Kialua

It happened again the other day. My reoccurring nightmare.

I live in a pretty large Metro area. One part of the area where I was living in high school is a rather dangerous neighborhood. If I have to drive through at night I won't even stop for red lights unless there is a police car around. I try to avoid going through that area as best I can. Whenever I do have to drive through it I end up with the same nightmare.

When I was in high school I didn't drive and took public transportation which didn't run after midnight and really with the people on it I rarely took it anyway. The area was 2 1/2 miles from where my friends were and I would end up walking home late at night alone. While nothing ever happened it was pretty scary. I walked through dark ally's because the really dangerous people were on the streets, not the ally's, they were looking for trouble not hiding from it. I really never got hurt by anyone there aside from my own home and alcoholic father beating me daily.

My dream is just that, I am walking in the dark ally's forever and never getting home. I see all the familiar street signs and think, oh I thought I was closer than that, and start walking again feeling scared. Watching the street signs go by and then realizing again that in the dark I had made a wrong turn and I was going the wrong way. Then turn around and start walking again.

I just wish I could get over that but really don't think I ever will because it's been many decades. I need to drive through there and it's a pain to just avoid it. But that is the plan for now. Any suggestions or just understanding would help. Is this bizarre or what? Anyone else have a reoccurring dream based on your alcoholic home of origin?

DesertEyes

Hello Kialua

Oh goodness yes !

My dream changes location, sometimes the hallways of a building, or city streets like yours, or a museum, or a school I am attending. The underlying theme is always the same. I'm lost. In this dream I have someplace I have to be... I don't know where.... but in the dream I am in near panic because I _must_ get there and I run all over the place and can't figure out where I am.

I used to get it all the time, and some other ones that were much nastier. My dream is a combination of both my ACA "stuff" and stress in my present life. If I am under a lot of stress it pops up. Like now. I just got laid off, moving all the way across the country again, my medical team told me I need surgery, also found out that my health has gotten worse, going to have to file bankruptcy because even with a job my medical bills are too much. So I am getting that dream again.

When I work on my ACA stuff, do the steps to clear out old fears, meetings, work on de-stressing myself, get my health fairly stable, then the dream fades away. It has been years since I last had it, and now it's very weak and only happens about once a month.

You say you have to go thru that dangerous neighborhood again? I would be having nightmares too, even if I had a perfect childhood !!! I don't know about you but any kind of real-life stress like that brings out the old ACA "emotional scars". Kind of like humidity makes some old physical injuries ache.

There's all kinds of psychology techniques for dealing with bad dreams, but I found that none of them worked as well as working a program of recovery. Then those techniques were almost not necessary.

Mike

Plath

I don't think it's too bizarre, although it sounds like a horrible dream indeed.

I have had reoccurring bad dreams, off and on for years, that are somewhat similar.

I grew up in a small town where I didn't get my license until I was 18 years old, and there was no public transportation anywhere close to where we lived, out in the country. So I was forever stuck with getting rides from my nasty, manipulative mother, or from friends or other relatives. And there was no way to escape to another town without a car to get there, and very few jobs to be found that would allow for saving money, etc., so I always felt very trapped.

So I still have this dream (it's not exactly the same every time, but usually pretty close) where somehow, I've ended up stuck in my home town with my family with no car or job, and no escape. It's literally a nightmare, and I always wake up somewhat disturbed by it, but always grateful that it's no longer a reality...and hasn't been for 15 years, but I still have the bad dreams.

Good luck driving through there, I hope it helps.

JustAYak

I have a reoccurring nightmare, but I have no idea what it's really got to do with my life. Some evil man (I am always a child in the dream) locks me up in the basement where it's pitch black and I can't do anything but scream and shout for him to let me out but he won't so I just cry and cry. I don't ever remember much beyond that but something so simple is terrifying...

I hope you get past the dreams. I have my fair share of nightmares, but a couple reoccurring ones. Sorry I am of no help, just sending you warm fuzzies.

Kialua

Welll it comes and goes but usually like I said mostly when I have to go through that neighborhood. I'm not too distraught in it just more worn out from doing so much walking
T I'm really sorry about your turn of events, hope it works out for you.
Jason you're dream is terrifying, sounds like molestation...
Plath yours is very similar.
It is very hard to explain but calming to know I'm not alone. Prayers to all of us to be set free. Thanks

tromboneliness

I have recurring dreams, too. Curiously enough, one of them is about bad neighborhoods, even though I grew up in the 'burbs!

The one I've been having lately, though -- for the past year or so -- involves my parents' house (the house I grew up in), which I sold last October after a lengthy fixing-up process. In the dream, for some reason I (or we) are still in the house, despite having sold it, and are stuck there in a state of purgatory, while the place starts to crumble (which was sort of happening -- my parents were pretty rickety and didn't really keep the place up over the last 10-15 years, so it needed a lot of work).

