does anyone else suffer from nightmares??

Holly J · Post by **Holly J** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:02 pm

I really think my anti depreesants make me dream very intensely and lately been having nightmares most every night and now i am sooo scared they will never stop and ill have nightmares for the rest of my life!!!! I also think i get them more around my period. Does this make any sense?? Im getting a lot of anxiety about this. can anyone relate??? Iv been on my meds for i think 10 weeks or so now. What helps stops dreams? i just want this to stop!!!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:16 pm

Hi Holly
My name is Kelly I have nightmares to all the time and they started more after I started taking my meds. My anxiety also gets worse around my period so you are not alone.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:18 pm

Holly, I can't offer any suggestions but did want to wish you peace from the nightmares. I know i dream and feel some are not good but I can only remember bits and pieces that drift in and out the next day.

I don't know if there is any comfort in the fact they aren't real...not likely but worth repeating to yourself, can't hurt anyway.

Best of luck.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 2:35 am

I had them, I wouldnt say nightmares but more like very vivid dreams. I started taking my meds in the morning instead of pm, and I dont have them anymore. Try that?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:20 am

Yes, I agree with the meds. When I start them, I do notice that my dreams get VERY vivid, whether good or bad....and I also feel that I dream constantly, I'll wake up, look at the clock and instantly fall back asleep and dream, wake up again and its only been like 30 minutes. I think there is something with meds that make you miss a few sleep cycles. Hope that helps, because I don't think we can control what we dream.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:59 am

Noelle, I do take all my meds in the morning except for ativan which I take right before bed. But I have been taking ativan at night for a while and I know it's not the ativan. Wanttofeelgood, I too dream the whole time I am asleep. it's weird. Like you said I could be asleep for a half hour and have dreamt a four hour saga.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 1:06 pm

I've experienced that as well, I don't know which med you are taking, but that is a side effect of a good number of them. The dreams where worse for me if I was not consistant with my meds, the one I was taking had a really short half life, and if i was late taking the next dose by as few as 4 or 6 hours, I would experiance withdraw symptoms. But even when I would take the meds correctly, I would still have extremely vivid, weird dreams. I eventually stopped taking my meds, (I'm not suggesting that to you, it was just what was best for me)but you should talk to your, Dr, and also keep in mind, if you are getting your meds from your family Dr or just a general practitioner, that is not his specialtly, he is basicly guessing what will work, it may take several tries to get it right. There is a such thing as a psycological Pharmocologist, who specialisess is this feild, but even they will tell you, it is a hit or miss trial deal. They do generally have more experiance, and a history of successful pts. Something to think about.

squish_is_me · Post by **squish_is_me** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:15 pm

I'm joining the nightmare club. When I was on lexapro I started having really violent nightmares. According to my former therapist, lexapro is notorious for it, so I switched to prozac. Helped for a little while, but I still have them. Actually I noticed some benefit to taking fish oil with breakfast and with dinner. The dinner fish oil seemed to help me have less nightmares. But really, I need to deal with the pysch part of it. I"m hoping this program will help, since the dreams are directly expressed anxiety.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:33 pm

Yes I suffer from um I wanna say light nightmares once in a while. What I notice in my nightmares is that my feelings of self doubt and confusion show up there as well, they are just as painful in my dreams as they are while awake. I wonder sometimes if one influences the other. I hope while working in the program, as I improve in these areas in the waking world they will also improve when I dream. Any Comments?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:20 pm

I am just starting the program but this is one of the biggest reasons I want to do the program. My nightmares definitely increase with increased anxiety, and cause their own anxiety because they bring up old, painful material. I have PTSD, and I think this is a symptom of that?
Gosh, I hope you find peace, too. I am going to try the fish oil--I tried Prozac but it made them more intense and disturbing. I also need to ramp up the regular exercise, but it's zero degrees here and I have asthma, so going outside is impossible right now.