Nightmares
I was struggling with what topic to choose for the A to Z challenge for the letter N and pondered over nightmares. The pondering stopped when my son earlier this evening (when I wrote this) had a night terror.
Night terrors scare me. My little man sits bolt upright in his bed, eyes open and screams as if something is terrifying him in the corner of the room. He can't be pacified. He doesn't even know I'm there. I talk quietly and soothingly and try to add positive touch to this by stroking his back. Eventually he just quiets down, lays back in his bed and sleeps. Usually in the morning he has no recollection of this. I however am left most definitely shaken and stirred. I've gotten somewhat used to them but when he first started having them I think I was as actually scared and spooked out as he looked!
I think he may have got this bizarre trait from me. I don't suffer night terrors but do have nightmares. Dreams I recall and dreams I wake up from occasionally by screaming out.
What do my dreams tell me of my unconscious mind. To me, it's as active as my conscious mind. It feels as though my brain never stops whirring. Awake or asleep.
Do you rest peacefully after a busy day or does all the power in the human brain just refuse to shut off and keep working through the issues, thoughts and story telling you've been doing through the day?
I honestly can't say how my mind works when I'm sleeping. What my mind comes up with can be very unusual. The other night I dreamed about writing my X post for the challenge. When I woke up, I forgot the idea. I do believe dream have meanings, symbolism and such.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say as a Veteran of the first Desert Storm When dealing with night terrors or flashbacks;no matter what day you have, you really don't rest properly like you should because your mind races and just can't seem to unwind or shut off.My medications mixed with memories or just from things throughout the day or movies on TV, make for really crazy dreams.I can wake up from a dead sleep and have to write something down and then go back to sleep and wake up and finish it if it wasn't done earlier. I can remember that I had to write something but not what I wrote.
ReplyDeleteI'm very fortunate in that I've never suffered from nightmares . I have experienced the odd bad dream , you know the one from which you cannot awake , no matter how you try ? I agree that dreams do have some sort of symbolism ...
ReplyDelete~MICHELLE~
http://writer-in-transit.co.za/category/other/rambles-rants-and-raves/
I've had the occasional nightmare, but never night terrors. It's probably a good thing your little man doesn't remember them, but how horrifying for you! I think you're probably doing the best you can. And...maybe there's a child psychologist whose brain you could pick about the best way to deal with them.
ReplyDeleteI've read a bit of Jung and have found his approach to interpreting dreams seems to work for me. So, I "see" dreams as messages my unconscious is trying to deliver. Nightmares stopped being scary once I began looking at them in that way.
I sleep very fitfully until the last couple hours of the night. Then I dream and usually wake up from one to get ready to go to work. Not so many night terrors any more, like when I would dream that I needed to be somewhere and could never get there. I dreamed that for years. It is curious. Dreams.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter had night terrors until we restricted television. Now she only watches the occasional video and she gets a full night of sleep.
ReplyDeleteThis may not be the case for your little man but our pediatrician was the one that mentioned it.
I have nightmares, sometimes...but mostly, I sleep well. We all dream, just that few of us recollect them.
ReplyDeleteHappy to meet you via A-Z!
My N post is N for Nothing, and I'm doing a piece of flash fiction for each letter :)
Thanks. Nice to meet you as well, wish I would have started from the beginning but am grateful. GOD is always right on time.
ReplyDeleteYes, all dreams, no matter how odd they are have some sort of meaning. But, I am sure if you have a nightmare or night terror, you will definately remember.
ReplyDeleteThat is curious, I sleep fitful all the time but mainly for me no matter how tired I am, I can't get to sleep until my eyes are practically rolling back in my head. I have meds for that but I have to choose which 5 nights I want to sleep. My mind races all the time and get this, I can wake up from a dead sleep to write a poem or a line of a poem then go back to sleep. If I don't write it down then, it's gone. That is a curious dream, I have flashbacks from Desert storm and those aren't pretty. They have calmed down some over the years tho. I find my writing the poetry and on my book helps alot.
ReplyDeleteI've had a few nightmares in my time. However, my six-year-old son suffers from night terrors, too. He is also inconsolable, eventually settling back into sleep on his own. At first, I didn't know what they were, which was pretty scary. Now I'm pretty used to them. And he does not remember anything by morning either.
ReplyDeletemy mind never shuts off. Thank goodness I've never had a night terror though.
ReplyDeleteI hear you, when your mind never shuts off,it is very hard to get a really good decent sleep. Yes, you are lucky to not have any night terror. Sometimes my dreams don't start until morning time when usually people get up I am just getting to REM stage. Sorry,Susan your son has night terrors and glad he doesn't remember them but I do hope that he grows out of them soon.
ReplyDeleteI've had the most horrible, morbid nightmares ever since I was a kid. Sometimes it seems like my mind is the world's most terrifying horror-movie studio (and in reality, I don't even watch or like things like that!). I can still remember some of the worst dreams I've had since age five or so!
ReplyDeletePatricia - Can you dream my X post for me please, I have no ideas!
ReplyDeleteChoctawoman - Firstly, thank you for what you did.
I haven't experienced anything like dessert storm, but I understand the feeling that your mind won't shut down. It's not easy when that happens. Dreams are often mixed up aren't they. Our mind is a deep and wonderful thing.
Mish - A lot of times when I have nightmares I struggle to wake and often the only way I can is by shouting out. It must drive my husband insane :)
Bish - I am so glad he can't remember, they look absolutely terrifying!
Jeanne - They really are curious things aren't they. I also sometimes dream close to waking. Sometimes I wake from a nightmare and it's morning. That is a really odd feeling!
50 - Thank you for the advice. I'm not sure it has anything to do with the television, though I can see it's impact. His first ever night terror was after seeing his great grandfather when he was quite ill so visual things obviously impact. Another thing that I think impacts is temperature. He sometimes struggles to regulate it well and gets very warm. I think it's part of EDS. We're lucky, they are few and far between.
Damyanti - Thanks for stopping by! I think I remember reading that we dream every night, but as you say, we rarely remember them. I think I'm glad about that with some of the dreams I have!
Susan - The first time is pretty terrifying isn't it. If it wasn't for the internet I wouldn't have known what was happening. I googled it as soon as I had calmed him down. Now I'm un-nerved but less so. It's the look of shear terror on his face as he looks to a corner of the room as if there is something there. Creepy. I'm sorry your little one suffers as well, but it's good that they never remember.
Lynda - I'd love a straightforward nights sleep, but it's not something I do well.
Ranae - I've had nightmares since being a child. In fact one was a recurring one, but I don't get that one now. Like you as well, I never watch horror movies. I'd never be able to get myself out of the nightmares if I did!