Chronic nightmares and sleep paralysis

[alopias]

Hey, I'm new here but I wanted to bring this to the group. I've had chronic nightmares for around 2-3 years now with at least one a night (more if my depression is worse) and have not been able to have it diagnosed. I'm supposed to attend a sleep study next month and honestly am a little afraid they won't be able to tell me anything. I'm scared everyone is just gonna write me off as being crazy for this when I know there's something really wrong. If they can't find anything, they said they'd send me to a neurologist, but it'll feel like I'm back to square one. I'm finally on meds for my depression and anxiety, but I declined sleep meds because they always stop working for me and just leaves me with the side effects. I've been to psychiatrists who don't know what it is and the sleep disorder doctors wrote it off as insomnia. This has affected every single part of my life. It's insane that there isn't more of a field or specialty for this.

[Hidden]

welcome alopias. I have had periods of nightmares and sleep paralysis too. I also have alot of repressed memories of my childhood. Sometimes the nightmares were bits of memories coming back. The sleep paralysis is very intense, I would try to wake up but couldn’t or try to move a foot and couldn’t. Not sure what is going on with you. My therapist told me to write down the nightmares especially when you first wake up otherwise you can forget them. Hope this helps.

[optimismrus]

A long time ago I struggled with night terrors. Often I would wake up with something coming at me, about to attack. The common theme of the dreams were spiders. My therapist had me buy big plastic spiders and take them to bed with me. She also had me go to the library and read about spiders. I learned that spiders are good mothers. Anyway, it worked, and eventually I stopped having terrors. Oh yeah, the divorce helped, too! Hope you find something to help you. 🥰

[AsoingerbobTheGreat]

I've always believed that dreams/nightmares are either your brain remembering earlier memories, or dumping them. That's really sad to hear that your doctors don't know what's wrong.. I really hope you find something to lean on in the meantime. ❤️ Can you tell us what your nightmares consist of? If that's ok with you, it's totally fine if you can't.

[MotherOfDoggos]

Hi Alopias- I’m sorry you’re going through this! Did you notice if the nightmares started at the same time you started your meds, when you changed dosage, added something etc?

Meds are a godsend for me- I do not function well without medication to help. That said, I definitely have been on some meds or dosages that have made my nightmares worse. The most intense would be when I accidentally missed a dose of Effexor or when my doctor had me scaling back on it.

Maybe documenting what your days are like would help you nail down what makes them more/less intense. Everything from the meds you took that day, when you took them during the day, if you exercised that day and when, food, everything. Good luck, I know how upsetting sleep paralysis can be! Sending good vibes ❤️