HI,

Can I ask, do anyother adults on here have nightmares?

I have always had a vivid imagination, as a child I used to have a detailed dream that used to wake up me up and for some reason I could never catch my breath and I used to kick the wall (as I couldnt shout) for my mum/dad to come in a get me. They used to have to slap my back for me to take a breath. The dream was about hanzel and gretel, I used to go to my nannans house and as I walked down her path my surroundings changed to the hanzel & gretel house and my nannan came out and she had turned into the witch, I used to run off back down the path screaming and thats when I used to wake up! I used to have this dream every few weeks.

Even now I still have nightmares, I can nearly always remember them in detail the next day.

Saturday night (early hours of sunday morning) I bolted upright in bed and apparently started screaming at the top of my voice! My partner said it terrified him, he said it was such a deep, loud scream that I did about 9 times, he had to shake me to snap me out of it!
I had been playing a compuer game called splinter cell as a spy (online) earlier that night and in my dream an upsilon was chasing me through a park and I was running and screaming as he was getting closer to me! My throat yesterday and today is so sore, I sound like a man! :hihi:

Then last night I dreamt of my old cat that went missing ages ago, I dreamt we found him dead and as we were burying him in the garden something in the ground blew up and my cats body flew up in the air loads into loads of pieces and his leg landed just in front of me. My dream was so detailed, I could see the bones, the blood, everything!

Is this normal for people to have nightmares like this at 25 years old?

I frequently have nightmares and as you, can recall incredible detail about them the following day. Some though I just wake up with a 'feeling' that something is not right. Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat and other times I awake with a smile as I can remember all the detail and it was more of a dream.

I look upon my own experience as a gift of my imagination and I relish it most of the time (yes even the nightmares).

Some people find that such a vivid dream ability is good for writing - ever tried it?

No I have never thought about writing about it. I cant imagine writing about running through the park with someone chasing me dressed in a spy suit. lol.

Hmm ok.. not sure I want to know what a 'spy suit' is ;)

It might just help though if you are concerned - it often provides and outlet for it.

I very often get that unpleasant sensation of a violent twitch when nodding off to sleep, usually accompanied by disturbing images/thinking I'm still awake which results in my waking up properly in a panic with my heart racing. Last night this happened about 6 times in a row, with me becoming more anxious about falling asleep each time. I think these are called hypnogogic/hypnopompic experiences. I also have vivid, frightening dreams, sometimes the same one I had as a very small child.

I've never really worked out why or how these phenomenon occur. I suppose things like inappropriate mental stimulation before sleep, caffeine, alcohol and the like all play their part. My Mum also has terrifying dreams so maybe it's a genetic thing too.

Have you noticed any discernable pattern with your nightmares?

I've had a recurring nightmare from childhood, I suffer with them at least once a week. I've not met many like us that have them as vividly as you describe and as I have. Have had much advice on the topic and what the route of them maybe but after many years and trying loads of different ways to get rid of them I have finally learned to live with it.

I have used meditation and 'lucid' dreaming techniques with varying results in my normal dreams but nothing that seems to help with nightmares.

I have found that if I'm drunk the night before I don't remember my dreams so well the next day though :)

I regularly dream of being hunted, I think it has something to do with stress.

I get nightmares all the time.

The ones that i dream all the way through are strangely enjoyable because they are usually very interesting and imaginative.

The ones that cause to sit up bolt upright and scream are usually very short and instill a strong sense of panic. I usually find that i get these when i am stressed or upset about something.

I wish they would stop!

I suffer from nightmares too ... really vivid dark dreams sometimes :( ..I always put it down to the amount of cheese I eat :D ...I love the stuff ..but sometimes in the middle of the night when I wake up scared and alone ..its pretty disturbing for me :(

Also just lately Iv had a reacuring dream about driving my car through a tiny river of water only a couple of inches high ..the next minute its a floading river and my cars sinking ..and im trying to hold it up so it dosnt go under :shocked: :shocked: ..lol..God know what thats all about !!

The silliest one to date ..was that my cat turned into an undercover police mouse at night ..lol.:hihi:

I have a very good and active imagination ..Im a photographer by trade ..but sometimes in the dead of night ..when Iv woke up after dreaming about Sally websters head on next doors barbie ..I sometimes doubt my Sanity :shocked: :D

I still have nightmares too. I've never woke up screaming, but they usually result in me waking up crying or shaking.

The silliest/strangest of things can give me nightmares (of course they don't seem silly when i'm dreaming) like I was playing splinter cell alot before Xmas and i too had a nightmare from that lol!

When i was reading George Orwells 'Nineteen Eighty Four' i had a couple of nightmares, that i was a thought criminal and they knew etc. etc. Apparantely while dreaming about this i was tossing and turning loads and muttering and was really worked up over it. So i stopped reading it before i went to bed!

