My Nightmares have returned

On a side note, I watched the new Dawn of the Dead

LOL Wos! Now that's i thing you should not be doing!

I did that once and it was for about 10 Min's! and gosh did those 10 Min's keep playing over and over in my head! It was like my mind was making up the rest of the story while i tried to sleep,

*Shivers*

Originally posted by William One Sac
I didn't realize you could have an anxiety attack while you were sleeping.

WOW Not half.

I was under a lot of pressure with my old 'real' job..
Bottlenecked contracts building up and I was the only qualified laser tech who could get them out in time.. working 16 hour shifts to resupply our dear old armed forces,,

I went to bed at 10.30 pm.. had a dream about a big blue vein in my chest about to burst(short version) and woke up at 1am with a heart rate approaching 200bpm..
I was terrified to go back to sleep. Went to docs in morning who said I'd had a panic attack... Went to work at 10am and QUIT on the spot..
Dead at 23?? ..not for me thanks

Hope your doing well BTW. Nice to see you here

Last nightmare I had was a lucid dream. But unlike all lucid dreams I have, in this one I was unable to wake myself up. I was being hideously tortured, and I was unable to move. So I thought that my only way out of this was through god. So I then said in my head "god get me out of this", and I instantly felt like I was being pulled through a wormhole (for lack of a better term) by something. In this wormhole, I saw a small image of my room in the middle getting wider and wider. Then I felt an invisible force that pulled my chest up about 3 inches, and I was back in my room.

This was the first nightmare I had in over two years, and I haven't had another one since.

About last month, I had been viewing a post by someone here on another thread. In the post was a video about the various gods in times past and how they were linking it up with Christianity. There were several things I didn't agree with as I had looked up history on several subjects that were being discussed and they were leaving several things out which made it worse. That evening, my husband calls me so we could all get to bed. So I kept the video on pause while I slept.

Well, I have this dream, it was actually a dream within a dream as I was trying to wake up but woke up to still being in the dream. I was in my Aunt's house who I used to live with about 6 years ago. She passed away three years ago as of yesterday. In the dream, she was alive walking within the front room of her house. I looked into her room and I saw my son within her bed laying upon the side where she used to sleep in that bed. I wake up to another dream...where I'm in the room where I used to stay. And as I'm laying there, I feel that presence of paralysis, and I hear mocking...mocking of my Lord Jesus...as if he were a dog.

I finally got myself out of the dream...sitting straight up in the bed. And I wondered...what the hell made this happen? Then I realized it was what I had been watching. So I got up from my bed...walked to my computer and closed the page.

So the conclusion I made with my experiences with sleep paralysis, in my life, is that it is brought up by the listening of lies. As if it is a test...to see what lay in my heart...whether I will accept the lie or not.

And that mocking of my Lord, now reminds me of that very mocking he went through before he died on the cross for our sins.

That for now be my two cents.

Willie,

Sorry to hear about your dreams and all, also about the cancer's return. I've had some pretty freaky dreams a couple of months ago that have totally freaked me out and messed up my sleep for the past couple of months. They are a totally recurring thing for me and I've kinda learned to live with them off and on for the past few years. Catnip and Chamomile tea and warm milk dull it enough for me to be able to go to sleep, and when I wake up in the middle of the night I generally have to drink more milk or tea to get back to sleep. Usually it takes about an hour or so to get back to sleep. Sometimes it's to the point where I have to down a Yengling real quick to fall asleep, though I don't recommend that for the kids on here (almost forgot this was a family friendly site). Anyways, the latest one was a few nights ago where I experienced sleep paralysis after a dream where I was about to be raped and killed. Don't want to go into it in detail since I've gotta get to bed soon to go to work early in the AM. I think that this round of nightmares has been brought on due to stress. Me and mom just reconnected after 12 years, she contacted me late August to tell me that dad was on his death bed and I might want to get there if I wanted to see him before he died. I ended up going, and got there about 4 hours before he died, he was in a coma so we never got to talk about some things that happened that I needed to talk to him about. Anyways, after he died, I ended up moving to help her with things, then she started dating someone after only about a month after dad died. The guy is pretty much living here with us, and me and mom haven't been able to spend any time together working on the things that we need to work on to reconnect. I'm pretty fed up with the whole situation and am about to move home to Nashville, after just moving here in October. I've tried talking to her about things, but she doesn't seen anything wrong with the whole situation, so, when I move home I'm not looking back. Anyways, I guess anyone can see how I'd have trouble sleeping, huh? At any rate, only suggestion I can give you about the dreams is keep a dream journal by your bed, and when you wake up in the middle of the night, write down everything you can remember so you can try to figure out the underlying problems and fears. Stock up on chamomile and catnip based tea, as they will help you go to sleep at night. Also, get some tylenol pm's and keep them handy. Remember, "warmed" milk is your friend, also. Clear your mind before going to sleep, too, and check all your worries at your bedroom door. Anyways, that's all I can think that might help you.

Love you bro, good to see you again, and yes, I'm planning on staying back this time.

regan

Hi Regan, It is wonderful to see you here posting again. I am so sorry to hear about your personal problems. As always, I am always available and just a u2u away if you need to talk.

