combatting unpleasant dreams and such?

[Notuern]

I hope it all goes well dude!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Kudos for the Dr. appointment. I'm one of those people that usually lets these type of things work out on their own, but I've also never had anything this extreme happen to me. At first I thought you were going through sleep paralysis, but noticed you didn't mention those symptoms. I guess I'm lucky that I haven't experienced any of this! Funny, I was just discussing sleep paralysis with a friend the other night and we started freaking eachother out. Just make sure not to read "Communion" by whitley Strieber any time soon.

-Joe

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Good to hear you got an appointment!

What comes to nightmares, I've had almost nothing but them in a bit over four years since my first long-term girlfriend dumped me. That's a bit gay, I know, but naturally it changed me as a person quite a lot and introduced me to some very fucked up dreams. And whenever I have a pleasant dream, it usually twists into something disturbing sooner or later. It doesn't bother me, though, I'm already used to waking up all sweaty and shaky

 

[Black neon bob]

in the summer of 2006 I was sitting home alone playing guitar when I suddenly felt like being struck by a lightening or something.
my heart started pumping really hard and it felt like some negative energies were floating all around me the next two days..

about 4-5 years ago i experienced the very same thing.. got me cautious ever since.
Was just riding my bike to home, it's been a rough.. busy day, and all of the sudden it felt like i got hit in the head... then my heart started going crazy and everything felt surreal.. like that moment before you pass out... i tried to puke as well but could not, that was just cramp or something.
So i just stood there not knowing what just happened, offcourse i was thinking i was having a heart attack or internal bleeding in the brain, but slowly i got back on my feet and started to calm down a bit.

However.. the feeling of everything not being real did not leave after 2-3 days or so, very negative vibe to it as well, really hard to describe.. but it was weird and something i would never like to experience again.

I have this every now and then still, but not nearly as powerfull as it was back then... got it checked out back then but they could not find a thing... probably a big panic attack coming from too much stress and/or depression.

ah well.. we all have our bad days right?

 

[Metaltastic]

Man, I thought I've had it rough with some depression and scary moments in my life, but reading the stories of some of you guys really makes me count my blessings! (especially sleep paralysis, JESUS would that fuck with me if I experienced it, though now that I know what it is I guess it wouldn't be quite as bad...still though, damn...)

 

[Black neon bob]

Man, I thought I've had it rough with some depression and scary moments in my life, but reading the stories of some of you guys really makes me count my blessings! (especially sleep paralysis, JESUS would that fuck with me if I experienced it, though now that I know what it is I guess it wouldn't be quite as bad...still though, damn...)

In my experience i find that not so bad, as you are in a sleepy, almost unconscious state of being anyway... and in that state, i dont really care what happens and fall asleep within seconds after such a event.

I find everything that happens during and before you sleep interesting.. after a busy day for example you can still hear the voices of the people you have been talking to all day, or like someone said here.. a chicken flapping it's wings.. weirdest things can happen in such a state because the mind is basically turning itself off.

Also that moment of falling before you fall to sleep.. big ROFL when that happens!

And once i had my surround system on with donnie darko in the DVD tray before i fell asleep.. it went on repeat instead of shutting itself down like it normally does.
I fell asleep and as soon as the voices started talking in the movie i was just between sleep and being concious, so i could hear the voices but could not reconize them as coming from the surround set.
So i just stayed in that state of mind for about 2-3 hours, wondering why the hell there are people talking outside my window at 6 in the morning (left speaker off the surround set was on) and why the hell are they talking english and not dutch?

 

[J.DavisNJ]

In my experience i find that not so bad, as you are in a sleepy, almost unconscious state of being anyway... and in that state, i dont really care what happens and fall asleep within seconds after such a event.

I find everything that happens during and before you sleep interesting.. after a busy day for example you can still hear the voices of the people you have been talking to all day, or like someone said here.. a chicken flapping it's wings.. weirdest things can happen in such a state because the mind is basically turning itself off.

Also that moment of falling before you fall to sleep.. big ROFL when that happens!