A recent one was where there were gangs of people in stages on a main road with machine guns shooting at people and cars and there was lots of screaming and stuff. I woke up crying and very distressed.

And i often dream that my mum is being cruel to her dog :loopy: i had one that she was burying her alive and others that she's hurting her and not feeding her and stuff and there's nothing i can do.

So no you're certainly not alone as a adult who has nightmares. :) Whether its normal i don't know lol!

I really struggle to remember the majority of my dreams, I sometimes also have trouble distinguishing between what I thought about before I went to sleep, and what I actually dreamt about.

However, for a long time I did have a recurring nightmare where I was being chased by a big black dragon. It managed to kill all my family, we were all running from it, until only I remained. Then I used to think I'd killed it, or I'd escaped, and out of nowhere it'd sprout up, breathe a load of fire straight at me and I'd wake up. I presume that means it killed me :(. I never investigated what it could mean, it really disturbed me when I had it, was always so vivid.

from being a littlie, I have had terrible nightmares, , very vivid, very scary,

i've also sleepwalked (often, as a child, but less so, to my knowledge, anyway as an adult!!) and I sleeptalk.

i used to have vivid nightmares as a child, i used to sleep talk and sleep walk. I wasnt allowed to watch anything on tv which could trigger them off. The nightmares have stopped, or at least i cant remember them, but the sleepwalking is still ongoing, im ok if i sleep with a night light, but if i was in the darkness i would wake up in another part of the house in a panic. Apparantly my doctor says i have an overactive mind, my body shuts down during sleep but my mind has'nt. The lighter you sleep the more you will be able to remember your nightmares, as you will only remember them if you are in r.e.m

I had nightmares as a kid. There were two TV progammes that always brought them on. One was The Quatermass Experiment and the other was Little Red Monkey. This was early 1950's. When my parents realised this, I was put to bed before they came on.

I rarely get them, but the last one I had I was trying to point out a killer (who'd killed lots of people in the dream and was after me) to everyone and couldn't get the words out, I woke up shaking and gasping for air, it was pretty scary - and I always have to scope the house out afterwards to make sure it wasn't caused by someone breaking in :P

I get the lot, nightmares, night-terrors and sleepwalking, shouting, all sorts of stuff. Proper night-terrors are horrible because you wake up soaked in sweat with your heart racing, and sometimes you're paralysed and cannot move for a while. If I have a vivid night the next day I often can't do very much - I will go to work but I'm like a zombie mentally. :( The only bonus is if you get a really mad dream - sometimes I can wake up and go back into them, which is great.

I think a night without dreams is a wasted night.
I always have wild vivid dreams, where the most incredible action takes place.

The worst dreams are those about work, some nights I have done a full days work before I wake up. :hihi:

I get the lot, nightmares, night-terrors and sleepwalking, shouting, all sorts of stuff. Proper night-terrors are horrible because you wake up soaked in sweat with your heart racing, and sometimes you're paralysed and cannot move for a while. If I have a vivid night the next day I often can't do very much - I will go to work but I'm like a zombie mentally. :( The only bonus is if you get a really mad dream - sometimes I can wake up and go back into them, which is great.

My son went through a spate of night terrors, he'd be shouting 'my leg, my leg' the first few occasions I though he was awake and tried to reassure him, but he'd get quite aggressive. When I eventually realised they were night terrors, I followed some advice I'd heard on the radio(i think) and after a week or so it stopped happening. Don't know if the same advice would help for an adult as it involved noting the time they were occuring and interrupting the sleep for momentarily.

I think a night without dreams is a wasted night.
I always have wild vivid dreams, where the most incredible action takes place.



So you keep telling me.............:hihi:

I don't really have nightmares, but I wake up crying quite often!

My son went through a spate of night terrors, he'd be shouting 'my leg, my leg' the first few occasions I though he was awake and tried to reassure him, but he'd get quite aggressive. When I eventually realised they were night terrors, I followed some advice I'd heard on the radio(i think) and after a week or so it stopped happening. Don't know if the same advice would help for an adult as it involved noting the time they were occuring and interrupting the sleep for momentarily.

Yeah, waking me a little or disturbing me is the only thing that stops me thrashing around! Otherwise I end up going doolally ;) I'm too scared to spend a night all on my own in case I start off on a bad terror - away from home I'm worst, it must be horrible sleeping in a hotel room next to me, but thankfully I've never been left on my own so I don't lose it completely! :)

I had nightmares as a kid. there were two TV prorgammes that always brought them on. One was The Quatermass Experiment and the other was Little Red Monkey. This was early 1950's. When my parents realised this, I was put to bed before they came on.

Quatermass! Now thattakes me back! We didn't have a TV and I just saw parts of it when I stayed with my counsins.

So you keep telling me.............:hihi:

Trouble is I always wake up before the best bit.:hihi:

Yeah, waking me a little or disturbing me is the only thing that stops me thrashing around! Otherwise I end up going doolally ;) I'm too scared to spend a night all on my own in case I start off on a bad terror - away from home I'm worst, it must be horrible sleeping in a hotel room next to me, but thankfully I've never been left on my own so I don't lose it completely! :)

A lot of terrors (i believe) happen at a similar time after sleep begins, If you are ever in the unfortunate position of being alone could you perhaps try setting the alarm clock to wake you before it begins, interrupting the pattern? I suppose it mite not help so much if your out of your normal sleep zone though :rolleyes:

Trouble is I always wake up before the best bit.:hihi:

Ask your wife to alter the time of your day care treatment. :thumbsup:

I have this horrid nightmare where the world has turned gray and horrid. Demons stalk the streets, people are fed into burning hell pits and all is woe. Thats it - a tory general election victory :o

I've woken up before in tears with my other half stroking my hair trying to calm me down - apparently I'd been screaming for him to get rid of a really big spider...

And I often wake up convinced my flat is on fire - I check the smoke alarms every week but every few nights will wake up convinced I can see smoke or feel the heat from flames, and I can never settle again until I've checked every room in the house and turned off every single appliance :loopy:

Can I ask, do anyother adults on here have nightmares?
Is this normal for people to have nightmares like this at 25 years old?

I'm in my late 40's and over the past few weeks I've started having loads. No idea why, but I'm getting really tired from waking up stressed out.....

Nightmares in adults can be caused by a low immune system.

I'm in my late 40's and over the past few weeks I've started having loads. No idea why, but I'm getting really tired from waking up stressed out.....

I adapted the method i use on my son for night terrors. Set my phone alarm an hour earlier than my alarm, theory being it interrupts the sleep pattern and diffuses the nightmare. Not worked so far lol, but it might work for non recurrent ones. :hihi:

Nightmares in adults can be caused by a low immune system.

Really? Do you have any more info on that? :)

Really? Do you have any more info on that? :)

There's ongoing research on this at the moment. Nightmares were identified as a feature of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome around ten years ago (Fischer B, Le Bon O, Hoffmann G, et al. Sleep anomalies in the chronic fatigue syndrome. A comorbidity study. Neuropsychobiol 35(3):115-122, 1997), subsequently it has become apparent that it is a common feature of viral illness, and is now presumed to be linked to the state of one's immune system. People who have had glandular fever in the past are prone to nightmares when they are under the weather.

It's not the only cause of nightmares, of course, just something to put into the mix. Particularly where adults start having nightmares with no obvious cause.

I have nightmares while my eyes are still open. very freaky experience

My worst nightmare was when George Clooney was chasing me, but didnt catch me.:gag:

My worst nightmare was when George Clooney was chasing me, but didnt catch me.:gag:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Whats with the lips ?

I had nightmares in to my twenties, and nowadays I occasionally have dreams that are 'disturbing' but very few that what I'd call nightmares.

I keep a journal of my dreams - it's interesting to see the patterns emerging over time, and what different dreams I have. Looking back can soemtiems be fascinating, as the dreams often occur long before I reaise I'm stressed or worried about soemthing.

A lot of terrors (i believe) happen at a similar time after sleep begins, If you are ever in the unfortunate position of being alone could you perhaps try setting the alarm clock to wake you before it begins, interrupting the pattern? I suppose it mite not help so much if your out of your normal sleep zone though :rolleyes:

Alas it's quite random - and if I'm disturbed by a sudden noise then I get worse! Say a car alarm goes off in the middle of the night, I freak out and panic! I just need a shove to disturb me out of the terror, but shouting at me makes it way worse - my Dad tried that once and I lashed out at him! :D

There's ongoing research on this at the moment. Nightmares were identified as a feature of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome around ten years ago (Fischer B, Le Bon O, Hoffmann G, et al. Sleep anomalies in the chronic fatigue syndrome. A comorbidity study. Neuropsychobiol 35(3):115-122, 1997), subsequently it has become apparent that it is a common feature of viral illness, and is now presumed to be linked to the state of one's immune system. People who have had glandular fever in the past are prone to nightmares when they are under the weather.

It's not the only cause of nightmares, of course, just something to put into the mix. Particularly where adults start having nightmares with no obvious cause.

This is interesting to me as someone who has had ME for fourteen years, nearly.

From early into the condition, I often thought that the nightmares I had as an adult, particularly since i started with ME, may be caused by a sort of "delirium".

One of the symptoms a PWME (Person With ME) may have is an inability to regulate their body temperature adequately. I'm often roasting-hot when everyone else is shivering with cold, and frozen when it's hot weather.