As for the dreams, I seem to have them under control for now. I am sleeping with a nightlight on in the livingroom which shines into my bedroom. This is the trick I think to stop these nightmares from gaining any control over my emotions. I still wake up in the middle of the night,, and it does bother me. I keep thinking that 3 am is the devils hour. It's silly really, superstitious thinking. But in the middle of the night it bugs me out quite a bit. But the good thing is I can look around and see there is nothing to be worried about. In fact, I worry more about some criminal breaking in than I do about my nightmares.

I will try the tea though. I drink alot of water, so the tea should be a nice change of pace. Have you considered getting a nightlight to help with your fears? I did, and it's the best advice I have taken.



[edit on 11-29-2007 by William One Sac]

Originally posted by William One Sac


I will try the tea though. I drink alot of water, so the tea should be a nice change of pace. Have you considered getting a nightlight to help with your fears? I did, and it's the best advice I have taken.



[edit on 11-29-2007 by William One Sac]

WoS,
Yeah, I keep my laptop on in my room all night, so the screen saver acts as a nightlight. Also, the kitchen light above the sink stays on most nights, so there's always a little light in my room, enough to see by, but not enough to disturb me. I tend to play instrumental relaxing music of a night and it helps me to calm down.

Oh, of course the tea is hot tea, btw.

Love you bro...gotta run for now.
regan

I had a relative who recently suffered a major heart attack. So when I heard you had the feeling that something was sitting on your chest, that was my first thought because it reminded me of something I heard. My relative said it felt like someone was pressing against their chest. The sad thing is they did some tests to look for blockages but apparently those tests were for nothing. Only the likely more expensive tests at the hospital showed the blockages using a dye I believe. This was after her heart attack had already done the damage and they had to put a stent in one artery to help keep her alive.

I found out 50 percent of the population in the US dies from heart attacks or heart disease. I've been working on getting healthier since then. I'm not trying to scare anyone but it can be scary if someone is suffering or on the verge and they don't take action to stop it before it's too late and they suffer major damage to their heart. Anyway that was my first thought when reading about something sitting on the chest. I guess it alarmed me a bit to read about that because it seemed so familiar to what I heard my relative say.

I decided to log on here and was going to post about lucid dreams. I remember I once had some nightmares when I was young. I discovered that if you realize you are only dreaming, you can gain control of the dreams and of course they go lucid after that. My nightmares stopped after I enclosed the things bothering me in an invisible powerful forcefield and then detonated a nuclear bomb inside the force field with the nightmare creature inside. Needless to say ,the nightmare creature didn't bother me anymore. It has been many many years since I have had a nightmare. I do occasionally have unpleasant dreams but I wouldn't call them nightmares.

Good luck William with whatever is bothering you. Sometimes I think our dreams can be warnings about something we need to do in life. My relatives told me I'm likely to either die from a heart attack or from cancer. Hopefully that will be a while. I say plan for the worst but hope for the best but do take preventative care.

Well, I have been cruising along pretty well for several months now, without any major nightmares to speak of. However this has changed for me recently and I am beginning to notice the start of a disturbing pattern again. Due to a condition I have with my health, it is not easy to jump out of bed at night, which only adds to my fear when I wake up, or think I am awake. I don't want to gross anyone out with the details, but never-the-less when I go to bed at night, 99 out of 100 times I stay in bed until it is time to get up in the morning. Anyway, this is not condusive to me shaking off the fear when I wake up in the middle of the night.

I have been having little tiny nightmares, which I can't really recall. But as I said, this is a pattern that I have undergone before.

A few nights ago I was sleeping, and I woke up but was still in my dream. There was a figure shadowy figure standing next to my bed with his hand outstretched. At least I sensed it was a male. And I had the feeling that I was supposed to hand him something. But then I started to come to my senses of where I was and that there was some kind of super natural being in my bedroom. Needless to say my fear went from 0 to 10 in about half a second. I withdrew me hand, before I could hand him whatever it was, and after a few seconds it was gone. I was scared and relieved, but was able to force myself to go back to sleep almost immedietely.

A couple of things that I noticed in this incident,. I was handing him something square, like a hard cover book or a box. Also, I seemed to be in some kind of trance while doing this, until I became aware. There was something passing strange that I noticed about the being. He was shadowy, but not dark. His body and face were made of small points of light of various color and intensity. Like one of those tiled mosaics you see in the old Roman homes. Thousands of small lights, dim, but enough that I could make out his figure and some features on his face and body. But it really scared me. I felt like he had very ill intentions towards me.

Of course as I said I put myself right back to sleep. It was unnerving, but I have alot of experiences with nightmares, so I am grateful for that atleast. Then last night.

