info on whether vivid nightmares and dreams are common with BPD, I get scared to go to sleep as I know I'm going to dream, and I can have 2/3 nightmares in a night. It's been like this for months. I end up very sleep deprived which then triggers off other things like paranoia etc.
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Re: BPD and nightmares?

Postby SBBro » Sat Oct 18, 2014 9:29 am

No it's not a symptom of bpd.
Have you used drugs, not eating properly or changed your diet?
2012 "just anxiety"
2013 inpatient 'suicidality, MDD etc
2014 "youve been diagnosed with everything under the sun"
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Current meds: Zoloft 25mg
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Re: BPD and nightmares?

Postby BPD 101 » Sat Oct 18, 2014 11:57 am

Sleep paralysis is a doozy, I thought I was finally losing it after a few episodes. It turned out to be nothing to worry about really, happy dreaming fella.
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Re: BPD and nightmares?

Postby rainbow_sprinkles » Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:06 pm

I've always had a lot of nightmares, I only just found out a few years ago that most people don't have as many nightmares as I do. I don't have them quite as often anymore as I used to which I think has to do with being on medication that helps me sleep and generally improves my mood. I don't know if it's more of a bpd thing or a depression thing, but I'm fairly certain it's linked to one or the other or both.
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Re: BPD and nightmares?

Postby Ajaam » Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:19 pm

I tend to have nightmares when there is something stressful in my life. I don't think it's related to BPD, more to stress or anxiety. For instance I was involved in a court case as a witness and the guy who was accused started to send me threatening e-mails. I had lots of nightmares that time. Also when it's stressful time at work.
But I also know people who are just generally depressed (they definitely don't have BPD) and they see nightmares all the time. In their cases the nightmares seem to be similar all the time. Like a friend of mine was often attacked by men in her sleep - raped, beaten and even killed. She said it was extremely realistic. But now when she's in a happy relationship and definitely less depressed she doesn't rarely has those nightmares.
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Re: BPD and nightmares?

Postby centerpath » Wed Oct 22, 2014 7:46 pm

I think a BPD diagnosis can suggest a simplistic model for our complex lives.

If you're having sleep and nightmares, then they're part of what you're working with, regardless of diagnosis. I too have nightmares and dreams so vivid that I sometimes need to wake up for relief. When it's really bad sleep is less restful than waking. Happily for me, most of that has passed.

In my opinion sleep is fundamental to our healing and growing. Not just in cliche sense that we need sleep to be well, though that's true.

I believe that our waking self knows and feels and things and sees, and then our unconscious or sleeping self does other work that's difficult or impossible while waking. For me accepting this has helped create kind of a process. When trauma or overwhelming emotions arise, I try to just know them, see them, not judge. Just be a kind of observer. Then in the sleep that follows over the next few days, inner work occurs from this knowing.

There's a point to all this. Sorry for rambling. I'd suggest that these dreams are something that's needed right now, but importantly they're about now and not necessarily about self. Go with where they're taking you, and the inner work will get done. No reason to think that such dreams are a permanent feature of life in their current intensity.
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