Nightmares Keeping Me Awake

[Neranyo]

For a week or maybe even more I've been plagued with nightmares almost every single night, which has caused me to wake up in the middle of the night or very early in the morning, or both! Which leaves me with not enough sleep, making me very tired during the day...

At first I thought this wasn't an issue I needed help with, after the third night in a row I tried interpreting my nightmares and looking at real life issues to try find the cause of it...
But I still have nightmares and can't figure out why.

In general, stress, trauma, fears, insecurities, feelings of inadequacy, health problems, marital issues, etc may all be reasons for having nightmares

But theres nothing of that... There is no change in my waking life (other than what my nightmares have brought) or atleast nothing that wasn't already there before without being a major threat.
I've also tried looking at the nightmares, but one problem is that I can barely remember them... Really, I can only remember the last part which wakes me up.
I don't think there are any similarities between them, but I can't say for sure... So from now on I shall try to be quick at writing them down.

Today I was woken up two times during the night from having two different nightmares, but I was rewarded with one good dream which allowed me to sleep well... But it also made me sleep in late. When I woke up and realised this, I forgot all about the nightmares and the last dream while being in a hurry only to remember that I've got nothing this week.

Things I've tried:

Relieving any psychological issues
Relieving any physical issues
Making sense of the Nightmares
Preventing them using Lucid Methods
Using information from Dreammoods

And now, turning to the forums.

I'll be annoyed if my nightmares stop now...

[Amanda89]

I was wondering if anyone could help me with why I'm having nightmares about bugs in my skin. In one dream, I touched my face and realized a larger than normal cockroach enbedded on my cheek. I had a friend pull it out and there were eggs inside my cheek and it was too much to just take out. I started punching myself trying to knock myself out and then I woke up. In another dream, I picked a small scab off of my palm and something started coming out that resembled worms but I've never seen it before. As soon as this happened, I started thinking of how I would kill myself. Then I woke up. If anyone could tell my why I'm having these nightmares, that would be great. I'm not getting good sleep. I keep waking up in a panic. Thanks.

[Redtears]

I'm in the same boat. I have a really hard time getting to sleep, staying asleep (I wake up constantly throughout the night), and have difficulty getting up in the morning. Any ideas?

[Biancha]

hey neranyo,

Sorry that you are having problems with night mares.
I was wondering if you are taking any medications?
Certain medications causes nightmares so have you recently started anything?

hope it goes away soon. goodluck!

[SleepyCat]

This is a touchy thing because my answer includes faith. Not of any religion although it will in a general sense but just believing things.
First, if you believe in stone/crystal power, you could use various stones to help. A little research on your part since my combination of stones is both personal and by a little knowledge of them would probably freak out some folks. But I found the stones help out since I do believe they have that power. Or other "items of power" like dreamcatchers, runes or even tarot cards (I really have a connection to the Strength card). It is the item that has the power to deal with dreams, defense, depression, and/or positive vibes that you are using if you believe such things can help.
If you are religious, saying prayers can help. Don't just pick a standard "before I lay myself down to sleep" or "Valley of Death" prayer but more a prayer for other concepts. Guidance or thanks or one in my Book of Common Prayer (episcopal which I found once to help concentrate myself to my relationship with God if you really want to know) for quiet confidence; something that is more positive focused rather than girting up for a battle or endurance. You can even craft your own. If you don't do prayers, you could try mantras. Or just make one up that again tends to be more a focus away from as oppose to bringing attention to the fact of the nightmares and your desires to overcome. Reading something inspirational maybe. The point is that you need something that makes you think of better than "What if I have a nightmare tonight" or "I Have to get Sleep" and these suggestions in this paragraph is towards this goal.
While there are some outside influences that can create the nightmares (i.e. the meds, going to sleep to a horror movie or my favorite: listening to Pink Floyd's The Wall) I am hoping the power of believe and in the case of the prayer paragraph, distraction at the last minute will curb and even stop the vast majority of them (no one can stop them all).
If you wake up, think up things positive. Watch a comedy, listen to a favorite tune. Just get away from the nightmare and thinking how it screwed things. Then there is the doing something you like if you wake (refocus on positive) or really punish yourself (for me, getting up and doing housework which was always punishment for not going straight to sleep when I was a child) to get you wanting to deal with the nightmare instead of doing your punishment (ha, nightmares can't do half the damage as the boring, tedious cleaning the bathroom- whether it really needed it or not). There is the "if I can't sleep then I will do something productive" thing which is meant to give you positive feelings of at least getting things done if you look at it as a means to "no reason to waste energy since I can't change things" approach.

I hope some of these will provide you either the help you need or more ideas on getting to that help.