I don't know of any fix except time -- it has been happening less often lately, although I do still get it at least once or twice a week. But ya, you might find it's worth the drive to just avoid that neighborhood for awhile!

T

JustAYak

I guess you're right, it does sounds like that but I've never been molested. I think it has more to do with feeling trapped, helpless, and hopeless. I bet I'm a child in the dream because that's when those feelings were always strongest, living in a home with dysfunctional people where I had no ability to control anything or make a safe place for myself. When I have a lot of outside stressors in my life that's when those feelings and dreams come up again, kinda like what Mike (DesertEyes) said.

I guess I wonder what underlying feelings are in your dream? Perhaps that is something you should really explore.

micealc

Kialua....Prayer,and the Strength to comes from it is the only way to Protect ourselves.
I have used these Prayers to protect myself...........They work.

While driving.....
God is always with me,
Therefore no one or nothing
can be against me.

When I feel I need Protection,
Especially...before I go to sleep...........

Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I place my Trust in thee.

When the going gets Really Tough..........
I call on my Friend...Michael....

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend me/us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.

I might be old Fashoned...but thats Me.

Kialua

I think you are all correct. Thanks for the insight from everyone. It really does make me feel like I'm not just being crazy. Very interesting that so many of us have these dreams.

I do have more success when I pray before sleeping. Sometimes I even pray right in the middle of my dream and then wake up!

It seems the feeling of hopelessness is the common thread in all our dreams. This being stuck and no way out, of course was how I felt as a child. It must be so very deeply ingrained that it only surfaces when we are not conscious.

My old neighborhood is very near the downtown area and main highways go through it to get to many areas, kind of like a bottleneck. I do my best to avoid it, makes it a little longer trip but well worth it.

SadHeart

I have one where I'm a child living in an old victorian house with many floors. The dreams starts with me in the foyer by the front door, and suddenly I know something is trying to get into the house. Something bad. So I slam the door shut and lock it and run into the living room and shut all the windows and lock them, and then into the next room and the next room, there are so many windows, and corridors and rooms, and stairs and they get longer as I rush up and down them, slamming windows shut, and my lungs hurt and i can hardly breathe, and the evil thing almost always is just about to get to the window before me. It's a dream of panic and fear.

Willybluedog

I want to recommend Prazosin, it has been a godsend for me.

I have had chronic night terrors since a very young age, multiple times a week and sometimes multiple nightmares a night.

They wanted to study me, because evidently this is extremely rare, I would never consent because I was terrified they would lock me up and throw away the key.

Prazosin is a low side effect blood pressure medication, they were using it at the VA hospital and found that it eliminated nightmares, especially in soldiers with PTSD.

I take 3 mg, which is considered a low dose, it comes in 1 or 2 mg capsules, on my insurance two 1-mg capsules are cheaper than one 2-mg capsule. (seems backwards but whatever).

I have been taking it about a year, and it has eliminated 99% of my nightmares, once in a while I will have a mild one.

I know it's another pill to take but OMG I can go to bed without worrying about how bad it's going to be.

JustAYak

I was just about to be put on Prazosin but then I had to stop all my medications because I couldn't afford them due to job changes. I am glad it works so well for you Bill...maybe I'll get to try it out sometime, for right now it's all about breathing in and out when I wake up from a nightmare...

cb12

As a kid, I used to have a recurring nightmare. In the dream, I would be walking down a very long street (seemingly never ending) with trees on both sides of the street. These trees were very large and would cover the street. I would be walking down the street and a hooded figure in a red convertible car would follow me. He never spoke and he never got out of the car. He just wouldn't leave me alone.

I don't think this had anything to do with my childhood. Although... my alcoholic dad did have a GTO convertible. That's where he'd be every weekend in the garage working on the car or going to the "hardware store". yeah, right. Sorry for the ramble.

Thanks for letting me share

Kialua

Wow, speaking of dreams, I just had a sinus infection and was taking Cipro, an antibiotic, that I was on for 4 days. It gave me hallucination dreams half awake half asleep. And all about my siblings, who I never see. It was just dreadful to the point that I quit taking them before they were done. Then I stopped having the dreams. Just a lot of conversations with me always wondering what I said wrong or what I did.

I can't take penicillin and generally have a hard time with substitutes but this was the weirdest yet. I getting to the point that I didn't even want to go to sleep. I have to call the doctor today and I'm bit embarrassed about it. Most people would think that wasn't a harassing dream, but most people did have the life I had. I guess I won't tell her the siblings part of the dream/hallucinations.

Willybluedog

Kialua, you should tell her about the dreams in a generic way so she can place a note in your file. If you are ever incapacitated and need antibiotics they need all the info they can get so they may treat you for best outcome.

Are you feeling better?

Kialua

Good idea thanks Bill. I don't know why I didn't think of that. I just am not up to speed. Didn't get any new meds today so still a bit dizzy and out of it. Probably get some tomorrow.