Bad Dream Phase

[[Re...]]

Been having really bad ,scary,horrific, vivid dreams for the past two weeks. They are the most intense dreams I have ever experience and I have always had crazy ass dreams. It is this normal? Has anyone else had a period of nonstop bad dreams? It makes me not want to go to bed. Since I will have a nightmare then wake up with a adrenaline surge.

 

I have had this happen here and there through out  this journey ,just not this consistently. The horror of benzos won't even give me a break when I am sleeping.

 

 

Thanks in advance

Remy

[[Da...]]

Ashton talks about vivid dreams in her study. They are like intrusive thoughts that you get when you are awake. I have had them myself and they suck. Hope we start getting more sweet dreams soon.

[[Re...]]

ahh makes sense, guess i should give that thing a read again.  Intrusive thoughts has been one of my most intense symptoms.

 

Thanks Davis

[[Da...]]

Here is some of what she says about, and the fact it is normal:

 

As a result, dreams become more vivid, nightmares may occur and cause frequent awakenings during the night. This is a normal reaction to benzodiazepine withdrawal and, though unpleasant, it is a sign that recovery is beginning to take place.

[[Re...]]

Here is some of what she says about, and the fact it is normal:

 

As a result, dreams become more vivid, nightmares may occur and cause frequent awakenings during the night. This is a normal reaction to benzodiazepine withdrawal and, though unpleasant, it is a sign that recovery is beginning to take place.

 

Thanks Davis i really appreciate that. So it looks like it is a good thing i am having all of these nightmares. That is awesome! Its not awesome having them and waking up scared every-night. BUt hey, if it means i am healing. I am all for it.

 

[[Da...]]

The thing about his for me and it continues to surprise me, is that when I started out with it I honestly believed I was the only person in the world with all these crazy symptoms. I had no idea what DR/DP but I told other people I no longer knew myself. I had no idea what foods I like or what programs I want to watch on TV. On drugs I like different foods to what I eat now. I remember the nightmares and how vivid they were but I thought I was the only person that was happening to. Once I discovered what it was it shocked me that all the symptoms I had already had names. When I started to realize that other people also had the same problems it was a real break through.

[[br...]]

Mine were horrible during most of the first couple of years off, full on nightmares most nights, got worse about month 8, calmed around month 36, gone now thankfully, still get vivid dreams but they are nothing compared to back then. They can be really horrible so I know what they are like, careful what you eat, how late you eat. One thing I remember is white bread really gave me bad dreams worse than anything else.

 

 

[[so...]]

I have this when starting benzos as well as when stopping. Also when taking Vicodin/Norco after dental work or surgery. Usually they're just extremely vivid and colorful, but sometimes they are horrific.

 

Have you ever read about lucid dreaming? Being able to control your dreams... I have worked on this a lot in the past few years and I've really gotten somewhere with it! When there's something scary in my dreams lately, I recognize that I'm dreaming and I consciously choose to RUN in huge bounding steps unlike anything you could ever do in real life. I've jumped to the top of skyscrapers and hid out up there from the monsters below. Seriously!

 

My partner taught me the trick of trying to open your eyes really wide, and when you do that in the dream, you'll open your eyes in real life and wake up. This also happens to me anytime I try to read something in a dream. I always open my eyes and wake up. Which is frustrating. Lol.

 

Just remember, in any case, it's temporary and is a major sign of healing. Enjoy the vividness and run away from those bad guys with no fear if you're able to!

 

[[Ma...]]

This was with me too. What a crazy dreams and time befor bad I had....That was crazy. But I made it somehow with reapeting to myself it is not real. NO  IT IS NOT. Like in horror movies it is just that for us it is not real.  :thumbsup: :sick:

[[si...]]

I am 12 months off, and in the nightmare phase. I think it is because I am sleeping much deeper than in previous months. I hope this is a good sign.

The nightmares are very negative and cause my intrusive thoughts to spiral out of control.

[[br...]]

