dreams and anxiety

[allie3656]

has anyone had a vivid dream, that felt so real that you woke up with an anxiety attack? i had one yesterday and tried everything to calm myself down before taking an ativan. it was terrifying! i haven't had an attack for two weeks and bam! i'm new to the GAD diagnosis. i only take ativan when needed. which is about twice a month, well now a days, before it was twice a day, but the last two months i've been doing really good. did anyone get massive anxiety when they received their diagnosis? i was obssessed for weeks with mental illness. i thought i had every mental illness out there before i told my self that this is anxiety. did anyone else go through that? i feel much better when i know that i'm not alone.

[allie3656]

thank you everyone for the advice and posts. they have been very helpful. i normally do keep a dream journal and try to interpret my dreams, but what was so scary about this one was that it was something that happened in my childhood that i completly forgot. i guess my subconcious is trying to tell me to work on it. and to drifter0213, that must be terrifying, how do you deal with those dreams?

[drifter0213]

i have dreams of combat & warfare -drifter0213

[JJ11]

Dreams can be especially vivid and "as real as being awake," especially when you take meds for anxiety, depression, etc.  You are definitely NOT alone!  

[MrGreen]

The dream like state is amazing. You should maybe study up on dreams and then they won't seem as frightening to you. There is nothing I love more than a good nightmare. If you think of your daily routine. Everything you done today. As you sleep it will all come out. Be sorted out into two sections. Long term memory ( things we need to keep hold of ) and short term memory. But it plays out in a story like format. Latent content. The dream stuff that means nothing at all. But we also must look at the subconscious memory. Inside there we house our fears. We house things that we may have on our minds. Up coming events and the likes. It, again, all comes out as we sleep. So your worst fears might stay with you as you sleep. Create themselves into some kind of story. Hence the theory that to change how we think we must tap into that same subconscious memory. That's what a hipnotherapist would try and do. Study your dreams carefully and you might learn a lot more about yourself. Learn how to use them to help you. It can be done.

[9DodgeFan]

I've been on anti-depressants for a few months, and I have definitely noticed a lot more vivid/realistic dreams!  I can't say I've had any that really scared me and made me wake up scared, but I have had a few where I felt tired when I woke up, like I had actually lived through the dream instead of sleeping.  I guess I just try to shake it off, say it was just a dream, and try to get back to sleep.  It's not always easy, but it can be done.  Something else that might help would be talking to someone when you wake up, if someone is available.  Those are just a couple things that have worked for me; hope you can get some help out of them!

[kl42]

oh yea .. weird stuff back in grammer school and i forgoit my homework!!  and im late for school!!   weird because im 40.. docs say its a sign your a good person.  responcible. Kevin

[cj29]

I have vivid dreams quite often and sometimes wake up frightened out of my mind, but I realize it is just a dream and it is bound to happen from time to time.  Remember, anxiety can have an ebb and flow to it; sometimes its up and sometimes its down.  You can be anxiety free for long periods of time and then all of the sudden it seems to come back out of nowhere.  Unfortunately, that is what can make this cycle so vicious sometimes.

But focus on the long term instead of the short term.  While you need short term goals as stepping stones for your long term success, the fact that you said that you were anxiety free for two weeks is great!  Don't sell yourself short; give yourself the credit when it is due.  Also, in my opinion, as with life, anxiety will come and go.  But everytime you go through with an experience you learn from it and gain a little more knowledge about the process....and knowledge is definitely power when it comes to dealing with this...keep us posted!