A-Typical Nightmares

[entropy]

I started having almost constant nightmares 5 months ago. In my entire life (I’m only 26) I don’t ever remember having continuous nightmares. I’ve come to understand that my nightmares are related to a series of very negative events that have happened to me in the past year. Some other people on this forum have related in their experiences that in times of very high stress, continual periods of nightmare riddled nights is common. What I want to ask about is what I refer to as my atypical nightmares.

Almost every night I have what I would describe as an average nightmare, in which something horrible is happening to me and it follows a strange kind of storyline. It will either turn to something else or I will simply wake up. However in my atypical nightmares, I would say I have about twice a week, I feel like I am awake but not able to get up out of bed. It seems like my eyes are opened and I can actually see my room, although it appears a little more abstract than usual. I feel paralyzed and then some terrifying demon-like thing will be near me or something whispering eerily just beside me and of course I can’t turn to see what is whispering right next to me or move to get out of my bed and away from whatever is scaring me.

These dreams then lead to a point that I can finally move and the dream will continue in this extremely real state until it climaxes in terror and like the cliché, at the last second I feel like I have woken up just in the nick of time and find myself back in my bed seeing that same image of my room. I feel relieved and I actually start to think about what to do when I get out of bed, then to my absolute horror something else frightening will happen very near to me and the paralysis is still present and it happens all over again.
One of the strangest and worst things about these dreams is that I seem to have completely rational and conscious thought when I feel I have woken from the nightmare. I have never experienced that while still seemingly in a sleeping state. That is what makes these much worse than normal because I feel so much more conscious.

Obviously I do always wake up eventually into my normal reality, but I am always exactly in the same position in my bed I was in when I was having these atypical nightmares and my room always looks the same so I experience a large amount of fear until I have been up for a while.

I am a poor writer and I feel I haven’t given an adequate description of the true experience. I just wanted to see if anyone else had anything similar happen to them because this is having a large impact on my life.

I have tried calcium pills, melatonin, ambien, and xanax. None of these have helped. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Either way thank you for listening.
Entropy

[mwyna]

Hiya,
I don't know the current circumstances of your life but I will just go by my own experiences and you can make of that what you will.
I suffered these 'dreams' aka sleep paralasis every single night for several years. I dreaded them but we must sleep obviously. I was not in a great place in my personal life at that time, ie I was with an abusive husband. After some time, I left but not because of these dreams. The dreams going with the ex was a bonus though. In the years since (13) I have had this type of dream only twice. The last time was a different experience entirely and I have written about it somewhere on this site already.
No one really knows what brings these on though there are many theories. I hope the dreams go away for you too.

[Wolfjk]

Originally Posted by entropy

I started having almost constant nightmares 5 months ago. In my entire life (I’m only 26) I don’t ever remember having continuous nightmares. I’ve come to understand that my nightmares are related to a series of very negative events that have happened to me in the past year. Some other people on this forum have related in their experiences that in times of very high stress, continual periods of nightmare riddled nights is common. What I want to ask about is what I refer to as my atypical nightmares.

Almost every night I have what I would describe as an average nightmare, in which something horrible is happening to me and it follows a strange kind of storyline. It will either turn to something else or I will simply wake up. However in my atypical nightmares, I would say I have about twice a week, I feel like I am awake but not able to get up out of bed. It seems like my eyes are opened and I can actually see my room, although it appears a little more abstract than usual. I feel paralyzed and then some terrifying demon-like thing will be near me or something whispering eerily just beside me and of course I can’t turn to see what is whispering right next to me or move to get out of my bed and away from whatever is scaring me.

These dreams then lead to a point that I can finally move and the dream will continue in this extremely real state until it climaxes in terror and like the cliché, at the last second I feel like I have woken up just in the nick of time and find myself back in my bed seeing that same image of my room. I feel relieved and I actually start to think about what to do when I get out of bed, then to my absolute horror something else frightening will happen very near to me and the paralysis is still present and it happens all over again.
One of the strangest and worst things about these dreams is that I seem to have completely rational and conscious thought when I feel I have woken from the nightmare. I have never experienced that while still seemingly in a sleeping state. That is what makes these much worse than normal because I feel so much more conscious.

Obviously I do always wake up eventually into my normal reality, but I am always exactly in the same position in my bed I was in when I was having these atypical nightmares and my room always looks the same so I experience a large amount of fear until I have been up for a while.

I am a poor writer and I feel I haven’t given an adequate description of the true experience. I just wanted to see if anyone else had anything similar happen to them because this is having a large impact on my life.

I have tried calcium pills, melatonin, ambien, and xanax. None of these have helped. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Either way thank you for listening.
Entropy

Hi Entropy,
What you describe as your "A-typical" nightmares are called "sleep papralysis dreams" They come in many forms or shapes. The usual thing is a feeling of malevolent presence.
If you look at this long thread you will see the many forms of SP and some explanations for it.
Regarding your nightmares, they are most likely related to your stressful situation. I used to have similar dreams after getting over a divorce and a short period of unemployment. I had depression without realising it!.
Your sleep paralysis dreams are probably caused by a sleeping position. Usually sleeping on ones back causes it. The dream is created by the subconscious to literally frighten you awake with the idea that you can't move and unable to defend yourself. The sinister figure or presence is there to make the frightening idea more potent. Now you brought the subject up, it will happen less and might cease althogether.
You can be sure that all your dreams are created by your own subconscious to help you through bad times.
Cheers Wolfjk