Any suggestions for handling night terrors?
Hello everyine. About a month ago I was visiting my grandpa, and he the day I was supposed to leave I woke up, went to the bathroom, then went to wake my grandpa up so he could take his meds and he had passed in his sleep. I knew he was sick and had cancer, but I didn't know HOW bad the cancer was and it was days before that when we went to the museum and he drove me around NYC.
Since then though, I've been having flash backs and night terrors. The flash backs have eased up, they no longer feel like panic attacks (I also have depression, anxiety, and SAD) and instead feel like waves of grief and sadness, but the nightmares have only become worse. I relive that morning over and over in my dreams, and it's transformed from just finding my grandpa dead to being the one that finds other people and family that I love dead.
My sleeping has, well for lack of a better term, sucked. I wake up multiple times, can't stay asleep, sometimes cry, and I feel exhausted in the mornings. I will happily take any and all help to get the night terrors to subside. I've been exercising, doing yoga, meditating, staying social, and talking to my people that are my support group, all of which has helped my waking issues. Now I need to get my night time ones handled...
@crazydaniluv
I'm so sorry for your loss and I'm so sorry you've been experiencing this.
I've had nightmares and night terrors ever since I can remember. The nightmares arent so bad, upseting and unsettling but night terrors are awful! I sometimes wake up in the night in a state of panic, sweating and breathing fast, and in crying hysterically. Sometimes I remember the dreams (often trauma related but sometimes really random ones like my cat dying) and sometimes i dont even remember them but I'm still panicking. At uni, during exam times, I had to take sleeping tablets to help me sleep through the night and that helped alot. Nowadays, I have camomille tea every night before bed and that's helped somewhat too. I'm in therapy now and having amazing listeners to talk to and turn to when needed has helped ALOT too! I'm doing better now, though i still have nightmares and the odd night terror here and then, but they are not nearly as bad as they used to be.
I hope you can get some help and support and that they will ease, given time. You're not alone, it's gonna be okay <3
I've been taking an OTC sleep aide, that's helped keep me asleep at least thrive the nightmares. It's always taken me a long time to shut down and sleep (how do people lay down and fall asleep in less than 5-10 minutes?!), so waking up meant being up for an hour before I nodded back off.
I've been trying the replacement visuals/walk through, it's helped a little. I've learned how to recognize that I'm in a dream or a nightmare when I was a teenager (I've always had hyper realistic and vivid dreams) and even take control of the dream, but I haven't been able to do that with these nightmares. I'm not sure if it's because I'm having nightmare flash backs of something that's actually happened or if my mind can't figure out how to take charge and change the story line of something that has actually happened.
@crazydaniluv
I have thats same thing! My dreams are very vivid and sometimes when i wake up it take some me some time to actually realize it was just a dream (especially when the lights are all off). Ive been told this is because of ptsd! I was doing EMdR for a while, I dont know if that actually helped or not but it is worth a try if you have access to that!
@WaterLily16
EMDR?
And since I was a little kid I've always had hyper realistic dreams and deja vu dreams (dream stuff then it happens later). I've had dreams so realistic I've had a hard time telling them apart from reality, THAT gets fun. The repeat nightmares though, this is something new and I don't realize I'm dreaming when I'm having them. Other nightmares I can recognize, take control over, and "end" the dream (wake up enough to end the dream but not enough to knock me fully out of sleep)
@crazydaniluv
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. They basically trigger you and use these little vibrating things to help your brain process trauma. Its more commonly used for soldiers but is meant to work with trauma victims of all kinds. I hated it, found it very upsetting hence why I stopped (Im not a very good therapeutic client usually) but I do have less night terrors now so maybe it has helped somewhere down the line. Google it, youll find more info online!
@WaterLily16
Thank you I will!
I can definitely relate. Be patient with yourself, it will get better. Thank your brain for processing and healing while you sleep. Try not to resist the process. I often have sleep terrors and nightmares. I acknowledge that my brain is healing. Sometimes I get up, drink a glass of water, do eft tapping, use a meditation app called sanctuary which has a yoga nidra for general healing exercise that is so helpful to me. If it is clear that I can’t get back to sleep after those things I get up and meditate, pray, and then bathe and set up things for my day. Often it gives me a sense of order so I can go back to sleep. I have found that watching tv or taking ambien makes it worse.
If you haven't already spoken to a psychiatrist, I highly recommend it, because while OTC sleep aids can help, there are psychiatric medications that can help with the anxiety that is the underlying cause of the night terrors. You aren't having trouble sleeping; you are having trouble with what your mind does WHILE you sleep. Unfortunately, some people who have processed the trauma in their waking lives find it revisits them in their sleep, because the rational mind is turned off and the anxiety that stems from that trauma can surface, like a panic attack only inside your dream state. Trading care of the anxiety will take care of the night terrors, and therapy will help process the anxiety.