Sara

Heyas everyone

A post Demelza made about Ghost's reminded me to ask you guys about sleeping. I really need some help trying to get this sorted.

I have always had really horrible nightmares, ever since I can remember. I have nightmares about people being eaten alive, sea made of blood and wars and people being killed. All that kind of stuff. I've learnt to live with them, and they don't scare me anymore, not while I'm dreaming. I honestly don't remember ever having a good dream.

But the thing is, lately I've been having a real problem when I'm sleeping and dreaming. Sometimes I can see myself lying in bed and strange things coming towards me, like a little victorian girl with pigtails, and a man, stuff like that. Then I wake up and I get stuck, like I don't know if I'm dreaming or awake. It gets very confusing.

The doc said I don't need anything to help me sleep, cause I'm young and it's all in my head. And I'm like "Yea that's the whole problem"

Anyway- I was wondering if anyone had any tips on any herbal rememdies? Or any tips on how to get to sleep near enough straight away? The good thing is I'm fine in the morning, but the bad thing is, during the night I get really stressed out and confused because I don't know what's going on.

Thanks for any help you can give.
Sara

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Moon

Sara, your transcription sounds to me like a certain experienced where people fell they leave their bodies, also known as an Out of the Body Experience (OBE) They can still see their bodies from a distance and are often connected to it with some kind of "thread". Some people can travel around the world during such an OBE, or go to some place where they see ghosts.
My mom has had experiences where she could see herself sleeping at night. I don't remember having such experiences myself, but when I was young, I sometimes felt something fall into my body while at night. It always happened with a big shock. One night the shock was so heavy my head hit the wall, it never happened afterwards.
Maybe you can find more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-of-body_experience

Moon

If you feel you have sleeping problems, try some etherical lavender oil on your pillow. I never tried it but I see it suggested lots of times.

Aniseteph

I heard one technique where you pick something to think about and concentrate on it. Every time you notice your concentration starting to wander, don't beat yourself up for not being able to concentrate, but just bring it gently back to the thing you're trying to concentrate on. Picking something really neutral and ordinary helps stop your concentration wandering onto more interesting territory.

I've heard of herbal pillows with lavender etc. in that are supposed to help sleep. Similarly aromatherapy oils might help, though I'm no expert as to which ones do what or how you could use them. Boots do some ready to use blends and I think they do a sleep-flavour one.

As for herbal remedies I have no experience, but with my work-hat on (as opposed to the sparkly bellydance one!) please take care if you are on any other medication, because they can interact - a pharmacist would be able to advise you.

Hope you find something to help - it sounds very upsetting
A xx

Demelza

hELLO, mE aGAIN !! (oh dear, got the caps lock on then, sorry !)

Well, Sara, I do have a few comments on this one......

First of all I would like to make an appology. An appology for a little lie I made in the other thread. i said that my family home was always happiness and laughter when I was young. Actually it wasn't ALLWAYS. When my mum and Dad used to argue, my brother and sisters used to sleep through it but I used to lye awake and listen to it. Anyway that's irrelivant.....after that I started having some nightmares, not always but sometimes.

Now, a few weeks ago I was in Cairo. And I was in a hotel and this guy (who kept telling me that it was his job to check that everyone was feeling ok) kept hassling me. So I told him...."actually No. I had a terrible nightmare last night" - WHICH WAS TRUE. I told him about the nightmare and it went like this......

I was in a room, sleeping and then suddenly about 20 people came into the room, beat me up, broke everything in the room, stole everything and left me for dead. I dragged myself to the bathroom and turned on the tap to wash my face but it was not water that came out of the tap, it was thick, dark red blood. And then I woke up.

Anyways...this guy in the hotel looked completely shocked !! and I'm like you Sara, I've had it all my life and learned to live with it. No big deal - get over it it's only a nightmare. And he asked me 2 questions......

Has anyone got a vendetor against you at the moment? anyone who might want to hurt/upset you ?

and.....if so, has anyone taken a peice of my clothing or a peice of my hair??

well, I looked at him gone out, and he said that it could be someone wishing bad things against me. Then he gave me a copy of the Koran (please bear in mind at this point that I am not a muslim, I know alot about it but I am not one) and he said put it under your pillow and you will not have these nightmares anymore. So I tried it. and wo-behold it worked. Coinsidence????maybe.

There are 2 things I've had that are similar to you by the way...and that is....

