SpartanGreen

My dreams when I go to sleep sober are very lucid and very extreme, and very very bizarre. They haunt my mind throughout the next day.

Here's some of them:

- I'm in a post apocalyptic environment where zombies are over running. I kill a lot of zombies but always end up in some war with another human group. I get shot. I get shot a lot in dreams, in the torso, I feel it and wake up.

- Had a dream where I tracked down an old high school sweetheart at what was purported to be her job, a coffee shop. Was talking to her and the entire staff began building a circle around us to eavesdrop. And then everything went haywire, sirens were going off, and we were all to find shelter because a comet was about to crash into the Earth.

- The worst one, I was on some kind of emergency response military team and we were cleaning out some virus in an elementary school by executing the infected survivors. I shot and killed a kid in a wheel chair. This one has really messed me up. It's been five days since this dream and I still think about it a lot.

- Then I always have a lot of dreams about my best friend, an addict, who killed himself 9 months ago. We'll be hanging out and I'll say "wait man, aren't you dead" and he'll say "nah, I'm not dead", and then we'll hang out and I'll wake up.

Anyways, my dreams while becoming sober are really messing me up. Starting to wonder if I should seek help or if this is just the natural volatility that addicts experience.

MelindaFlowers

When I stopped my nervous system was completely out of whack. I've had some weird dreams too. Just like everything else I think it will simply take time, lots of time to heal our brains.

Meraviglioso

According to my psychologist, vivid dreams are quite normal during the withdrawl phase. It can be frightening and upsetting. I might suggest some relaxation techniques before bed to help.

dingodog

Wow, this is crazy stuff. I'm getting them too, although I think of mine as nightmares. Really bad stuff, like the devil chasing me, fireballs raining down from the sky, other bizarre stuff. Its woken me up several times, then can't get back to sleep. And of course the dreaded one, that ive been drinking again. I'm considering asking the doc for something until this transitional phase is over. I can't go through my next day well if I don't get some sleep. This issue is really affecting me as well.

PurpleKnight

The body needs time to adjust, not only physically, but emotionally and mentally!!

I still get some crazy dreams, that are quite the ride, hang in there!!

Gronk

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four812

I have come to think of my dreams as gifts ....even scary ones and such.

The ones you shared are very powerful and there is a wealth of wisdom to be found in them

Keep up the good work.

Rosie88

Me too! I never remember them after a few minutes of waking up.

I wake up and think "what the ****?!" Then I'll forget them shortly later.

It's just our brains adjusting, this, too, shall pass.

Gronk

I too dream about my ex-girlfriend and really wanting to be together.......in the dream I am still married.....but still try. We HATED each other.

Don't put too much into dreams my friend. If they bug you, keep posting the bad ones here if you think they are from being more lucid from lack of alcohol. I'd be happy to post.

The first and third ones sound like a first person video game (do you play?)

The comet one sounds like a movie trailer.....and comets are in the news lately, NASA just had a spacecraft rendezvous with one this week.

The friend one? Hey, he was your friend, if he were here I am sure he would be happy to see you cared enough to think about him even while unconscious.

JustEric

Try to only watch funny or dumb stuff for the last few hours before getting to sleep. I was having vivid hellish nightmares during the very little sleep I was getting and would wake up covered in so much sweat it felt like I just got out of the shower. Now I only watch American Dad and Chuck before trying to get some and it's helped me a bunch. I still get some crazy vivid dreams but they're not nearly as bad as they were and they only come once in a while now.

Just a suggestion.

Buggirl

I am amazed how much similar stuff we all experience but don't why I am amazed if that makes sense as we have all been addicted ?!?

SpartanGreen

Welp, the dream last night, I was swinging on the pipes and the support beams of the roof on my old childhood babysitter's basement while a bunch of monkeys who wanted to eat my face off were doing the same thing. At least I didn't get shot or kill anyone else in this one. The human mind is so weird.

EndGameNYC

You're revisiting the dead and, in some cases, killing them all over again and/or seeing them for what they are. Zombies, kids with deadly viruses, your relationship with your ex, your childhood, your friend who killed himself...all "dead." A positive interpretation would suggest that you're killing off parts of your past that no longer support your present and future life, like your addiction to alcohol.

Yeah, bizarre, vivid dreams are common in early sobriety, especially if you're taking psychotropic medications, or you're on the patch for smoking. For many people, the dreams generally remain vivid and have less deadly or life-threatening content over time.

SpartanGreen

I like this interpretation. I'm re-killing the past and gone in my dreams and setting up the stepping stone that leads to a better life.

On an unrelated note, I just learned of the passing of CarolD, a person who really tried to help me when I first joined here. I've shed many tears for her tonight. I vow to become sober for a number of reasons, but to add to the most important reasons, is for her.

I haven't been sober for a month straight since I was a sophomore in high school. I am going to do it right now, for Carol.

Aellyce

Hi Spartan,

I've had extremely vivid, detailed, colorful and often surreal dreams in my whole life, and I've quite enjoyed having these dreams. And yes in the first month or so of sobriety I recalled even more and they were even more bizarre. One thing that seems to be a pattern for be in relation to bad dreams and nightmares: I most often have these when I'm not at peace with myself awake in that particular period. I find that if I make my days satisfying and I try to do my best to fulfill my responsibilities, do what I need and like to, plus take some to relax, it profoundly affects the content of my dreams in a positive way. I think guilt and anxiety especially can color my nighttime musings pretty dark also. This worked for me even in the first weeks of sobriety.

I think your dreams are interesting. One thing I've suggested to people on SR and elsewhere many times is that you learn to become conscious in your dreams and experience them that way. Not everyone likes it but many of those that can achieve and enjoy this are quite enthusiastic about lucid dreaming, myself included. Yes it's even more bizarre but can be extremely interesting and a lot of fun, in my opinion, and you can learn to analyze and influence the dream "events" yourself.