And once i had my surround system on with donnie darko in the DVD tray before i fell asleep.. it went on repeat instead of shutting itself down like it normally does.
I fell asleep and as soon as the voices started talking in the movie i was just between sleep and being concious, so i could hear the voices but could not reconize them as coming from the surround set.
So i just stayed in that state of mind for about 2-3 hours, wondering why the hell there are people talking outside my window at 6 in the morning (left speaker off the surround set was on) and why the hell are they talking english and not dutch?

The mind does crazy things. I think a lot of alien abduction stores can be attributed to this, sleep paralysis, whatever.

Some are just crazy though. Ever see that movie "Fire in the Sky"? All of those dudes took a lie detector test twice and all passed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Walton

Might be a bunch of hogwash, but still makes you think.

-Joe

 

[Jind]

about 4-5 years ago i experienced the very same thing.. got me cautious ever since.
Was just riding my bike to home, it's been a rough.. busy day, and all of the sudden it felt like i got hit in the head... then my heart started going crazy and everything felt surreal.. like that moment before you pass out... i tried to puke as well but could not, that was just cramp or something.
So i just stood there not knowing what just happened, offcourse i was thinking i was having a heart attack or internal bleeding in the brain, but slowly i got back on my feet and started to calm down a bit.

However.. the feeling of everything not being real did not leave after 2-3 days or so, very negative vibe to it as well, really hard to describe.. but it was weird and something i would never like to experience again.

I too had something like this about a month ago. I was heading out in my car to pickup takeout when all of a sudden I suddenly got this really weird feeling - I suddenly got this real tunnel vision type thing and found that I could not focus on an one thing at a time. It was almost a very "out of body" type experience. I had to focus on breathing as well - it almost felt like that if I did not force myself to breath that i would not. I pulled into the pizza place that I had ordered food from and sat there for a moment trying to decide if i should call my wife or not. I got out of the car and found myself almost feeling drunk, all tipsy and shit. I sat back down in the car, closed my eyes for a few minutes and it all cleared up.

Needless to say I made a doctors appointment the next day and everything checked out fine, but I have to be completely honest - it scared the hell out of me and it is something I never want to experience again.

Just as a side note, I do have underlying health issues - I had Leukemia a few years back and had a bone marrow transplant - lots of recovery and lots of medications later, I'm doing OK at the moment, but some of that may have played a role in this but it was scary as shit.

Never take your health for granted - I did before I was diagnosed with cancer and it almost killed me - I waited for a long time to go see the doctor and I was fortunate that despite my idiocy I ended up surviving.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

I too had something like this about a month ago. I was heading out in my car to pickup takeout when all of a sudden I suddenly got this really weird feeling - I suddenly got this real tunnel vision type thing and found that I could not focus on an one thing at a time. It was almost a very "out of body" type experience. I had to focus on breathing as well - it almost felt like that if I did not force myself to breath that i would not. I pulled into the pizza place that I had ordered food from and sat there for a moment trying to decide if i should call my wife or not. I got out of the car and found myself almost feeling drunk, all tipsy and shit. I sat back down in the car, closed my eyes for a few minutes and it all cleared up.

Needless to say I made a doctors appointment the next day and everything checked out fine, but I have to be completely honest - it scared the hell out of me and it is something I never want to experience again.

Just as a side note, I do have underlying health issues - I had Leukemia a few years back and had a bone marrow transplant - lots of recovery and lots of medications later, I'm doing OK at the moment, but some of that may have played a role in this but it was scary as shit.

Never take your health for granted - I did before I was diagnosed with cancer and it almost killed me - I waited for a long time to go see the doctor and I was fortunate that despite my idiocy I ended up surviving.

Damn man, glad to hear you lived to tell about it!

-Joe

 

[Mutant]

You can learn controlling the dream from within the dream.

It is called "Lucid Dreaming".

I have some limited success in it.

Basically you have to wake up your mind in a dream WITHOUT actually waking up, then you can do anything you want in this "virtual" reality.

OF COURSE IT IS NOT AN EASY THING TO DO

 

[Erkan]

You can learn controlling the dream from within the dream.

It is called "Lucid Dreaming".

I have some limited success in it.

Basically you have to wake up your mind in a dream WITHOUT actually waking up, then you can do anything you want in this "virtual" reality.