I reckon the two things may be linked in PWME.

When I go to sleep, my body temperature rises, and I sort of overheat.

When someone is too hot ("febrile") they can become delirious, and have sort of dream-hallucinations, and I believe that this is what is happening to me.

I have quite a few friends who have ME too, and a lot of them have reported Nightmares or very vivid/ disturbing dreams as part of their symptoms. I really do think there may be a link with becoming feverish, and having the nightmares.

(my partner reports, when I have woken him, when I have a nightmare, the scenario is always pretty much the same. He wakes because I become really hot, which makes him overheat, and I fling the covers off. I am muttering and crying/ moaning at whatever it is I'm fighting, as I start fighting off whatever it is that's "attacking me". He says that the "fighting something off" is lessened, and I start to calm down if he strokes my head and speaks "soothingly" to me, a little like you would do to a child having a bad dream. He says that if he does that, I generally settle, often without waking up. I hate knowing that I've disturbed his sleep, and feel a bit embarassed to boot.)

One specatcular nightmare I had was some years ago, when I was stopping at a friends' place in Northampton, one summer... her home backed onto a big park near the centre of NH, called "The Racecourse".

This particular morning, I had dreamt that a lion was in the street, under the window of the room I was sleeping in, in my dream, I went to the window, and the lion was roaring, and leapt up at the window to attack me.

I woke up screaming at the top of my voice. I was mortified! it was about five, or five-thirty in the morning, and i must have woken everyone on that floor, if not the floor above, and below! :blush:

It turned out, that noise that I was hearing as the lion, roaring, was in fact coming from the Racecourse, where shedloads of hot-air balloons were being fired up, in readiness for some kind of race. the Whoosh of the flames from the gas heaters had seeped through into the nightmare, and were what I'd interpreted as the lion, roaring! ( :blush:)

Some people find that such a vivid dream ability is good for writing - ever tried it?

I have done this and been amazed by how awesome the stories have turned out. I always feel that its slightly cheating though, don't know why. :loopy:

Im glad im not alone in having nightmares then! maybe we should all meet up tonight at about 3am(ish), what about..............................on the top of a mountain, whoever ever gets there first please wait by the house made of sweets right at the top! we can go for elephant rides and swim in the hot springs with a dolphin and then before it gets too late set off home by flight on the back of an ostrich!............see you there! :hihi:

I've had nightmares right from being very small, sometimes they are terrible, often I can't remember them, just that I had a really bad dream. They usually make me wake up in tears.

I don't have a specific trigger nowadays, but I used to get them after reading horror fiction, which I've also done from being very young.

I've tried relaxation techniques, but usually end up falling to sleep before I've done. Can't quite get into the hang of lucid dreaming though...

I haven't had a nightmare since i was very small, mainly because i can control my dreams?

Basically, no matter what goes off im always aware that its a dream and can choose to do what i want in it.....Should anything bad happen i can just turn the situation around (i.e. if a 'monster' were to chase me, i just decide that i have super powers and then crush it to death!)

Anyone else get this?

I haven't had a nightmare since i was very small, mainly because i can control my dreams?

Basically, no matter what goes off im always aware that its a dream and can choose to do what i want in it.....Should anything bad happen i can just turn the situation around (i.e. if a 'monster' were to chase me, i just decide that i have super powers and then crush it to death!)

Anyone else get this?


To some degree I can, but 99% of teh time I just let it happen. I keep a dream journal and oftn get soem insights from the dream (I'm very interestd in Jungian psychology and the emphasis placed therein on dreams as being means of gaining insight in to the subconcious and unconcious mind).

I've just written up an odd little dream I had last night and as I did so realised it fitted with a very positive dream I had about a week ago. My 2008 is off to a good start - psychologically if nothing else!! :)

I always associate vivid dreams with taking any sort of medication.
The most vivid, coloured dream I have ever had was after taking
Kalms, supposibly harmless and good if stressed.
I took one and can still remember a warrier in full African beaded regalia plus spear pushing to get my front door opened and me terrified trying to close it.
hazel

I often have really awful nightmares-I think it's because I have such a vivid imagination. A lot the time they are very weird, and sometimes wouldn't even be scary to other people. My least favourite is when I can't open my eyes even though I'm fully awake, (in my dream) and everyone in my dream seems to expect me to carry on as normal. It's SO scary:(

Usually when I wake up after one, it stays with me for the whole day, on the back of my mind. And I find it very difficult to go back to sleep should I wake up in the middle of the night after one. I really feel for people who have them every night, I don't think I could cope.

I've had 3 nightmares that I remembered in my entire life.

I did have a bad dream the other day where I'd gone back to work at the place I left a while ago. Wasn't a nightmare though, just a rubbish thing to dream about.