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)))))

Elli, I had night terrors for years, where I would wake up screaming and sweating and fall back asleep and have the same dream again. It drove me crazy. Some nights I would only get 2 or 3 hours sleep.

I tried staying up until I was really tired, I tried listening to calming music and reading calming words before I went to bed, I tried everything I knew to make it stop.

It took time, but eventually those dreams stopped. Like Dolly, I spoke to my dreams and told them to go away that I wasn't going to be afraid of them (it sounds strange but this was recommended to me and actually worked).

I think these dreams are a form of post traumatic stress and dealing with them the same way as we deal with PTSD often helps. There is a forum here called "Insomnia/Nightmares" and maybe reading through that might help.

Hugs

just sending prayers, i hope it gets better fast.if it doesn't go to the dr.there is a non narcartic sleeping pill he can give you.hugs,

PTSD................thats one of the things my AH has told he has.................
he has terrible dreams, wakes every two hours ..............even when clean..........wakes sweating and paniicked
the sweating has been so bad at thims that the comforter on top of him is drenched and I had to change the entire bed..............he had physically no medical reason. Therapist says unresolved issues and he finally did this treatment called EMDR and the dreams got better...he still relapsed and hes not better but the dreams improved