# Disturbing dreams / Nightmares



## Diya (Aug 28, 2008)

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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

If you recently came off an MAOI, you might be having REM rebound. 

Abrupt discontinuation of MAOIs can cause a temporary phenomenon known as REM rebound in which the patient experiences extremely vivid dreams and nightmares.


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## Sad Penguin (Aug 7, 2009)

I'm very sorry to hear that sleeping is giving you such trouble.

I hope that things get better for you soon!


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## Delicate (May 23, 2008)

I wake up with nightmares but mine are more inner demons. Sounds not very nice have you talked to your doctor? I didn't know vivid dreams could be a side effect. I don't like dreaming at all. I hope it gets better soon for you it must be extremely frustrating.


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## Thomas Paine (Mar 29, 2008)

Definitely sounds like some sort of withdrawal. Some people have pretty severe withdrawal even from anti-depressants.

If you can keep reminding yourself that, then the dreams would probably be easier to handle. Also, it really sounds to me like something temporary, but I know how hard it is even for one night because I get bad klonopin withdrawal.

If you end up able to prove to yourself that it's _not_ withdrawal, then maybe you would be happier back on some kind of medication.


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## britisharrow (Jun 18, 2009)

I identify with you, I am on mirtazapine and the dreams are vivid and WEIRD. As T Paine said though it could be worse, at least once you're awake you know you're out of it. Have you spoken to your doctor about the dreams, maybe he or she can help?


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## Dhomuniqe (Jul 22, 2009)

*ahh Night terrors*

I hope that you find peace soon. Not too sure if I can relate to your Vivid dream experiences because of with drawl. Ever since I was young though I had nightmares and dreams that terrified me and fascinated me. I actually own a couple books on dreams.

This could be the effect of the medication or it could be the effects of your "unconscious" trying to understand things that are happening in your waking life. That is if you believe in that sort of thing, some do not...if this is the case skip my suggestion. Too bad I couldn't hand you my "Keep it simple stupid" book on dreams. I'll try my best here:teeth

Write your dreams down as soon as you wake up. The most vivid ones that you will experience are the ones in the last stage of your REM cycle. (Correct me if I'm wrong:um) Also, I don't think it would hurt to keep a journal of your day to day experiences. You may start to see a common theme between the two. You are the best one to be making these interpretations of what they mean. Some of these nightmares you may need to face head on. For example, there is a wolf / green monster chasing you blah blah. Confront it! Stand your ground and do not be afraid. Sometimes these creatures are "monsters" that we are dealing in our waking life and are continually running from. These too will go away. I know that when I was experiencing high levels of stress in my life I would have episodes or if I wasn't careful with keeping a regular sleeping pattern.

When you have anxiety and stress in your life it is inevitable that nightmares and sleep paralysis will be following you close behind. I have my own special stories about Sleep paralysis. Ha ha if anyone has any requests I can retell them:afr

As soon as I started taking clonozepam the paralysis went away. It's no surprise "Clonazepam is highly effective in the treatment of sleep paralysis".

So go to bed normally and...if you do have a sleep paralysis episode again read up on lucid dreaming. I've barely practiced it but you can do some very cool things once you realize you're really just dreaming. I highly recommend watching "Waking Life".


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## Thomas Paine (Mar 29, 2008)

Dhomuniqe said:


> As soon as I started taking clonozepam the paralysis went away. It's no surprise "Clonazepam is highly effective in the treatment of sleep paralysis".


That's interesting because I had never experienced sleep paralysis until I had clonazepam withdrawal.


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## Makaveli (Jul 15, 2009)

Vivid dreams while on or off anti d's are kind of scary. You wake up and are like 'wtf was all that?' The ones while on them though seem really warped.


