Concrete Angels Forum Does anyone have nightmares?

I know for me, I am constantly battling in my dreams. My subconscience is trying so hard to give me clues and help me to accept. They call this Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Reliving the past in dreams and also through different things you experience in your life. As I have said before, there are triggers that make all these memories, or piece of a jig saw puzzle come in to full living color. The fear is there and it comes from nowhere... You are left with a feeling of being out of control... Becaue when you were too small to stand up for yourself, you were helpless and out of control of the situation.

My suggestion is that we make some possible remedys for this. Get feed back from others so we can all help each other.

ummm... does anybody come in here?? ::sad::

I don't have nightmares but I do have flashbacks.

Kristine,

I understand your post and yes, dreams are always the worst when sometimes in life you think that everything is ok, you've forgotten the past, then something sets it off. You find yourself blaming the past for all of your problems and using it as a crutch. At least I do.

Love,
Stephanie

I am parenting two kids with PTSD..if I can be of help to anyone, I am here. My son has other problems and has been diagnosed Severely Emotionally Distrubed (SED).

For a child, a parent who is abusive will leave real damage to a child--the affects are lifelong, and even worse if the child does not have help or support. On top of that, a parent who has addictions can also cause damage to a child--the odds of Oppositional Defiant Disorder increase, the odds for Attachment Disorder Increase, and the child is more likely to suffer from addictive or self-destructive behavior (among other things!).

A child with PTSD may present as being extremely hyperactive, violent towards self or others, have intrusive memories that will not go away, have repetitive behaviors or play, become withdrawn, problems sleeping, poor self esteem, problems with attachment...are all common. Some children even act out the abuse they have witnessed on others...or on themselves.

So I believe PTSD is more than a crutch. I believe PTSD can be a fight for survival--the part of you that says I don't want to live this way anymore, I don't want to be like this--but struggling also to break free & not having the crucial nurturing or support. The part that has been hurt, traumatized and in fear so long that the trauma has left patterns and imprints on the self.

That's my thought anyways... I am praying for everyone and sending love.

Lynn

"I kept talking to myself,
I had to get the words out of my head.
(so I did)
You barely said a thing,
you kind of heard me out and then you said,
(you said)
"You're crazy,
why do you keep doing this all the time?"
Then I think I'm crazy
I do this all the time.
Until I start to think that nothing's even wrong..."

"The Way It Really Is", Lisa Loeb.

nightmares.. i would if i had dreams or if i did sleep..

when i do remember my dreams or even have them they are nightmares.. things that i dont want to remember.. from my childhood and also military stuff....

i use to be really bad when i was younger.. always trying to kill the pain by hurting my self and all. i have gone beyond that now.. my mom says that i should prob see a shrink again.. but all they did when i was a kid is drug me up and make me feel nothing. oh and say "how did that make you feel" .. i would get frustrated and yell i dont know your the Fing shrink you tell me.. heheeh.. yeah i had lots of anger growing up .. still do but learning on how to control it.. ok. now i am just writing to much. if anyone want to hear my life story.. it is long and sucks. but hey we are all in the group so i guess all of ours are not joy go lucky..

morgan

I have dreams, flashbacks, or iamges that flash in my head. They are triggered sometimes by people or a certain image that relate to the past sexual abuse I experieinced. Sometimes, I feel like it's a puzzle too. Becomes images that I didn't recall before starting flashing before me and a part of my mind is trying to put the pieces together but the other part of my mind is trying to keep it blocked out.

Nightmares....well i can't say i don't have them, actually 95% of my dreams are nightmares, but i accept them and don't call them nightmares anymore.
Most of my dreams consist of ghosts, weird alternative realities and me being killed or hunted.
My other 5% of my dreams are a mix of horror/erotica. No kidding :p
I have had these dreams since i was a kid, and am not used having any other kinds of dreams, when it's not a so called nightmare or erotic dream i simply don't dream.
I remember all of my dreams after waking up, some of them i remember for years as they reoccur often. And i have the tendency of, when waking up to say goodbye to my boyfriend leaving for work, then turning around and falling to sleep again, to dream. I seem to have no trouble at all dreaming after being awake for like 10-30 mins.