When the nightmares are over, you should turn a big corner, it is like you defeat them almost, all of sudden the dreams are nothing but crazy dreams again. Hope you guys get some let up sooner than me, looking back it was probably about 2.5 years off they calmed so month 30 then were gone by or more less gone by 36 months. They are awful though       

 

 

[[St...]]

The thing about his for me and it continues to surprise me, is that when I started out with it I honestly believed I was the only person in the world with all these crazy symptoms. I had no idea what DR/DP but I told other people I no longer knew myself. I had no idea what foods I like or what programs I want to watch on TV. On drugs I like different foods to what I eat now. I remember the nightmares and how vivid they were but I thought I was the only person that was happening to. Once I discovered what it was it shocked me that all the symptoms I had already had names. When I started to realize that other people also had the same problems it was a real break through.

 

Same here. When I withdrew in 2004 (3-months daily usage) I had reoccurring nightmares of waking up with broken glass in my mouth and picking it out piece by piece after a false awakening. If not that a cloth stuck in my mouth that I had to slowly pull out of my stomach that was 20 feet long. My subconscious telling me the pills were poison. Once I learned about protracted withdrawal I realized I had drawn it out for years by taking benzos about

once a month for ten years or so. For people who are affected profoundly by benzos it is a real shock to realize others suffer the same symptoms, some worse off and some better off, but each person realizing the benzos created a set of strange symptoms called protracted withdrawal syndrome. I've learned a lot here and 100% convinced of the truth of it.

[[Re...]]

The thing about his for me and it continues to surprise me, is that when I started out with it I honestly believed I was the only person in the world with all these crazy symptoms. I had no idea what DR/DP but I told other people I no longer knew myself. I had no idea what foods I like or what programs I want to watch on TV. On drugs I like different foods to what I eat now. I remember the nightmares and how vivid they were but I thought I was the only person that was happening to. Once I discovered what it was it shocked me that all the symptoms I had already had names. When I started to realize that other people also had the same problems it was a real break through.

 

Same here. When I withdrew in 2004 (3-months daily usage) I had reoccurring nightmares of waking up with broken glass in my mouth and picking it out piece by piece after a false awakening. If not that a cloth stuck in my mouth that I had to slowly pull out of my stomach that was 20 feet long. My subconscious telling me the pills were poison. Once I learned about protracted withdrawal I realized I had drawn it out for years by taking benzos about

once a month for ten years or so. For people who are affected profoundly by benzos it is a real shock to realize others suffer the same symptoms, some worse off and some better off, but each person realizing the benzos created a set of strange symptoms called protracted withdrawal syndrome. I've learned a lot here and 100% convinced of the truth of it.

 

That's right, any symptom that lasts more then A few weeks is considered a protracted symptom. According to the Ashton manual. She says it may lift within a few months or years depending on how long you where on benzos .

[[Re...]]

I am 12 months off, and in the nightmare phase. I think it is because I am sleeping much deeper than in previous months. I hope this is a good sign.

The nightmares are very negative and cause my intrusive thoughts to spiral out of control.

 

Yeah it says something about more rem sleep causing nightmares in the Ashton manual . I get my intrusive thought really bad when I am trying to sleep. So I am guessing it is just coming into my dreams. I keep waking up with intrusive memories too. its all crazy  man. Ahhhhhhhhhh!!

[[No...]]

I had very clear, disgusting, heart-breaking dreams that put me in an alternate reality every night at first. Those we're awful. There was death, incarceration, sexual abuse, you name it haunting the corners of my splintered psyche for a month, every night and day. I didn't really "go to sleep" back then either. A more appropriate term would be to "slip into half-conscious limbo of horror." Or something like that. Ugh glad that's over.

 

But it's not completely over really, because I have dreams here and there now that are pretty sickening. I just hate myself and what I'm doing in them and wake up feeling despondent about the type of person I've let myself become. But then I have some water and breakfast and try and forget about it. At some point in the day I end up feeling pretty dang good and don't want to go to sleep again like the OP.

