Nightmare question

the Stuff Dreams are made of...
1

These days I rarely get full on nightmares, that leave me shaking and not want to go back to sleep.

But the other night I had a minor kind of bad dream, almost a nightmare i guess, don’t remember the beginning, but it turned out i had a problem with my PC, and a friend told me I had a virus in my computer. Then it got a bit nightmarish, and I woke up. (maybe i forced myself awake, tho I wasn’t concious at all).

No big deal I hear you say, tho kind of funny having a nightmare about something as lame as a virus on my laptop hehe.

But there was my girlfriend shouting my name, and holding me. I lay still for maybe 3 seconds after waking, kinda collecting my thoughts, then burst out laughing (cos I remember how lame the nightmare was). But she was really worried, cos she thought I was having a fit or something, as I was shaking really violently. And when I woke up , I screamed too… I kinda remember that, but thought maybe I just dreamt the scream, tho in fact I did scream out loud.

It’s true that usually I sleep alone (our lovely relationship is just beginning, and we live apart ), so I’m wondering if this sort of thing happens to me a lot, and I just never noticed before.

It really spooked my GF, and bothered her for days after (At the time she was really panicked, and was about to call an ambulance or something). I know people twitch in their dreams, but this seems more than that, judging by my GFs reaction

So I’m curious if anyone can relate to this? How normal is this sort of thing?

2

The thing is… It’s hard to say. Well, I know with night terrors the person has no recall of the nightmare and wakes up screaming. And I know sometimes we can get random shaking once in a while… But I’d say if you happen to have this happen frequently, you should definitely get it checked out by a sleep doctor. There is a type of epileptic seizures to do with sleep and these only happen while sleeping (sorry, I forgot the name atm), and they run in families and aren’t dangerous but yeah… I think you shouldn’t worry too much unless this shaking happens often. It might be night terror related as it does happen in adults too.

Btw, I don’t think your nightmare was lame. Nightmares have nothing to do with what we see in them but our absolute terror. And like all dreams they relate to our subconscious concerns. Why you had a nightmare about a computer virus could mean your worried about being sick or something. Shrugs

I hope you never wake screaming again, though. Good luck.

3

Nightmares are some kind of conflict within yourself, some issue that has been springing up but hasn’t been addressed properly. The mixed emotions about it are pretty normal, it’s a part of the process of healing, both the fear that keeps you down, and the realization that isn’t really a problem. Facing the issue is most recommended - what was that did make you uncomfortable in that dream? Is it really that bad of a problem? How can you solve it, or change your attitude towards it so that you may face it with naturalness?
Another good way would be imagining yourself becoming lucid in that ream, then solving it. It makes for almost the same experience.

Good luck with your Quest. :content:

4

Well I meant it was kinda funny having a bad dream about somthing trivial, for sure nightmares can take many forms. And you’re right, it wasn’t night terrors, I’ve that at least once and I’m at least familiar with the idea of that. Good call about the virus connection too, I had the same thought regarding that one.

Tbh the whole episode doesn’t worry me, but it did make me think due to my GFs recation, so thought I’d see what peoples views were on it, and so thankyou for yours!

5

@tosxyChor Well it was a one off dream, I don’t have recurring dreams about PC viruses. These days I’m comfortable with bad dreams, if that makes sense, and find them fascinating. Thanks for the tip of visualising lucidity in that state, I’ll try and remember to do that during the day.

6

Doing it during the day often enough can also get you lucid, your subconscious can pick up on the signals, or you can just more often become lucid for seemingly no reason. As for you nightmare, much of what can be said has been, but in my experience, nightmares often aren’t actually scary, you simply have a swelling terror, and your mind doesn’t work, which will follow out into real life. As far as your girlfriends reaction, I’d say it was a bit of an over reaction. Kind of her to worry for you, but nightmares come and go without any major harm.

Good luck with future dreaming. :happy:

7

As I said, it’s not about what the dream was about, it’s about what bothered you in it. Just think back to the dream and remember what was the detail that put you off, be the virus, your GF’s reaction, or anything else. Focus on it and ask yourself why it is bothering you. I guess I already explained the rest :content:

8

Maybe I didn’t make it totally clear, but the dream didn’t bother me at all, just a random slightly bad dream from my perspective. What bothered me (or my GF to be precise) was the physical shaking that went with it.

9

Yeah. Which is what I figured. Here is what I was talking about Nocturnal Epilepsy. As I said, it may have been nothing, and your girlfriend may have been over reacting. It may have been random or it may happen often. We can act out nightmares in a few different ways, I’d say the epilepsy thing would probably be a worse case scenario and that you shouldn’t worry about it unless you find yourself shaking like that a few other times. O.O

10

Thanks, I’ve been reading up on nocturnal epilepsy and I’m sure it’s not that. Well it’s all interesting stuff, just have to wait and see I guess. Maybe I just twitch a lot in my dreams hehe.

11

Heh yaeh, that could be it. Maybe you should try entering sleep paralysis and see what happens when you try and fall asleep. Observe your pattern, just look at it. You might figure it out.

12

I’m sorry for before, I guess 5 AM is not the best time for me to interpret topics :tongue:
I’m with Eliatan here, just try and observe what happens when you fall asleep, it’ very good practice to get to now your sleeping habits.

Best of wishes to you :smile: