Suffering from Vivid Traumatic Dreams

I have very vivid, gruesome nightmares. They used to be horrible before I got on my meds, but they still happen sometimes. I wake up so sweaty, and sometimes even punch my pillow or a wall, whatever is near me. I always am so slow the day after having a nightmare; I can't think, I just feel strange. It's stopped me from attending school and going to work. Nightmares can be traumatic, I feel like. My messed up brain has created some horrible stuff. It does help to have someone in your corner though. A significant other, a parent, a sibling, a friend you can call, anyone! That's helped me a lot.

Another person here with BPD and PTSD. At one point in my life I pretty much stopped sleeping because of all the nightmares I used to get reliving past trauma, often changing one tiny detail and then my brain coming up with the repercussions of the change in action. It was utterly exhausting. For me the frequency of the dreams did reduce with time and a whole HEAP of therapy, but even to this day I still get them every now and again. Sometimes I turn into a giant child about it and wake up my wife so she can just hold me after, I often can’t explain to her what I’ve seen because it’s too much to do so, but luckily she understands and will try to help just by simply being there with me. Im lucky to have such a soothing person walking this path of life with me.

Have you talked to a psychiatrist about this? I am on a med for nightmares that really helps. Maybe you could get something that would help you.

Omg this is so familiar. From what I can kind of piece together, I have a distorted sense of reality generally, so despite being aware a dream has taken place, the feelings from those dreams are real and valid for me. I cannot separate that and they can directly impact the way I’m gonna go about my day