Dreams?? Nightmares? Who is having them??

I have always had a vey, very vivid dream life...not always (but a lot) nightmares but dreams, dreams, dreams..

Nightmares are a "normal" part of life for us...

Do certain parts have certain dreams/nightmares?
Does anyone else wake up during the night and feel another more upfront but not sure who it is? Or not sure who is dreaming?

I am up every 2 hrs or so from a nightmare or unsettling dream. Any suggestions to help?
Nighttime is so horrible for us right now...

Hugs for the parts that want them. We get dreams and nightmares. One set of medication we tried gave us such vivid dreams that were memories from the past - they were so bad that by bedtime in the evening we were still shaking and having them go through our head.

The extent of our dreams and nightmares vary, not entirely sure how but interestingly our mum says cheese makes her dream more....(middle of the day or the evening) so I wonder what other foods have that effect that we are not aware of.

My suggestion would be to see if there's a reason you having these dreams, like medication or food. We keep a nightlight on at night because when we wake from the dreams we need to see that there is no-one in our room etc. Our therapist told us to keep comforting things near to us like a cuddly toy and playdoh so that when we wake up not knowing where we are, it helps us remember we are safe....I couldn't get it to work as we would wake up and forget those things were there lol.

We read somewhere years ago that you need to work through your mind to change the endings of dreams....it doesn't work for all our dreams but for some we now know we are safe or can change the ending whilst we are asleep. Start with a better dream, not one you never want to go over again. And lie down and think about the dream again...engage in with it but in your mind change what happens. E.g there are chocolate eggs in an easter egg hunt (just cos we dreamt it last night) and in your dream you couldn't get close to any, when you lie down picture the eggs etc and make yourself walk up to the eggs, like magic get a basket in your hand, then reach out and pick some up and put them in the basket. I know your dreams may not be things pretty but its something I don't mind going back over time and time again to get a different ending

It takes a while to master and be able to do it whilst your asleep, and I can't do it with the most severe nightmares.....but at least I have more times when I dream I am being chased, I get a calmish sense because I know they are not going to catch me.

I rarely have dreams that are pleasant anymore. I often can't recall the dream, but are left with a bad feeling when I awake that affects my mood for much of the day.

For some reason, I find I'm less likely to have bad dreams if I sleep flat on my back with my hands resting on my chest in a North-South orientation in the living room on the couch with my head slightly propped up.
If I fall asleep on my face, in the bedroom with the television on, it is almost a certainty that my dreams will take on whatever theme is playing on the screen and will be stressful or night-marish.

Recently, I have had so many dreams with murder in them, that I seem to have become desensitized.

A couple of us have vivid nightmares. Verumi dreams peaceful imagery. My dreams are pretty sweet. If one of us goes to sleep and a different one wakes up, we don't remember the dreams.

We have insomnia. Sleep test showed 45 awakenings just on my back, per night.

We take meds to help with sleep, but high anxiety or switching can override the medicine.

Body temperature effects a persons dreaming....

the warmer you are the more intense and vivid the dreams will be.... (when you have a fever you are more likely to have vivid dreams) also you remember more of your dreams once you wake up the warmer you are.... and it is also more likely for the dreams you have to be either scary or more weird when you are warmer.

using a lighter blanket and keeping cool helps a lot of people keep their dreams more mild... sleeping with the air conditioning on, or a fan can really help.

it probably won't make the dreams go away completely, but it makes them more easy to live with... more normal i guess... i don't know why but it really does work.

We have extreme sleep disorders and I believe we switch more and in a more extreme way during the night than the day. I started taking valerian a few weeks ago and it seems to be helping a bit.
I find you can learn a lot from the dreams and other things that happen in your sleep, if you are able to cope with it.

Thanks for all the responses...makes me feel that I am not alone with my dreams, nightmares and trouble sleeping...
We already sleep with a night light and stuffed animals. The light helps to reorient when we wake up scared and confused, not sure where we are or when it is...past or present...

crazy3 wrote:Body temperature effects a persons dreaming....

I have noticed when I wake up hot I have had a nightmare. I will try to stay cooler...maybe it will help. I never made the connection that it could be making them worse.

****TRIGGER WARNING****

Does anyone have certain little ones who generally have the nightmares? One of our littles is terrified of water and dreams of drowning ALOT because of what she experienced...I know its her memories and terror when I wake up. I can feel her so upfront. I have tried to tell her she is safe but the dreams only continue...I'm at a loss how to help her...


I take natural sleep meds but they don't always help. I've tried prescriptions but they give bad side effects and don't really keep me in the bed.