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Roller Coaster Withdrawal

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Smile....and don't shoot the messenger

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Bad Dreams


12 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Last used first opened. Negative breeds negative. You don't have to watch anything negative all you have to do is think negative. You go to bed thinking negative thoughts and your dreams will search your memory for negative things to build your dreams with. Don't believe it if you don't want to but that is how it works. Try It and I mean seriously try it. CBT works if you do it but not if you bend it to your preference. Visualization does work. Relaxation works. Dreams are supposed to be replaying of memories. What sort of memories are you using? Mine are claustrophobic and have pieces in them from as far back as 50 or more years. Last nights near panic attack was because I went to bed mad. And mad is negative. All it took was a hand full of cookies to act as a trigger on top of a lot of leg pain. I had no trouble seeing the unreality of the dream and shutting it down. It became rather funny because it was absurd instead of scary. Easy for me to do with CBT techniques and a positive attitude, but then I have had lots of practice.

Davit.
12 years ago 0 12049 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Good advice Hugs!
 
Deb how about relaxing techniques in the am.  Seems like a backwards idea, as most individuals do their techniques before bed.  Doing any relaxation techniques in the morning may help you awake less anxious, as your mind and body will know that you will be armed and ready with coping mechanisms when you get up.
 
Thanks for sharing with us.

Josie, Health Educator
12 years ago 0 542 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Thank you Hugs.

That made sense "what you resists persists" I will try to view them a purging and letting go perhaps that will help me. I am surprised the shaky nervous feelings have persisted this long after waking through? I think I need to eat and I just took a half of a klonopin so hopefully with some food and the pill I will calm down. When I was a little girl I use to have terrible "night terrors" those are dreams you get like a hour after you go too sleep, I kind of grew out of them, and then once in a while I would have a nightmare, but I would actually be "relieved" after waking knowing it was just a nightmare and not real and go back too sleep, these are different they are happening right before I wake for the day and they are really jarring, I wake up actually shaking and that sick feeling in my stomach and it goes on for hours which I do not understand!? I will try too accept them as purging.

I am going to try and think very good thoughts before bed and that might help and try not too fear them so much, perhaps in time they will go away or at least decrease, I am nervous enough when I am awake and I hate to be like that in slumber, thank you for telling me how to view it differently, you have been a good friend and advisor, Hugs. Thank you.
12 years ago 0 4027 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Deb,
Once I was told that "what you resist will persist".
 
Embracing my nightmares has helped me, as I've changed my view of dreams or nightmares.  I see the nightmares as a purging of the mind and soul, similar to our physical purgings.
 
Would you become angry at your tears, which are secretions from your body?  Or would you become angry at the wax that comes from your ears?
 
As caregivers, there's this great vitality in us which wishes to be unleashed, but there are dishes to wash, floors to mop, mouths to feed...etc
 
I find the more i wrestle with the content, the worse it is, so I'm just paying less attention to the nightmares.
 
I suppose if we had the resources, we could lie on a couch and be entertained by someone's "theory" of what's going on in our lives, but I have other priorities.
 
As for following the answer to "why", I find it's like going on the cliche "wild goose chase".  I won't entertain the question any more, unless it's in the toolkit.
 
CBT doesn't have the "glitz" but gets the job done.
 
12 years ago 0 542 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
I am very confused about these bad dreams and nightmares I have been having. I try, before bed, to always read light calm books and I never watch anything scary or disturbing, only comedy or holiday, and I say about 30 minutes of prayers each night right before bed, including my Christmas Novena, which is very calming and helpful and helps me fall asleep, at least I am falling asleep before daylight, which is nice, I wish it were earlier but its getting better, but I am waking up every morning shaky and nervous feeling like I barely slept because of these disturbing scary strange dreams, it can really ruin a morning waking up so upset about these dreams, they are so real and vivid I am exhausted! It feels like I am "running and working" during sleep.

Why am I still having these dreams, going to bed in deep prayer and thanksgiving you would think I would have a somewhat peaceful sleep. Is it my brain, with all the anxiety is still "on" during sleep? I actually wake up screaming or crying?! and I do not understand, I have done everything possible to avoid these bad dreams. I hate waking up feeling so nervous and scared it really puts a bad damper on the day and then I have to take a pill just to calm down and function. Do people with panic and anxiety experience this a lot? Nightmares and bad dreams? and why? Its like almost every night and morning, I try thinking good thoughts and prayer before I sleep, does anyone else go through this? I hope it goes away, I never feel rested and peaceful sleep, I believe, is crucial to recovery. Thank you for any help info or tips.

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