 

Who's the guy who had those dreams about the shards of glass coming out of your mouth? Wow. My condolences. That does make me think that the content of the dreams might be a window into what our minds are trying to tell us from the shadows of our subconscious. Spooky!

 

Ashton does go into adequate detail about why these nightmare's are so vivid. Intrusive thoughts. Yup. Makes sense. I forget, though; Is there any advice on natural ways to lessen the root causes of these nightmares? Exercise is an excellent sleep and mind regulator. What am I missing? Meditation? Hmm.

 

Guess I should go read it huh? 

 

   

[[so...]]

These posts have reminded me that I had a period where the dreams were so disturbing (thankfully I don't remember them now) that I dreaded going to sleep at night. I hope that doesn't happen again but I know it's likely to. One thing is for certain, and it's that benzo WD definitely makes us more resilient people. If you can handle WD, you can handle anything.

[[ne...]]

Does this qualify?

 

Horse stomping on cat for scratching

Guy broke ice in parking lot and drowned horse for killing cat

I tried to stop him and feared for my life from his aggression

Spent rest of nightmare hiding from that same guy

Also was in hiding from unseen enemy who were shooting at us and could hear bullets hitting around us.

 

Wasn't funny when I finally woke..but now...it's a hoot! The horse was a Clydesdale. A big horse and that had to be some amount of water in the parking lot to contain a horse that size.

 

Six weeks off and counting.

 

I also wake from any sleep, dreams or not, with a feeling of being startled or in a panic. Sometimes up to 15 minutes. Recently its been under 5 minutes.

 

I'm not sure if being awake is less of a nightmare.  ;-0

[[ji...]]

This was my most prominent symptom .I didnt have nightmares too often but VERY VERY vivid dreams like Ive never had before . It was even difficult to come back to reality after waking up because they were so vivid . Most of them made no sense either .I started having them about a month or so before jumping and they continued for three months more . Im now back to normal dreaming thank god . In fact I am now over the withdrawals completely and feel great . I started taking a good organic multi vitamin with methyl b12 and methyl folate along with msm ,tmg and inositol . I truly think the b vitamins ( help your nervous system recover ) and d vitamins with plenty of vitamin C and inositol helped me the most . Good luck and just know that all of these symptoms will eventually go away .Sometimes it seems like it is never going to end but one day you are going to wake up and realize you slept well and didnt have one crazy dream or nightmare and that you are back to normal

[[Re...]]

Does this qualify?

 

Horse stomping on cat for scratching

Guy broke ice in parking lot and drowned horse for killing cat

I tried to stop him and feared for my life from his aggression

Spent rest of nightmare hiding from that same guy

Also was in hiding from unseen enemy who were shooting at us and could hear bullets hitting around us.

 

Wasn't funny when I finally woke..but now...it's a hoot! The horse was a Clydesdale. A big horse and that had to be some amount of water in the parking lot to contain a horse that size.

 

Six weeks off and counting.

 

I also wake from any sleep, dreams or not, with a feeling of being startled or in a panic. Sometimes up to 15 minutes. Recently its been under 5 minutes.

 

I'm not sure if being awake is less of a nightmare.  ;-0

 

I believe that meets the required criteria for qualification .

[[De...]]

I too am a bad dreamer.  I always wake up startled and it takes so long to calm down.  I used to be just a dreamer.  I am going to try and control those dreams like Solice and see if it helps. I'll let you all know.  I too used to think I was the only one. 

Comfort here, always.

[[Ma...]]

I have always had vivid dreams and always remembered each of it. I even woke up, went to the toilet, fell asleep and the dream went on, like if I had pressed pause.

Under benzos I got a lot of nightmares. With every med I got rid off, I got less of them.

Now I have good dreams again!! I remember my first good dream. I dreamed I would eat ice cream and cake and I woke up with a smile. In the last 10 years I never dreamed a good dream!

I hope you will get there soon, too!!