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## katnip43 (Jul 10, 2009)

Diya:

Your post caught my eye immediately. Just last night I had the WORST, extremely vivid, nightmare that I've had in my life. It also involved "Sleep Paralysis". I was laying on my back watching a movie last night and was really exhausted. Two hours later, I woke up drenched in sweat, heart racing, and crying. In the nightmare, someone had broken into my apartment and were doing horrible things to my beautiful kitties. I remember in the nightmare, laying there, couldn't move, was aware that it was a nightmare and couldn't wake up, and I would hear loud noises coming from the movie and think that it was this "intruder". I've had sleep paralysis before, but NEVER as bad as this was. I was wondering if it might be the Lamictal I just started so I googled it and sure enough it mentioned "vivid" dreams, "sweats" and nightmares. But the thing is I'm only up to 37mgs of Lamictal so who knows. I used to have "lucid" dreams several years ago and they were DREAMS, not NIGHTMARES. 

Anyway, I totally know where you're coming from and I hope you get some relief. Sounds like you have it a lot worse than me, 8+ a night..sheesh. And I too feel like some "demon" or something has possessed me. For me I AM depressed and I'm convinced that last night's experience and the other recent ones are at least partly caused by the fact that I've been going through a lot of emotional stress and feel like I have little control over my life. Best wishes,

kat


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## Fluffy Bunny Feet (Aug 21, 2008)

If you're not sleeping much because you're afraid of it, that makes it more likely that you will have those dreams when you do finally sleep because your brain is catching up on REM sleep. It's also possible you may have some sort of sleep disorder...are you sleepy during the day at all? I used to have the same sort of horrible, twisted, crazy nightmares nightmares that seemed to go on forever, along with the sleep paralysis. Sometimes I'd even see things from my dream immediately after waking. It turns out I have narcolepsy. Thankfully with treatment, it doesn't happen nearly as much, though occasionally my dreams still scare the crap out me. I really hate sleeping alone even now.

If you can't think of any reason in you're life right now that this should be happening, I would recommend seeing a sleep specialist. Anything that makes you feel better at night, like leaving the light on, or having a pet nearby can also be helpful. If you wake up from a bad nightmare, try to keep yourself up for a bit, and distract your thinking from the dream. If you can stay awake for 10 minutes or so before falling back asleep, you're much less likely to go back into the bad dream. Also, I'm not sure if this applies to everyone, but I tend to have more vivid dreams/nightmares when laying on my back- I usually lay on my side for this reason.


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## DeeperUnderstanding (May 19, 2007)

I've been having some vivid nightmares recently. One involved me witnessing a murder, and almost being killed myself (I woke up before I was shot.)

I'm not a violent person, so these dreams really scare me. I don't know what they mean.


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## DSPFrat (Aug 2, 2009)

Diya said:


> Every night is a roller coaster for me. I have 7+ dreams that are extremely vivid and very detailed, long, and very disturbing. I vividly dream about murders, corpses, blood, gore, violence, pain, torture and conspiracy. Those became my "normal" dreams.


Sounds like an episode of CSI, haha


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## PickleNose (Jul 11, 2009)

I have nightmares occasionally. Thankfully, they don't affect me too much other than that feeling of relief I get when I wake up and realize it wasn't real. There comes a point in every bad dream I ever have when I stop and think to myself "OK. I know life sucks but this just sucks too bad to be real" and at that point, disbelief kicks in and that always wakes me up.


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## miminka (May 10, 2009)

Yeah. I have dreams that are too graphic and disturbing to even vaguely recount here. A couple months ago I went to the doctor about it. She put me on some medication.


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## kkraieski (Mar 17, 2013)

*kraieski*

I have just been prescribed xanax .25mg the first time I took it I slept like a baby . The second time I had nightmare after nightmare. I was aware of were I was but could not move felt like my tongue was stuck n my throat and couldn't speak (sleep paralysis) my wife woke me up repeatedly only to have me fall out again less then a minute later. She said each time she woke me I'd say am I awake only to have me fall out again. Bit happened 5 or 6 times in an hour. It was a horrible experience I'd never felt before. Is that normal for taking xanax for only the secound time?


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