Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Terrors

I am pretty sure that everyone dreams and at one point or another, everyone remembers a dream. I am guessing that most everyone has recurring dreams as well.

My recurring dreams have come in stages. I remember 3, all variations of the same theme.
When I was a kid I would routinely be chased by a Tyrannosaurus Rex around my neighborhood. I would run and make hard cuts around corners, unable to shake the dinosaur. I would finally find a storm drain, climb inside and would not be found by my foe. It came up from time to time, but nothing that ever worried me much. I was a kid and my hiding spot always worked!

By my teen years, I was usually escaping a house that was filled with violent robbers. They would be chasing me, but I could find secret passages and usually get away through a secret room that would have an escape hatch through the roof. Often, this house was the cabin my mom and pops had in Running Springs, CA. It was a huge house with a lot of rooms. When I ended up there in my dreams, my escape usually happened through the basement, under the secret passageway under the spa.

As an adult, the recurring dream has had me chased by spiders or having to fight to save my woman from abduction. The spider dreams suck, mainly because I usually end up jumping up and screaming, which wakes me up. The fighting dreams are interesting because I usually wake up after throwing punches and connecting with pillows or the bed. Full round-house punches.

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The point in sharing all of this is to try to figure out what the "happ's is". I had 6 months of night terrors back in 2000. I attributed this to a new habit of drinking a glass of water right before bed and then having a full bladder. The screaming dreams happened 3 or 4 times a week and were very disturbing. When I stopped drinking water right before bed, the dreams stopped.

They have happened from time-to-time since, but without any regularity.

Unfortunately, they seem to have returned. I have had some night terrors with an increasing frequency (2 or 3 a month) since early this year. The most recent one was terrifying. I woke up sweating, screaming and very disturbed. My heart was racing and I could not go back to sleep. It was very different than any other dream that I remember having and it has really shaken me.

Any tips on how to make these things stop? I can handle them if they are spiders or fighting kidnappers, but when they involve tragic happenings to the people I care about most...there is just no good in that.

13 comments:

Wonderful World of Weiners said...

If your night terrors happen to involve hot dog headed aliens, I'll be right over to bite them!

Hallie :)

Amy said...

My son thinks he has a sixth sense. This morning he woke up and thought he's seen a cheeseburger doing yoga on our lawn - crazy, or wha?

Amy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MaBunny said...

Hmm, never had to deal with night terrors, but I have had some scary dreams. I have woke up crying due to sadness, but couldn't remember the dream, also couldn't rememeber the dream, but woke up feeling a bit playful and amorous and jumped my husband. I think close to our wedding he woke me up because I was yelling in my sleep more than likely caused by wedding stress.
Hope you get a decent nights sleep soon. I know when I wake up sad or frightened I reach for one of my dogs, they make me feel safe, if Chris isn't there...
Hope it all works out.

April said...

I have recurring dreams too, sometimes they are very disturbing. I actually talked to a friend of mine who is a psychologist. She said they are usually due to anxiety. When you deal with what is causing you to feel anxious, they usually go away. I am not sure if this is true, but I do notice I have the dreams during times when I am feeling very stressed. It's terrible how something that is not even real can make you feel so uncomfortable.

Schell Family said...

I have some of my craziest dreams when I either:

a) have to pee - but you've resolved this!
b) am hot. Anything you can do to make yourself cooler at night?

kimmy said...

My son used to have night terrors when he was younger. He would wake up screaming, but never be fully awake. He was combative at times too. At times, it was a little scary.

I wish I could offer you a solution. My son is 8 now and seems to have outgrown it. We would have him eat earlier and not have a full stomach...that seemed to help.

Good grief, being chased by spiders would be enough to send me to the looney bin!

Good luck!

Kimmy

Laura B. said...

Wow! Bogart, I wish I knew what to tell you as far as getting rid of the terrors. Unfortunately I don't. I rarely remember my dreams, which is a good thing.

Katelin said...

have you ever hit claire in any of your night punching fits? my bf totally suckered punched me in the side during his sleep, it was pretty funny. a

GoteeMan said...

As a young man, I would have dreams like that - being chased by something that was a danger... they stopped when, believe it or not, I confronted them and stopped running in my dream. I turned and killed the thing - in my case, a huge-ass snake. I cut its head off, and no more dreams about that.

I learned alot from a friend, who used to say that if she was having a dream she didn't like, she would wake herself up. Over the next few months after she told me that, I learned to do the same... to rationalize that this was a dream and I was going to wake up - and I woke up... really strange, hunh?

Sounds like the common theme there in your dreams has to do with fears and confrontations. Search that out in your own heart, but that's what it says to me, anyway.

I also find that shutting off the TV earlier and settling down with a book helps still my mind more for better sleep.

J/

The Maid said...

The nightmares that haunt me are the ones where I am trying to land a punch but can't, I am flying (looks like swimming through air), or where I am in danger and screaming, but nothing is coming out!

???What the heck do those mean????

The Maid

Practically Joe said...

I can always count on dreaming after I've had a late night snack of peanut butter. I sometimes purposely eat peanut butter before bed just to dream. Works every time.

Matt said...

My only tip is to drink alot of alcohol and pass out everynight.

When you passout you dont dream.