I was dreaming about something to do with aliens. I don't remember exactly what except that they were in my home and it was scaring me. So I woke up, at least I think I did. Now my closet doors are made of mirrors, which allows me to look into their reflection and see the living room. And last night when I woke up I could see the aliens in my living room! I was terrified. It was around 4 am, and I kept trying to tell myself it wasn't real. I kept rubbing my eyes and squinting, shaking my head trying to see what was in the living room. I don't have any nightlights or anything, so the light that comes in is just from the street lights. This lasted a few minutes and finally I closed my eyes and forced myself to believe I was hallucinating or something and went back to sleep.

I sure hope this doesn't mean that I am going through a period of more nightmares. They are fun to write about in the daytimne, but at night they are not fun. I guess if it happens again I will turn the light on and snap a picture.

Hi William, hope things aren't too creepy at the moment.
You certainly have some interesting dreams going on, and surely, that's what they are.

I used to get them in the past, I used to "challenge" myself into saying something completely obscure, or confrontational. I have done this in the dreams themselves (lucid) and also after being woken by them into a confused and scared state.

I would find gigglng or blowing a raspberry with your lips works great (no kidding) and takes little effort. I think it was the moment of knowing the scary unknown didn't react at this when I was awake and confirming an imagination when asleep. I used to "dare" whatever it was to carry on it's antics too, just softly because I was still half asleep, often with taunting. This seemed to bring my senses to the whole scenario, giving me back the recognition of my surroundings, echos to define the bedroom and confirming the illusions as just that.

After all, what monster or alien can be scary or real if you don't take it seriously and it doesn't react!

Maybe a "ticking" clock on the other side of the bedroom could help. Something to keep at least one of your senses alert when you're woken. A reference point to distract the complete focus on what you think MIGHT be there.

Before, I used to just lie there and peer into dark spaces only guessing at what could be there. With no movement and no sensory imput my mind was free to play games and exagerrate the unknown quite freely. I suppose I too suffered from "sleep paralysis", feeling I wanted to move but couldn't. A "raspberry" is pretty effortless when breathing out and just seemed easier than trying to reach for the light!

I used to count-down to myself using my exhaling as the beat and pluck up the courage, counting down to the moment of "raspberry release". Sounds crazy, but it worked and after a while I got to the point where the counting had no point and the noises seemed silly. I no longer felt the need to do anything. I remember actually getting dissapointed at the non-existance of anything so I began indulging the unknown instead and actually giving it (me) every chance to do it's worst...that's when I stopped having nightmares and waking to shadowy figures and began having fantasies. Indulging them was sometimes fun because they were my creations under my control now.

All in my twisted little imagination. Ain't nature wonderful?

I hope things get better and you're soon slumbering peacefully in the land of "nod".

Take care and sleep tight.

nerbot, I have been waiting to have a nightmare to test out your idea. I like the idea of blowing a raspberry to make myself realize how absurd my fear is. But I haven't had any really scary dreams lately. But last night I woke up around 2:45 am. I didn't remember any dream I was having before I woke up, so I just tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't as my mind started to wander. Then I had a thought: Something must have woke me up! Then I start listening to see if I can hear anyone outside. So I started to get scared, as I started to fear there may be a presence in the apartment.

I realized that was silly, but I just couldn't shake the feeling. So I started to blow a raspberry, and at the exact moment I did that I felt a little gas move in my chest on my left side. I thought for a split second I was having a heart attack and I started to panic! lol

So I was afraid to do the raspberry after that. I feel very silly right now thinking about it, but as I have said there is something about the state of mind at that time of the morning. Anyhow, I will try it again the next time I wake up. Thanks for your ideas.

I can relate all to well with the waking up and getting totally paranoid, everything from someone hiding in your house to something *Out there*

It’s terrible and I totally feel for you,

Ok so here goes with a few silly things I have to help that at my house,

Wind chimes on the windows lol Just little ones but I think if someone gets in the window or door at least ill hear the chimes and know that its not meant to be moving,

Also have a puzzle book at hand and try to do some so you have to concentrate on it, And when I get like that I just turn all the lights on that I need to make me feel better lol,

Might be worth you getting a gold fish, Then you can watch it swim around while you go to sleep, they say that can be pretty calming,



[edit on 14-5-2008 by asala]

Originally posted by asala
I can relate all to well with the waking up and getting totally paranoid, everything from someone hiding in your house to something *Out there*

I guess that is part of the reason I ended up on this site.

I like the idea of putting wind chimes over the windows. But to be honest if they ever started jingling in nthe middle of the night I would really have a heart attack,

Which is what scared me so badly last night. Now, allow me to preface this by saying I know how crazy it sounds BUT, last night I started to do the raspberry thing. At that moment I got the feeling in my chest and I started to bug out. I thought to myself, I guess whatever is in here with me doesn't appreciate being made fun of. lol I thought that maybe like a demon or something was going to give me a heart attack if I made fun of it like that.

I know, it sounds crazy, even to me now sitting on the patio in the beautiful Spring air, but at night by myself...

I think if I turn the lights on I will never get to sleep. I did cure myself last time with a nightlight. Maybe I should break it out again?

Lol might be worth getting a flat mate! lol safty in numbers


Another idea would be to come on to ATS chat when you feel scared, that will soon take your mind of it, lol i have done that a few times,


[edit on 14-5-2008 by asala]