BI & Traumatic Dreams you can't remember

[Survivor37]

I relive the trauma of my accident every night in my sleep I have no memory of my accident still to this day but i defo relive it in my mind somewhere. I've lived with this struggle for so long it's just the norm to me but as soon as I wake I'm laid absolutely pissed wet through with sweat with no memory of what I've been dreaming and I can spend the whole day in a weird dazed state...explaining this to my family is hard as hell..

I just wundered if anyone else suffers with Traumatic Dreams you can't remember ??

[paxo05]

Hi there, I went through simular after my bi. I could not remember leaving work yet could remember the car turning in front of my bicycle. Then nothing.

A few months later started nightmares of the accident . I was told it was my mind trying to piece things together .

The more I tried nit to think of it the worse it was. I eventually had cognitive behavioral therepy to try and work through the nightmares.

Well after months of work I sort of was cured from the nightmares. The only problem was I no longer remember any dreams if I actually have them.

I miss dreaming as no matter what I am thinking before sleep I just fall asleep then wake up in the morning. But it is better than the nightmares.

Try your gp or consultant about cbt it may work.

All the best,

Pax

[spideyman]

I suffer from night terrors. Not nightmares

[cat3]

Hi again S. I think I mentioned once before how CBT helped me turn my life around, and how my scathing resistance to therapy was turned on its head after 12 months of talking with a therapist.

I too was plagued with tormenting dreams and panic attacks but after a year of cognitive exploration and facing uncomfortable thoughts and hang ups head-on, I was much more stable & capable than I'd been for many years.

It taught me that something as simple as talking out loud has the power to diffuse troublesome ideas which we've only ever written off as stuff best kept to ourselves.

As Pax mentions, ask your doctor for a referral asap (to allow for waiting times) and keep an open mind.... 🤔 xx

[Leaf100]

Hi Survivor37

I had similar.

What I did was EMDR. The positive things about that form of treatment is you don't have to remember anything, just be able to associate with a word, image or something to use during the treatment. It uses a out of synch beat between each ear and hand (head phones and little vibraty things you hold on to).

There is processing time afterward while your brain sorts it out and it may take more than one treatment, but it works relatively fast.

In my case, even in the day I had recurring images I associated with the accident and they took all my attention, but I didn't actually feel scared in the day time. I have no idea about what the dreams were about at night.

EMDR is common enough Headway ought to be able to recommend someone. I have done both CBT and EMDR and I found the EMDR much more effective for the dreams or terrors I couldn't remember when asleep. For me CBT is more about refocussing thoughts I am conscious of and I feel that it likely becomes a habit for the subconscious, though I am not sure about that. With EMDR I could remember things that happened with a degree of distance. I still knew how I felt at the time and could describe what happened etc, but it had more the quality of something I read in a book - it didn't take me over. Also you can get relief without ever remembering exactly what you're dreaming about. I also found it had other side benefits I can't really describe, it kind of freed up parts of my brain for other things. I haven't found CBT doing quite that.

It's a good idea to speak to Headway and see what's available - no harm in trying more than one approach. Things work differently for different people so you never know.

Leaf