I have nightmares all the time, sometimes when I'm not even asleep. Just when you think it's pushed in the closet and locked away the door flies open and i all comes tumbling back out. It's the most simple things that bring it all back, something I see, a smell, something someone says, the profile of a person, the worst is when you are walking down the street and someone unintesionally scares the life out of you by running up behind you. Of course most of the time they just run past, but for that one instant, I am a child again, back in that hell and SHE or HE is there behind me, waiting for me all over again. The hardest thing is because of the sexual abuse I am so careful with people around my own children, my girls, and sometimes it's just the most innocent thing, and my mind starts into over-drive. Thinking, what do they want? Why are they talking to them? Why are they being nice? It's hard to stand back sometimes and say nothing, do nothing, because what you really want to do would damage the children for life, because I just want to run up to them, tell them not to talk to my kids, get away from them, don't touch them! I could so easily turn into a monster myself and scare the life out of the innocent next door neighbour, friends parents, strangers and the girls at the same time.

Sorry, I've been rambling again, I do that a lot.

Quote:


Hey Krystal, I've missed ya! ;)

What I am about to say may seem impossible, but it's actually easier to do than to continue living with the fear and anxiety. So, please bare with me.

All the fear and anxiety and anything else you may be struggling with is changeable! As strong as those feelings are in the pit of your stomach that never seem to go away or linger so much that you have "gotten used to them"; they are there because you allow them to be there. It is time to take charge of your emotions and not let them control your every waking and sleeping moment. It is not healthy when you are overwhelmed by it, for one. Just as much as you fear something, reach deep down to challenge that fear. Stand up and say, "you can't scare me anymore because I refuse to allow you that control over me!"

Imagine that fear as a punching bag, actually visualize your fear into that punching bag. Just when you think you can't stand it anymore, go crazy, hay-wire, ape s**t, whacko on that punching bags a*s!

Or... paint a picture of your fear and then change the imagery into something beautiful- because you have turned tragedy into something beautiful just by surviving your life. Again, visualize everything and place it into whatever you decide to use as a release.

Once you are done... and you'll know when you are done, brush you hands clean of it. It's like cleaning a really dirty house, you hate doing it, but you eventually see the progress and finally satisfied that your house is clean!

The will feel lighter and fresher, and so will your shoulders- It also helps to see a massage therapist!! :) Take care friend!

Well before a few months ago I didn't dream or have nightmare, none that I could ever remember anyway. I also didn't sleep long enough to have them. But after nearly snapping one night I realized I needed to face my demons and started to talk about it with my girlfriend and another really close friend. Well this opened the proverbial flood gates and I've been having nightmares ever since. I also tend to get flashbacks, but thankfully those are few and far between. At least now they've lessened somewhat, not entirely, but a little. *shrugs*

Aw, the perfect question. Is it better to hide from that which we fear or face it. Not an easy question and certainly NOT an easy answer. I remember when I was a kid I would lie awake all hours of the night reading because I could not control who I was in my sleep. I hated not having control and even sleep was too much control to give to my subconscious. Explains the insomnia that sometimes plagues me now....

xxoxx

I haven't had nightmares in ages; I do dream/envision which is more explained my meditations and intuition than anything. I do have flashbacks, yes, but you know.. it IS ok! It IS ok to remember the past and use it as a foundation because whatever we feel about it, it is forever a part of our heads.. until we swipe it clean; heal; move on.
I many times see and remember Memories I have yet to have [smiles] I believe in Simultaneous Time, but also Incarnation. Because I'm weird like that ::tongue::

I have written incredibly much on tough childhoods. I have talked insanely amounts about it. Held lecture regarding it; lived through it. It can be done and it is hard but doable.
It can also be done without therapy, without medication. It can even be done without tranferring the addiction and self destruction on something else.
IF you choose therapy, general psychologists can seldom help you. Freud was good but fell short. Medication without backing up through therapy wont help you.
If you choose a therapy as help; choose cognitive therapy or psycho therapy. At least as a ground to further your own healing.

To realize the victimization box we hold ourselves in can be experienced as the worse hell imagineable - and it might be - but the choices are placed there for each of us to realize what it is that we want to do with it all.

I wrote a post called "Thoughts on Victimization" - it is yet to be proof-read and fixed but if you have time, read it. It may help you? I'll include it in the end of the post.

To rise and stand on your own two all by yourself... It CAN be done.
Never lose hope! You ARE Mighty.

love

Skye

To Be Mighty

I have had the same nightmare for 7+ months. And I never dream or even remember my dreams. But since my grandmother's death, Its been haunting.

Yes, i have nightmares and flashback, which i wake up from a deep sleep at nighttime, whimpering or screaming at the events, which happened in my past. Worse part, is the anxiety/panic attacks, which follows afterwards for me. Paralysing me in my bed, for hours afterwards. Try to deal with these terrors, by writing about them. But, it doesn't always help to remove them. Feel so helpless, when i have one of these happen.