Feeling like I am under some omense pressure, cant make my body move and I don't know if I'm asleep or awake, but when I finally do wake up I am feeling really scared like I am lucky to be here.

and ...... hearing a HUGE noise of ELECTRICITY like....well I can't even expalain how load and ferocious it was...imagine the sound of fork lightning only 100000000000 times greater. That was quite freaky as I've never actually heard anything like that in real life !!

and finally, I DO KNOW that if you dream of fish it means that money is coming your way !!!.....never used to believe that stuff untill last month I was in the airport, dreamt of fish, and then woke up to change my last 40 egyptian pounds (which was supposed to be £4.00 english) but she got it wrong and gave me £40 english !!!!! Well before I get hate mail, I know it was wrong of me to take it. . . . but I WAS skint. and I DID feel a little guilty afterwards. xxx

byex

Juniper

Well, technically, since we're talking about dreams, it is all in your head.

The brain doesn't suddenly switch to sleep, but gradually transitions from wakefulness to lighter sleep, down to deepest sleep and then back up to REM. People who are woken from stage one sleep (the lightest) will often claim that they were not asleep at all, even though researchers can see that their brain waves changed. Your confusion over whether you are awake or asleep probably stems from this gradual slide--in a way, you are not quite awake or asleep. Unfortunately, this also means that you can't possibly fall asleep "right away."

However, you will probably fall asleep faster if you set up a bedtime ritual for yourself. Don't do any work within 30 minutes of when you want to sleep. Instead watch TV, read a book, listen to music, or do something that you find relaxing. Whatever you do, try to be consistent. I remember hearing of a study that showed that people who listen to soft music fall asleep faster than those who don't--and that as the study progressed, the people who listened to music fell asleep faster and faster because they were learning that "soft music means sleepy time."

As far as herbal remedies go--I'm not sure if you just mean that you want some sort of relaxing aromatherapy (and many people do find lavender relaxing) or if you're trying to treat yourself for a medical condition with herbs. I would be very careful about trying the second one--psychological drugs have to undergo an exhaustive battery of tests to prove that they are safe and effective, and they still aren't perfect. Herbs are considered "dietary supplements" and all they have to prove is that they are manufactured under reasonably clean conditions, without too many rat parts in the pill. Sometimes they don't even contain measurable amounts of the herb they are said to contain! Sometimes they can be downright dangerous. Don't think that just because something is an herb means it can't hurt you--hemlock is an herb.

Sometimes scary dreams can mean that you're trying to work out something that is stressing you out when you're awake. You sound very concerned. I'm glad you mentioned it to your doctor, but he or she doesn't seem to have addressed the problem in a way that you needed. There seems to be some miscommunication or mistrust between you and your doctor--if possible, perhaps you could see if you can find a doctor with whom you have a better rapport (I don't how your healthcare works or how difficult this would be). You may also want to think about whether you would like to see a specialist.

miss_shimmy

I realy feel for you so very much,those dreams sound awful((hugs)).

do you have a bedtime routine?


do you drink caffeine?if so,at what times?

have you tried meditation music whilst you sleep?

miss shimmy
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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bodylicious

Alaya

Hi Sara.
I am not an expert, and whot you are saying sounds terible.I must admit I do sometimes have some nightmers myself or I am not able to sleep for few hours. I usualy listin to some music that makes me fell calm or I amreading book that I know wll chear me up. I know it is not much but it is all I can think. hope you will fell better. I do not know whot religion you are but prying can help. Love, Alaya

Sara

I meditate a lot Love the music, only problem with that is I fall asleep and wake up me mam.

I am a tea addict, but don't drink it 3 hours before sleeping or I need toilet. :o

Thanks for the idea's though. There's loads I haven't tried. I think I might go and see a healer or specialist though, me gram says I should go to see Aunte J cause she does that stuff, but I dunno.

I think the main problem what got me worried was if I wasn't dreaming, and if it was real. It's really scary at times, and I'm not scared easily by nightmares.

What makes me feel worse is me mam and dad say I'm being silly and dramatic, but me mam does know about the dreams, but to be honest I don't think she knows what to do either.

Eh deary me. I'll try some of those things tonight and let you know how they go tomorrow. Perhaps I will go and see a specialist though. But I don't want em to think I'm crazy, lol.

__________________
With a little bit of this and a little bit of that, now shake your bum.... :P

Yshka

Wow Sara, those things sound awful. I can;t think of anything much to add to these things the others have said. I hope they work out for you.

Demelza, the electricity thing.. I've had that happen to me once. I was asleep one moment, and the next I hear this roaring lightning like it struck my house or something (I sleep pretty close to the roof but it sounded even louder than that). After that I was wide awake. It was totally dark in the room and I couldn't detect any lightning or rainstorm going on. I thought I had dreamed it all but when you said that it made me think. I heard this crazy loud shock but there hadn't been any lightning or storm for the entire week..

Anyone know what might cause that? Or what it might mean?