Why do I keep having nightmares??

Since I was a child, I have always had bad dreams. From upon waking and seeing a doll dance, I hope that I was still dreaming, till today, still having some serious images.

I hate the ones where you want to wake up but can't. The ones where you wake up to the sound of you own voice yelling out. The ones where you think that you are awake and can actually hear and speak to people or even have thought you got up and went on your morning routine but, you were still sleeping only to feel something behind you just when you thought that it was safe.

I live with someone who is constantly waking me up in the middle of the night because of the moaning I make, sometimes even crying, while I am sleeping. Most of the time I can remember in detail of what I had dreamed of but there are times when I don't remember, and I am glad.

Always in the dark, someone is there. I even on occasions, dreamed of who ever it was being so close that I felt the warmth of their breath as I lay in bed.

Usually, for me, the worst are the times are when I take a nap. I do that alot being that I usually don't sleep too good in the night. But, it doesn't matter, day or night, I have them and I want to know why!

I was told to write down my dreams and when I did that and had my next session, I was told not to eat anything sweet before going to bed because sugar can be the cause. I have followed orders and still continue to have nightmares.

I am afraid of sleeping alone because of my nightmares. I always have nite-lites on in the whole house.

Can someone tell me why this is still happening? What is the cause? What can be done to help it stop?

are you on any new medication? i am, and have recently begun to have extremely vivid nightmares where i'm shot and mauled by bears etc.

dana13 wrote:
Can someone tell me why this is still happening? What is the cause? What can be done to help it stop?

Hi dana, sorry to hear that.

I frequently experince many sleep problems, so I know how you feel. Nightmares can often be the result of a fear or apperhension..but then you say you have been experincing them for most of your life..did you have any childhood truamas that may have trigged them off?

Also in your sessions have you looked at ways of giving yourself strength to turn the dream around? This is something my psychologist has been looking at with me.

Do you get nightmares every night or do you go through periods where you don't have any nightmares?

Good luck.. I hope things improve for you.

i have been using prozac now for 3 months and about 2 months ago the nightmare began , its the same one every night .
its getting that bad that i am finding it to scary to go to bed , i stay up most of the night just surfing the net.
but as i work in a kitchen this is rather unsafe ,
i have asked my doctor if i can come off these pills but he keeps saying "NO"
but im getting that scared now that im thinking about just stop taking them...

Hey Dana,

Don't worry, you are not alone with these problems. I have nightmares everyday, and feel like my room is a dungeon of darkness. If you have a huge imagination, it can be a gift and a curse for all of us that dream. Sometimes, you just have to let yourself go. Dig deep inside yourself and find the truth. How do you truly feel? You can stop the nightmares, it takes determination. You can do it Dana! Everything will hget better.

I have the same problem, but I al suffer from depersonalzation disorder. Have you started to take any new medication? I have, so maybe that's the problem.