OF COURSE IT IS NOT AN EASY THING TO DO

Yea, this concept is really interesting. How would you define reality anyway... what is reality? Lucid dreaming might not be "real", but if you can do whatever you want in your dreams, it's pretty much a second reality

I'm pretty sure we have all had those dreams where we were absolutely 100% sure that it was real. And then when it was over, we were pretty crushed by the fact that it was just a dream. Scary shit :O




As for Gareth, dude, this sounds like everyone has been saying so far which is stress and anxiety. Trust me, I've had my share of that shit after high school before going to university. I was 19 when it started and I was experiencing the hardest time of my life and it lasted for 2 fucking years. God, how I hate those years and I never want to feel anything remotely close to that shit ever again. But when it's all over now, I'm almost glad I lived through all that, because not do I only feel stronger now, I also know how to deal with it if it happens again, and I know that it's temporary and it'll pass. So what am I talking about? Well...

First Phase: Deep depression - 2 weeks.

I couldn't eat anything and I woke up randomly, shivering like a maniac and had to force myself to eat a slice of bread or something. That phase passed, and the depression lifted off me enough so that I could atleast eat regularly.


Second Phase: Insomnia/anxiety/panic - 2~ months.

I went to bed at about 11 PM - 01 AM but remained awake until the sunrise about 5 AM, then slept for maybe 3 hours before waking up again. This lasted a couple of months so I was basically running on 3-4 hours of sleep per night for 2 months or something. This phase also had a sub-phase where I felt extreme heat coming from my abdomen, up my torso and finally to my head and it kept coming in waves. It came a little now and then everyday but the most disturbing part was that it ALWAYS came at night when I was trying to relax and sleep. This also lasted a couple months or so but started a week after the insomnia.

Parallell to the insomnia, I had severe anxiety as well. The first week of it, I was peeing every hour with a "full load", just like when you're really nervous and you want to pee... my body went into that state and stayed there for a while. Then it progressed to nausia mostly, so I was feeling nautious for probably 6 months. Imagine having a moderate hangover... every day for 6 months, that's what it felt like.

I also had panic "feelings". I'm still not sure if I had panic attacks because I ALWAYS managed to turn the tide before I got to the point where you're hyperventilating. I believe a full blown panic attack is when you have gone past that point where you are hyperventilating, and when yours limbs go numb from the hyperventilation. That never happened to me as said, but I have felt the reality fading away just like everyone else has during a panic attack, and I have gotten a rushing heart. And I always felt weak in my entire body after one of those attacks. I remember one of them vividly... I was in class at uni, I was surrounded by people and it wasn't easy to get out. I was sitting down on my chair and suddenly I felt my face go numb, my heart started rushing, my head was spinning, reality didn't seem real, breathing got harder but I forced myself not to hyperventilate... not because I knew you aren't supposed to, but because I didn't want other to notice something was wrong with me so I shut the fuck up and took it like a man (hah), and then my heart started to calm down again. This thing continued over the next phase too, but everytime it happened, the frequency from attack to attack decreased so I knew it was getting better each time I had one of 'em.


Third Phase: Extreme thinking/delusions - 4~ months.

The insomnia had passed somewhat so that I could almost get 8 hours of sleep per night, but I was constantly thinking instead. I started thinking about my existence in the universe, about God, about religion, and so on. Note that prior to all this, I was like semi-religious because I grew up that way and I "sort of" believed in God so I would pray a little every now and then silently in my head before going to sleep, but when I was praying for all of this to end... and it didn't, I stopped it all and lost all faith. Anyway, all this constant thinking made me lose track of reality and I started feeling phased out. People were talking to me and I felt like I was watching a slide show or something and I often had massive black outs and just didn't know what to say in the middle of a discussion. At one moment, I would talk about something, and in the next I would just stop because I had no clue what I was going to say. Really weird shit.


Fourth Phase: Unsocial/self doubting - 6~ months.

So in this phase, I was afraid to make or answer calls. I didn't like to be around people I didn't know. I hated going to markets to buy stuff, I hated shopping clothes. I felt like everyone was watching me all the time and I felt like everything I did was the wrong way. I felt really really outside and stupid all the time. I just didn't feel like I was worth anything, I could've just died somewhere and no one would give a fuck (haha, the truth is that nobody still would but atleast I don't FEEL that anymore ).


