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Horrific images.

Arclight

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I am wondering if anyone else has this issue..

Often lately when I am trying to sleep, right about the point of crossover, my mind will suddenly show me images of horrible things happening to me.
Physically horrible things. Like the severing of a limb or hot oil falling on me, just to name a couple.

This then causes an adrenalin reaction which wakes me up and leaves me wired for hours unable to get back to sleep.

Does anybody else have this happen to them?
What the hell is it?
And what can be done to avoid it?
Is it some sort of breakdown?

Really curious
 

MonkeyGrass

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Not a breakdown. It's happened to me since I was a kid.

Mostly, I think it's just my brain processing and entertaining all the things that emotionally rattle me during the day. You hear about a bombing, but you don't let your brain go there and fully process what that means, because it's emotionally painful...and it comes up when your subconscious begins to take over. Or something like that. :p

I've learned to let it go, and realize I'm not in imminent danger, and that my brain isn't really that of a psycho. I take some valerian root before bed, or some warm milk. Or a glass of wine. :hug:
 

gromit

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Have you experienced any kind of trauma lately or anything?
 

Arclight

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Have you experienced any kind of trauma lately or anything?

Well yeah.. some serious emotional trauma over the last few years.

This has happened throughout my life.. But just not with this intensity or frequency. And although it would break my sleep drift.. I could normally just go back to sleep in a few minutes..

What is happening now.. is very magnified, very graphical and shocking.
 

MonkeyGrass

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Are you ever frightened by your own anger, or maybe repressing it, out of compassion/duty?
 

Arclight

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Are you ever frightened by your own anger, or maybe repressing it, out of compassion/duty?

Yes.. this has been going on for well over 2 years now.

I am not afraid of my anger per se.. I do not feel entitled to it.

I am loyalist and find it hard to let go of people. This is often rooted in a misplaced sense of duty and or compassion and sensitivity to someone else feelings.
 

ragashree

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It's a very common kind of parasomnia (sleep disorder) known as Night Starts, or Hypnic/Hypnogogic jerks. A majority of the population gets these to some extent (often very infreqently though, and if they don't wake people up they may go unnoticed). They can be made much worse by stress and anxiety etc, and for a few people constitute a real problem if they're happening frequently enough to actually prevent them from getting enough sleep when they need it. Otherwise non-serious and pretty unlikely to indicate anything psychological other than perhaps pointing to an underlying cause of anxiety, but there may be medical help you can get for the symptoms nevertheless.

Try this for a link :) SleepEducation.com
 

Fan.of.Devin

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Sounds like generalized anxiety, Arclight.
My anxiety often peaks just as I'm trying to fall asleep.
 

Thalassa

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GAD or OCD.

I have the same issue.
 

Fan.of.Devin

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GAD or OCD.

I have the same issue.
Does lack of sleep seem to make it worse, for you?

I find it does, and it can be a real bitch to deal with.
Positive feedback loop...
Being sleep deprived causes anxiety, and anxiety prevents sleep. : (
 

Thalassa

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Does lack of sleep seem to make it worse, for you?

I find it does, and it can be a real bitch to deal with.
Positive feedback loop...
Being sleep deprived causes anxiety, and anxiety prevents sleep. : (

Lack of sleep makes me a borderline psycho. I have to sleep. If I'm sleep deprived and I get in a car, I think that every little thing is going to cause a car accident (a major phobia I have in combination with my other anxiety issues.)

I used to have terrible panic attacks, but I take medication now. It helps tremendously - I mean it's amazing how much better I am now - but nothing ever makes you not have an illness.

I think proper sleep is one of the primary things you need along with otherwise being sensible about your health. I have some sort of delayed sleep phase thing, though. Ever since I was a teenager. I mean, I've always been a "night person" (my whole family seems to be that way...strange) but I truly can't function if I have to consistently get up at, say, six A.M. I have to be able to get up in the late morning. My body will not adjust.
 

