Nightmares

[justrluk]

Good morning, crew:

Personal question for those that wish to share: how do you deal with your nightmares? I've tried therapy, meds, etc., but my wife still has to deal with the physical realities of my nightmares. I constantly wake her up, and never feel like I've had any sleep. She keeps (jokingly) threatening me that she's going to move into another bedroom. It's been years of this, and I don't know what else to do. Any inputs, thoughts, etc., would be greatly appreciated.

[NJBB62]

I use to have the nightmares all the time, I even got to the point where my wife said I was throwing punches in my sleep, I went to a physc and she told me to stop watching war movies

and to start talking about what I went through and not to bottle it up, and that has worked for me. We will never forget what we have been through but Honestly talking to a good friend who

listens really did help me, it was a big relief to get it out. Hope this helps you.

NJ

[usmcgirl]

I have a service dog, she wakes me up for mine - when I do sleep. Mostly I am like you. I have meds, therapy ect. I have woke up and punched walls - that didn't work BTW. But what i do find that works for me anyways is usually I am awake for long periods of time because I force myself to stay awake. I do things around the house - clean, outside work (even if it's night time), try and watch a movie, read topics on here, try and write in my "nightmare" jornal what it was about. to see if anythng is different. I do research for other peoples claims. work on my own claim. things to keep my mind going and off my own problems. heck i even paint. then when I get tired...I sleep for a few hours at a time. and during that time i find it is better then sleeping for longer because i don't seem to have as many or as bad. some times it works sometimes it doesn't and i crash and have to start all over again. but it works for me more often then not and i am productive.

[justrluk]

Thanks so much for the responses. The problem is (not trying to see only the negative) is that I work and get up early for the commute. If I even go to bed an hour later than normal, I oversleep (even with TWO alarms and my spouse pushing me out of bed) due to meds/bad nights. I've hit her a few times as well, and being a black belt in TKD, wasn't kind about it (I guess). I really could have hurt her had it not been for the covers dragging me down. I have animals, but have never considered a service dog. Might look into that.

usmcgirl: how does the dog actually help? Does it wake you up/out of your dream?? Sounds intriguing.

NJBB62: I've had years of therapy, and also see a psychiatrist. I take 3 meds for bipolar, sleep disorders, migraines, etc. from TBI. If you've never been over-medicated while you sleep, I can't explain how embarrassing it is to have needed Depends (sorry for being graphic) and having an "accident" because you can't wake yourself up to go to the restroom. Needless to say, this doesn't help my case for keeping my wife in the same room with me at night... SO it seems my choices are a) continue with the status-quo and get separate beds/bedrooms so she can sleep, or b) over-medicate, wear protective night-ware and hope I wake up when I'm supposed to. Not how I saw my life at 46 years old, but I guess that goes for all on these forums.

I realize as I'm writing this that my primary concern wasn't even how to claim these issues, but just to find a way out of the hole. I guess this is a good thing? Still at the end of my rope on this, and with a long weekend coming up will get less sleep. Maybe usmcgirl, I can try your approach and see what happens since I don't have to be anywhere in the mornings. I'll let you know.

[NJBB62]

justrluk, I know the feeling of being over medicated and not waking up to go to the bathroom, My wife and I got twin beds because I would keep her up all night,

I ended up having a Massive heart attack and lost 50% of my heart from all the worrying and stress from the crap I've been through, now I'm on 14 pills a day and

just deal with life situations on a daily basis, we are back in the same bed again. I don't know how I did it, but for some reason I let it all go, Maybe because I

saw my life flash in front of me when they were pumping my chest and I heard the EMT say we are losing him. I wish you the best and if you ever need anyone to talk to hit me up.

The Docs have told me to claim PTSD 10 years ago, but I never did maybe it is time.

NJ

[justrluk]

NJ: Thanks for the details. It really helps put things in perspective. I hope it doesn't come to that (EMTs in my house) to get this under some sort of control. Could it really be that simple?? I'll give it my best and see what happens. Also, I did note that my family doc had "PTSD" written in my record, and I've requested copies of my MH record for a claim that's languishing in the pile. I asked that the records be sent to me so I can highlight and forward for the claim. Maybe then, I can get a real look at what the psych has written. Again, many thanks & Happy Thanksgiving.