Bad Dreams...Every Night??
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Join Date: May 2010
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Bad Dreams...Every Night??
I've been sober for 21 days now, and I've had bad dreams every night I've been sober. Most of them are not nightmares, just yucky dreams that I don't enjoy. Last night I woke up twice to full blown nightmares...sweating, scared, the whole nine yards.
Please tell me these go away eventually...
Please tell me these go away eventually...
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,678
I didn't really have this but I have heard that it is very common for recovering alcoholics. I read it in a book anyway so it must be true. I did have sleepless nights and night sweats for a few weeks though and it was vile but went away pretty suddenly.
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: fort wayne, IN.
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I don't know where they come from. I can only speculate based on what I went through. I do have bad dreams. When I stopped drinking I went through withdrawal. I went through a very stressful few months. I think the "stress" played out in my sleep causing some disturbing dreams. So quitting was stressful 24 hours a day for me. It has been a year (in a couple of days) and I still get them every now and then. I dreamt I was drinking again last week but it had been a couple of months since I had a dream like that.
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: North of England
Posts: 1,442
I had bad dreams too for a few weeks and now I am having less alarming ones, but dreaming none the less. Alcohol deprives us of REM sleep and more less renders us unconscious, so if you are prone to recalling dreams you will experience more.
Incidentally certain anti-depressants are known for causing intense and unpleasant dreams as a side effect. Just mentioning that in case it applies to you.
Incidentally certain anti-depressants are known for causing intense and unpleasant dreams as a side effect. Just mentioning that in case it applies to you.
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Central America/Florida USA
Posts: 4,064
I'm on day 460, and I can say that the frequency definitely decreases as time goes by! I had them very often for the first few months, that was when they were the most lucid and sometimes terrifying, and the dreams often involved alcohol and/or eerie situations. After my first 90 days they decreased dramatically to only about once per month. Today they are very rare- although when I quit marijuana they came back for a few weeks, same pattern.
It's simply the gears in your brain at night, searching for old patterns and developing new road maps. Sometimes building those new roads take you back through some old backwater areas that you haven't visited for a while. Don't worry, it'll go away. Hope you keep sobriety a priority and stick with it! Good luck!
It's simply the gears in your brain at night, searching for old patterns and developing new road maps. Sometimes building those new roads take you back through some old backwater areas that you haven't visited for a while. Don't worry, it'll go away. Hope you keep sobriety a priority and stick with it! Good luck!
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Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 59
I think Mentium is right here. I was actually going to post something asking about dreams in one of the forums. I would attribute it to the fact that you're spending more time in REM sleep or your sleep quality and memory are improving.
I am pretty sure every night we all have "bad" and "good" dreams but we only recall a few, some people barely recall any at all.
To give you an idea, this morning I can recall:
- Visiting a bar (it felt like a bar but bore no resemblance to one) and seeing friends, no alcohol featured.
- A dream about fixing my bed (my bed is broken at the moment so I know why this popped up)
- The result of 2015 UK election - now this could be considered a nightmare (joke) but was just bizarre.
- My mother being unwell with flu (she passed away almost a year ago, aged 48, from cancer), usually I would find these disturbing but for some reason it wasn't as bad as one would think.
During my drinking phase, which included passing out at the end of each night, I would only be able to recall one or two, I imagine this was because I wasn't going though the normal cycles of sleep. I'm not sure what you mean by yucky but if something is on your mind a lot then it's going to feature in your dreams that's for sure.
I am pretty sure every night we all have "bad" and "good" dreams but we only recall a few, some people barely recall any at all.
To give you an idea, this morning I can recall:
- Visiting a bar (it felt like a bar but bore no resemblance to one) and seeing friends, no alcohol featured.
- A dream about fixing my bed (my bed is broken at the moment so I know why this popped up)
- The result of 2015 UK election - now this could be considered a nightmare (joke) but was just bizarre.
- My mother being unwell with flu (she passed away almost a year ago, aged 48, from cancer), usually I would find these disturbing but for some reason it wasn't as bad as one would think.
During my drinking phase, which included passing out at the end of each night, I would only be able to recall one or two, I imagine this was because I wasn't going though the normal cycles of sleep. I'm not sure what you mean by yucky but if something is on your mind a lot then it's going to feature in your dreams that's for sure.
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: North of England
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By the way we have a sub-forum about sleep and dreams I just stumbled upon:-
Insomnia/Nightmares - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information
Insomnia/Nightmares - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information
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