Ok, I have had these since I was young. Just wanted to vent a little here.When I dream every night or have a nightmare that feels like it's really happening, I never wake fully rested. I feel irritable all day and I can never nap in the afternoon no matter how tired I am. But physical tiredness does not bother me, it is the lack of MENTAL rest I feel like I get.
Maybe the dreams are related to my drug and alcohol use. I have smoked pot on and off since I was 14 and found it very hard to give this up for long periods. I don't drink alcohol every night but at least 3 nights a week I will have about 10 drinks.
I suffer from depression, stress, anxiety which I feel is probably caused by the drug and alcohol use, but without these I feel more depression, stress and anxiety!
When I have stopped smoking pot, I have unbelievable insomnia and after 4 days of bad sleep I find my sleep pattern again, but unfortunately by then I have relapsed and had a smoke, and the cycle begins again. I sleep for 8 hours or more with the aid of alcohol/pot and about 4 hours without these.
I know about rehab, sleeping pills, hypnotherapy. There's alot I can do to fix this problem.
Without going into EVERY detail about the nightmares, why am I feeling like this when I lie down to sleep, dreaming that people are trying to kill me or the world is exploding or I am running from army tanks.
And I keep dreaming about washing in the bathroom at school, and every cubicle is dirty. They're just the same nasty things, night after night. One night I was being chased by a grizzly bear. Another dream I exorcised a spirit from a house. And then in one dream, I took drugs and killed people in my family because I was hallucinating. The other night I dreamt I was being anesthesised for an abortion (I'm not pregnant irl)
Very scary when these feel like they're happening. I wonder if it is the cannabis and alcohol, or if they would keep occurring without it. I used to keep a dream diary and I want to do this again.
The dreams are not disturbing apart from the fact I know I'm dreaming. I would rather just feel like I am really floating down a waterfall, not "oh this is just a dream". Then a nightmare that feels real, not fair! :P
The other night I was trying to determine where I was (my recurring dream is in a stranger's house rifling through their stuff - it is crazy) and I looked out the window. The scenery wasn't familiar but I still remember the view. A tree was in blossom and it was a spring day. At the foot of the tree I saw a rat, or a mouse crawling and then I thought "well this is definitely a dream, and how frustrating that I don't even know where I am". It is just weird.
Sometimes when I tell people about this I think they're thinking "she's making this up" (either that or I'm just boring them to death).