Fan.of.Devin

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Lack of sleep makes me a borderline psycho. I have to sleep. If I'm sleep deprived and I get in a car, I think that every little thing is going to cause a car accident (a major phobia I have in combination with my other anxiety issues.)

I used to have terrible panic attacks, but I take medication now. It helps tremendously - I mean it's amazing how much better I am now - but nothing ever makes you not have an illness.

I think proper sleep is one of the primary things you need along with otherwise being sensible about your health. I have some sort of delayed sleep phase thing, though. Ever since I was a teenager. I mean, I've always been a "night person" (my whole family seems to be that way...strange) but I truly can't function if I have to consistently get up at, say, six A.M. I have to be able to get up in the late morning. My body will not adjust.
I took the pharmaceutical route once, and it worked fantastically, for a period of time... But then it seemed to cause a rebound effect, and even just staying at a stable dose seemed to be worse than before I started. I had horrible panic attacks an insomnia until I would increased the dose again. Eventually, I realized the pattern that was taking hold, and I decided I wanted to stop taking it.
So next was the really fun part; weening off of it, ugh...

Glad to hear it has worked for you, though.
Anxiety really sucks, I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.

Definitely empathize with a delayed sleep phase thing too... I got a consistent 0-4 hours of sleep, prettymuch EVERY weeknight when I was in highschool.
Not fun, especially when I'd then try to drink caffeine in the morning.

I think the most effective thing I've personally found effective to treat it so far is accomplishing things... Cleaning, exercise, working on projects, whatever. Anything to get me up and moving around seems to help, maybe even if only as a distraction, I guess.
 

Thalassa

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I took the pharmaceutical route once, and it worked fantastically, for a period of time... But then it seemed to cause a rebound effect, and even just staying at a stable dose seemed to be worse than before I started. I had horrible panic attacks an insomnia until I would increased the dose again. Eventually, I realized the pattern that was taking hold, and I decided I wanted to stop taking it.
So next was the really fun part; weening off of it, ugh...

Glad to hear it has worked for you, though.
Anxiety really sucks, I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.

Definitely empathize with a delayed sleep phase thing too... I got a consistent 0-4 hours of sleep, prettymuch EVERY weeknight when I was in highschool.
Not fun, especially when I'd then try to drink caffeine in the morning.

I think the most effective thing I've personally found effective to treat it so far is accomplishing things... Cleaning, exercise, working on projects, whatever. Anything to get me up and moving around seems to help, maybe even if only as a distraction, I guess.

I've been on the same dosage of meds for almost two years. In fact, my anti-depressant was lowered, not raised, by 50 mg when I moved to California and was switched to a different form of the same med.

I did have to try other meds, first, though.

I was completely unmedicated (aside from self-medicating) until I was almost 25 years old. I also had to endure panic attacks, temporary agoraphobia, social anxiety, depression, and symptoms of OCD, like the horrifying images thing. It got worse as I got older. I think it started at some point in childhood or adolescence, but fully took hold of me in my early twenties.

I'd rather be functional. I'd rather be able to handle life and not be hiding or scared. The most bizarre thing about all of it is that in certain ways I'm exceptionally brave and bold compared to some other people. It makes no sense at all.

It has to be holistic, the treatment of any mental illness. It requires taking care of your physical helath. It also helps tremendously that I realize that it's this freaky thing my mind does to me, so I'm now able to do breathing exercises or talk myself down. I also know that having someone hug or hold me reduces anxiety greatly, and distracting myself, like you mentioned.
 

KDude

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I sleep well, but I used to have some horrifying recurring nightmares when I was young.. I can't even put them into words. It was always this scene of being enclosed by chaos..vicious things on each side.. almost shapeless, putrid figures readying themselves to smash into me.

Other than that, I've had some strange, extremely violent dreams when I was concerned about some people I knew. They're the only kind of dreams I never felt "weak" in.. like I was literally ripping limbs off of anyone bothering them (sorry if that's disturbing. It is what it is).
 
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