nightmares

[Anniexx]

hi all i havent been on ere for a while since the change over i had to change my name to get back on . anyway dont know if anyone remembers me i was talking about the nightmares i get each night , i am still getting them and they are always very disturbing getting scared of going to bed now, my husband wakes me up when i start screaming most of the time i carnt remember what they are about but find they leave me very disturbed for the day and dazed.any advice please. glad be to back and talk to people with this horrid fibro. kind reguads Anna

[Fibrofoggiest]

Annie, hi, could you let us know what your previous name was, then I could look up and catch up with things that were going on for you. nightmares are ghastly and to be scared of going to sleep because you might get them must be really unpleasant.

Foggy x

[Anniexx in reply to Fibrofoggiest]

Hi yes it was 1961-1951

[Fibrofoggiest]

Whoops, it's not letting me look at your previous posts, sorry. I did go through a phase of having bad nightmares which woke me, even though I'd only just fallen asleep and I ended up being so exhausted I didn't know what to do with myself. I'm just wondering if you are on any meds which might exacerbate this problem? Also, are you taking any meds to help you get to sleep in the first place? Sorry not to be of more help.

Foggy x

[Anniexx in reply to Fibrofoggiest]

I am on amitripyline 20 mg duloxetine 60mg thyroxine 150 mg lisinopril 5mg and omeprazolle 20mg

[Glenys in reply to Anniexx]

Hi Annie

It looks like you are on similar meds to me, and I get what I call FILM-LIKE dreams, where everything is really vivid, and I wake up thinking I could write it down and it would be a best seller

I have read that this is because people with fibro sleep more in REM sleep (lighter sleep) and that is where all the emotional dreaming which we can remember goes on. Nightmares come into this category, and I read in the BBC's Focus magazine the other day about this. These are the dreams we remember and can even change, ie by being worried that we will have a nightmare before we go to bed, we will actually do have a nightmare. Our subconscious mind re-livse the psychological and emotional things from our waking hours.

Non_REM sleep is the deeper sleep, where we still dream, but it is more analytic, remembering learned events, such as how to knit, and drive, or the revision for that exam the next day. That is why fibro sufferers have a worse short term memory, because all the filing of gained knowledge into the brain goes on in the deeper sleep stages. Also a lot of the repair to our tissues and organs is done in this deeper sleep.

I wasn't doing too bad on Amitriptyline alone, as it is supposed to help you get more deeper sleep, but as soon as the 30mg Duloxetine (Cymbalta) dose was introduced for my worsening night pain, I began with the vivid dreams again. I have gone back to the GP and she has put up the Ami to 25mg from 10mg.

Do you take the Duloxetine at night? I found that it really makes me hyper (the adrenaline maybe), so had to move it to the morning. I am even thinking that if this doesn't work, then I might go onto Fluoxetine, as it only raises seratonon rather than seratonin and adrenalin, as maybe the adrenaline rush is keeping me awake more (and giving me sweats)

But of course the Duloxetine can help with pain, and it is making me more that happy, so it is a double whammy.

I don't think the omeprazole is contributing to the nightmares, but lack of it would keep you in lighter sleep, if you took it for the same reasons as my lansoprazole (night time reflux and coughing), and I don't take lisinopril, or thyroxine (despite feeling I should be on the latter).

I really do hope your subconscious (if that is what it is?) gets out of the habit of giving you these bad dreams, and maybe someone else on the forum has been able to find a way to do it. Because my dreams aren't too disturbing, I have never been worried enough to want to stop them (I only want to get deeper sleep). If I see or read anything that might help, I'll post a link on here for you?

XGlenys

[Anniexx in reply to Glenys]

Thank you Glenys this is very helpful, I take the duloxetine in the morning with the thyroxine , the omeprazolle is for the IBS and to stop the rest of the tablets upsetting my stomach , it does feel like I sleep light but I am also very hard to wake up my husband says when I am shouting or screaming so not sure which one I fall into REM or NON REM , thanks again and take care , Annie

[janlou]

Hi I have been having strange dreams for the past 2years, they are the same dream, and I wake up, thinking was that real or was I dreaming. Its with me for the rest of the day.....so strange.

Jan x

[Hidden]

I was on Amitriptyline started on 10mg increased gradually to 50mg. I had the most dreadful, horrible, vivid nightmares, really bad and they would affect my mood all day afterwards.

My Rheumatologist took me off them as they weren't helping for pain and since stopping them I have had no nightmares. Maybe speak to you gp or specialist and explain that your are having these nightmares...DON'T stop the Amitriptyline yourself though!

Hope you can get this sorted, I know how upsetting this can be xx

[Anniexx in reply to Hidden]

Yes I will see the doctor about stopping them and see if it helps thank you. Annax

[Hidden in reply to Anniexx]

My gp has mentioned maybe trying an alternative to Amitriptyline as my mood was better on them and I see the specialist tomorrow to discuss this, maybe your doctor can give you something else.

[Fibrofoggiest]

I too am on amitriptyline but I take nearly double the dose you are on, maybe I haven't put two and two together and realised the link, I am just thankful that with the amitriptyline I actually manage to get some sleep, which I definitely wouldn't without them, also I find they do help with pain and lift my mood at times. Perhaps talk to your dr Annie, but as Mary so wisely says, don't just stop taking them, without having seen your dr first.

Foggy x

[Hidden in reply to Fibrofoggiest]

I actually miss the Amitriptyline sometimes as it lifted my mood too, my OH thinks I was better on it.

[Dixiesdaughter]

Hi annie if you read the side effects leaflet with amitripyline you might discover that nightmares are listed. If so talk to your gp about lowering the dose or trying something else. Welcome back

Dixie x

[staceymarie76]

I take duloxetine (cymbalta) 90mg a day and I have been having quite a lot of nightmares, to the degree that I wake up and have to think first if it is true or it was a dream. I have also woken up crying on a few occasions

[Anniexx in reply to staceymarie76]

Yes that's like me but I am not taking that much duloxetine I take 60 mg a day ,its horrible isn't it get me down so all day I am thinking if that real or not , it gets me confused to not knowing what's real anymore . Take care. Anna x

[vixen49]

Hi Anna my name is Ros I'm pretty much a new member on here since Sept recently diagnosed fibromyalgia musculoskeletal disorder I just woken up from a nightmare and very much not with cos of the pain I'm in and with that I find it very hard to get back to sleep