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The nightmare of sleep


Guest jayjay89

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Guest jayjay89

Hi guys,

My therapist has put me on this new sleep regime, which I have now been doing for two weeks. Prior to this I was sleeping about 10-11 hours a night and was always exhausted. Now I am sleeping 7 hours a night - well I am spending 7 hours in bed, doesn't matter how long I sleep, I have to stay out of bed other than between 12.30 - 7.30am.

While this is actually helping me to sleep a bit better, my main problem still exists, which is nightmares! I wake up 4 or 5 times a night, in full on panic mode, throw myself out of bed, realise that it was just a dream, try and go back to sleep. Over and over and over again, night after night after night.

Does anyone have a similar experience or any tips for dealing with it? I'm not sure if this actually falls under OCD or not and my therapist has basically just thrown his hands up and said he doesn't know what to suggest.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Cheers,

Jay

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Guest washwashwash

Hi Jay,

I don't have any experience with this but I am so sorry for you and I hope you get better. If it happening every night many times, then I think that it is probably OCD, but I am no expert.

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Hi Jay,

I hate not being able to sleep - I can go without food, water, but deprive me of sleep for too long and I turn into a bit of a grump. I also find sleep can provide some respite and peace from the OCD, although I have it in my sleep sometimes too.

Has the therapist said what you should do with regards to the nightmares, whether there's something that might help with them?

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Guest paramoregirl

I sometimes get insomnia on and off, it doesn't help that I have to get up at 5.00am six days a week for work. I'm terrible without sleep, it makes me so anxious and my ocd spike. I wish I could offer you some advice with regards to the nightmares other than talk again with your therapist and see what they say. Good luck x

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Guest messihead

Have u ever had a very traumatic incident or experience I'm ur life? Could the nightmares if so be in relation to this? It's a hard one. I do get a reaccuing bad dream which does not happen nightly but happens maybe once a year maybe twice and is the exact dream every time exact place.

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Guest PaulM

Hi Jay,

How long have you been maintaining this schedule? A change in sleep patterns can really exacerbate things like this. It may reduce over time as your body gets used to the pattern.

A couple of years ago I was getting about 2 hours of sleep a night. I took a seroquel tablet to sleep and it put me out for 14 hours and far from being restful I had bad dreams instead.

Paul

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Guest jayjay89

Thanks for the replies guys, I've been having the nightmares every night for about 2 and a half years, prior to this I was having them every few days or so. It's not always the same dreams, although they play along similar lines. My therapists hope is that by changing my sleep pattern so dramatically it will shake the dreams loose, but so far it hasn't worked (I have only been doing it for two weeks though so I shall persevere.

I don't think I'm repressing anything traumatic per say, as I mentioned on another thread my parents didn't realise I had OCD, they just thought I was a fussy pain in the bum and my dad was pretty violent with me, so that was pretty bad, but aside from that I had an ok life.

Hopefully the new sleep pattern will help :/

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Guest jayjay89

Hi gale,

I work full time and do bikram or karate sessions 5-6 times a week, I do notice if I'm having a lazy week my nightmares increase in frequency!

Jay

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Guest Plex

I don't know that actually HAVING the nightmares is an OCD thing, but obsessing about them would be. I don't know how to help though, I don't get much sleep and when I do I tend to have hardcore night terrors. Never figured out how to stop them! But the validity of trauma-induced memory repression is actually debatable, however people who have experienced trauma do tend to have nightmares among other things. As Paul said, a drastic change to your sleeping pattern could do it.

Do you ever practice guided relaxation? That might help if you do it before bed.

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