Fifth Phase: Recovery - Still working on it.

So after all the self doubting and shit, I began thinking "Fuck it man, I'm not dead yet and I will make it out of this crap" and that's when things really started to change. Slowly, but still... each day got better than the previous. I realized I held the key to turn this around and that it's ALL in your head. I regained some of my social skills, didn't feel as worthless all the time in public, started socializing more, and so on. As for phone calls, I still hate 'em due to the nature of talking to someone through a plastic piece of crap, but I'm not anxious anymore.



So Gareth, I've gone through a long process of shit but I know you have had lots of shit to deal with in a loooong time too... I remember you telling me about it. The total amount of medication I used during this fucked up period of my life is none, except the 4-5 sleeping pills I took during the worst nights in my insomnia phase. I never went for anti-depressive pills because I wanted to make it out by myself and I'm so glad I did it now that it's all over but I regret that I didn't take them during the early phase of this shit. It probably would have dampened the effect of many unpleasant things.

Not sure Gojira meant it in this context but nonetheless: "You have the power to heal yourself" - Esoteric Surgery, Gojira. That line has kept me going for so long =)

The most important thing is to KNOW that none of these things I mentioned are dangerous. The feeling of dying while experiencing a panic attack is not dangerous at all, so you should not fear it. Fear by itself can cause extra attacks, so do not fear it because it is not dangerous. The second important thing to know is that it's all temporary... it WILL get better, period.

Good luck with the doctor man, be open to what they say and it will go much faster! Don't feel stupid for going to "those damn doctors" like some do Also, medication is NOT wrong. If they say there is a good chance for success with 'em, go for it. It doesn't make you any less man.

 

[Moonlight_Seeker]

Once I woke up in my bed because there was fire on my toes. So you know it was kinda weird. So I went to the kitchen to get a big bowl of water, came back to my bedroom as quickly as possible and the flames were reaching the ceiling. My face was black cuz of the smoke and my hair in front melted but I had no injuries at all.

However, for the next 6 months I could not sleep! I always dreamt of stupid fire and being burnt so I woke up in panic and looked around to see if there was fire in the room and since I was sleeping my eyes were all blurry so I thought there was smoke in the room so I had to double check and blabla. My mind was playing tricks on me... MY mind... on ME! Stupid mind.

And I realized after a couple of tries that I could not smoke pot anymore! It gave me the worst thoughts in my head and the "emotions" were really taking upon the rationality. So I completely stopped for like 6 or 7 months, read LotR before going to sleep, and other "cute" stuff, watching a cheesy Disney movie before going to sleep, things like that. Now I smoke some pot and sleep nicely. Thank you Mickey Mouse and Galadriel.

So I think that this lucid dream is okay but not the answer. Because if when I dreamt of being in a bed of fire and it would not be only a dream, I would not be here today. A bit like dreaming you're peeing, if it happens : wake up!!!

 

[GarethSE]

mutant i figure thats how i was managing to force myself awake, sorta like getting to the point where i could go lucid then force myself awake instead of forcing myself to stay asleep
that feeling in my chest had to get to the point where it was so bad i realised it was a physical feeling and not just me dreaming, and then id force myself awake.

but yeah, i cant be any more grateful for your help guys
ive had a sleep today, managed to get some kip without more horrible dreams, and im feeling aight at the minute.
i ended up confronting some stuff at like 4am and i feel like my subconscious hates me a bit less now, which is good.

but yeah. i havent eaten all day so im gonna go make some fooood.

 

[Mutant]

So I think that this lucid dream is okay but not the answer. Because if when I dreamt of being in a bed of fire and it would not be only a dream, I would not be here today. A bit like dreaming you're peeing, if it happens : wake up!!!

No.

Lucid dreaming is all about recognizing the state you are in.
For example:
If you successfully will the mighty bucket of infinite water stream to existence to extinguish the fire, then it is a dream.
If not... then it is not a dream.

A lucid dreamer doesn't have any nightmares because he is a GOD of his dreams.