I have had bad dreams too. A lot of them. I used to wake up with my heart pounding.
I have a big dog now and I still have my cats. I have fewere dreams.. working so much of late I am physically worn out and I go back to sleep, even after a bad dream. When I wake up with the night terror in me from a dream my own imagination has concocted, I pet my big orange cat who sleeps next to me and he purrs and now I go back to sleep.
I also have done something that DollyDo suggested. i go to bed at night and say to myself, "Steven, you are gone. You do not belong in my dreams. You do not belong in my head. Go AWAY!" When I do that, there are fewer dreams.. or none that I recall.
((((Elli)))))