Night Terrors Every Night For All My Life. I Have Tried Everything. Please Help

by Carol
(Yucaipa, CA. USA)

I am a 27 yr old, educated, multilingual, emotionally stable, happily committed (to a boyfriend, not an institution) woman. I have night terrors AND nightmares (as they are NOT the same) not just every night, but every time I sleep, even if its just for a while, since before I can remember.

I have actually been told recently by my mother that they began occurring before I was 18 mos. old. I have never been subjected to any 'trauma' or 'accident' or any other physical or emotional explanation for my affliction. I have never suffered from any type of mental or emotional disorder (excepting of coarse, insomnia, somnambulism, bruxism and pavor nocternus).

I mainly dream of demons and am often killed in my 'dreams.' you know that old urban legend that if you die in your dreams then you die in real life? Well, if that were true, then i would have died well over 5,000 times. Many mornings i can remember detailed plots of the previous night like i had watched a movie, but also many times i can only remember disturbing flashes, and on the rare occasion, i wake up with no memory at all; these are my favourite mornings.

When i was a child, my family called me "commando Carol," because I would hit and kick violently in my sleep and often fell out of bed. the doctors just said that this sometimes happens to children for no good reason, and that i would grow out of it. I did not.

As far as the demons go; i am christian, but am also extremely tolerant in that respect. one of my longest and closest friends is a wiccan, another is catholic, another is mormon, and my boyfriend is agnostic. almost every person in my life has become something evil and tried to kill me in my dreams.


My deaths are never 'pretty' either, and it's is not always someone i know who 'does me in'. I have even been a demon in my dreams once or twice; one dream comes to mind where I was a red headed vampire with a love for a yellow toothbrush. its not always about demons either, i had one dream where i was babysitting my niece and nephew (toddlers) and two perverts broke in the house to snatch them. Killed both of the men... violently. The only true constant in my dreams seems to be violence and a good dose of fear.

Please help me,
Carol

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Kevin: Hey Carol, thanks for sharing your story. Have you explored lucid dreaming as a gateway for taking control of your bad dreams? You seem to be so acutely in tune with your dream world that taking the next step to lucidity would likely not be too hard for you, if you are not even there already. Check out this visitor-submitted comment for an idea of the possible potential here: Taking Control Of My Nightmares.

Warmly,
Kevin

(Please keep in mind that I am a student of sleep science and not a medical doctor. Please take any thoughts I give with my background in mind.)

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