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Paranoia - Nightmares

I know that BP makes you paranoid.  I know that ALL to well - and my friends actually question me when I say that someone is acting odd ("are you SURE that THEY are acting odd?") - but I have always had this sense that I can forsee things - bad things.  It's not like a psychic thing or anything like that - it's more like dejavu and I know it's part of the paranoia.  

One thing that usually gets me going is to wake up with my heart racing a million miles per hour and realize that I have had an extremely bad nightmare.  I mean wake up horrified and then usually a paranoid episode starts.  It seems very real to me and I actually look for those things to happen!  

Usually, they are a warning sign that I am going manic - and I have learned to see that - but does anyone else have extreme paranoia and paranoid nightmares?

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Avatar universal
I have paranoid dreams a lot. am bipolar.  they usually involve abandonment or threats. Last night I dreamt my boyfriend was hitting on another girl, and I subconsciously woke up and pushed him put of bed. I quit meds a week ago, I don't know if am doing alright or not
Helpful - 0
1039200 tn?1314912008
I can so relate to just about every post here. The paranoia is the main problematic symptom of the illness for me. Before I was treated with AP's I would have blackouts of time where I would find out I had done / said irrational things and have no memory. This could be of hours in time. I could be anywhere and a dark sense of impending doom would come over me. I would have a dejavu of the situation where I would remember a dream or false memory and it would replay in life which would make me think my reality was being controlled by supernatural forces and that I could forsee events. I would sometimes hallucinate, see persecutory messages in signs and on the tv and would be terrified. Sometimes I would feel sick and panicky out of the blue because I would be convinced I was being poisoned or others were filming me, breaking into my house etc etc or I would get strong unusual feelings out of the blue and relate them to telepathy from others. Just as disabling was the cognitive impairment which made it impossible to think clearly or organise my thoughts.
I have stopped and started my meds in the past but the paranoia usually sets in straight away. It starts off disguised as mild social anxiety which quickly spiralls into disabling psychotic states. I also used to suffer from classic migraine aura and have been diagnosed in the past as having temporal lobe epilepsy, although I now question the diagnosis because it only improved with the AP's.

Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have never been diagnosed with any bipolar disorder, but I have the same exact dreams...almost phsycotic and demented dreams...horrible, some almost demonic, some just plain evil like dreaming someone is cutting someone up and im helping them...wtf? thats sick...and then other dreams are demonic, like im being possessed or haunted... Sometimes I wake up off and on during sleep scared to open my eyes and look around...but when i do...nothing is ever there...I usually wake up in the morning after these dreams and just look around...paranoid like you said...looking for something or someone to be standing there...but nothing is ever there...I im in a state where i wake up...almost half dreaming and half awake...i know in my mind that nothing is there but i cant bring myself to stop being paranoid and looking for something to be there...then after an hour or so of being paranoid...i just snap out of it and go on with the rest of my day...most of the time forgetting anything that happened that morning...But then there are some dreams that I have that scare me so badly i can remember every detail...and that hour that i still feel half in and half out of the dream I can tell you every detail that happened in my dream...

I have never talked about this to anyone before because im afraid people will think I am crazy...but theyre getting so bad that I need help...

also, I dont know if this has anything to do with this situation, but I also suffer from Classic Migraines with aura...and I cant help but think mabe they both have something to do with eachother...
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Avatar universal
I wouldn't say the episodes happen directly after a nightmare situation.  I always dream always.  I don't think I ever fully sleep without them - the nightmares are usually something that jolt me awake.  There is a history of epilepsy in my family, so I don't know if that might be an issue - who knows at this point!  It seems as I get older, it gets a little more added to the bag of illnesses every day! LOL

Currently, I take an anticonvulsant (Lamictal) that is also used for bipolar.  

My mani and depressive episodes do happen at times after those situations, but mainly its the paranoia that sets in after one.  I am a rapid cycler, so it's hard to pinpoint that they happen after a nightmare event.  
Helpful - 0
585414 tn?1288941302
I think I can better comment on what you said in your last post here. What you are describing does sound like psychosis, it is a sharp break from reality but not just a change in mood or affect but in thinking but it only occurs during mood changes so that would more be bipolar with psychotic features than schizoaffective disorder. However, if it occurs most often after waking up from nightmares I might think of getting a sleep study. Maybe something occurs during sleeping or dreaming that sets this off that could be treated as well. I had a sleep study and it was a very comfortable easy experience not at all unpleasent. That's how they discovered that I had nocturnal spasms which then confirmed I had tardive dyskinesia. The remaining psychosis I have which is tentatively being identified as tardive psychosis occurs during disturbing dissociative dreams which carry over to the real world. But this is neurological. There are many physical and mental disabilities that impair sleep. Bipolar often causes people to have trouble sleeping but if sleep changes set off psychosis they perhaps might want to do an EEG just as they did in me to rule out temporal lobe epilepsy which causes personality changes instead of seizures. Are most of your manic and depressive episodes set off after waking up from nightmares? In that case perhaps your psychiatrist might want to make a referral to a neurologist who would do an EEG and a sleep study if warranted to rule out further conditions that may be exascerbating it.
Helpful - 0
666265 tn?1225967137
Yes, I do have that sense of impending doom a lot.  My pdoc called it premonitions.  It's like when I'm riding in a car, I can "see" (not a hallucination, just a gut feeling) that certain cars are going to pull out in front of us, a fire will start in the house, etc. etc.  Just very irrational thoughts.  My pdoc says it is due to the Bipolar "although I am not a doctor, this is my personal experience."  I know exactly how you are feeling!  Finding out things you may have done or said during an episode can be somewhat embarrassing!  Take care.
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Avatar universal
At times, I can remember the dreams, but mostly, I just awake horrified.  Heart racing, feeling of dread and doom, and basically bolt out of bed.  Sleep is hard for me anyway and I cherish the deep sleep - but when the nightmares come, it makes me not want to go that deep into sleep.  My dreams don't have a theme or repetitive nature - and the ones that I actually remember aren't as horrifying to me as the waking unknowing of why I am horrified.  It really plays into my paranoia

Maxicat-like you, I have extreme memory loss during a manic episode, and honestly, since being on lamictal, I have a problem with short term memory loss - period.  During my manic episodes and sometimes my psychotic episodes, I do things that I "kind of" recall - but it isn't until I am stable.   When I ask of it - and it's important to me to be able to trust the person I ask - I am always shocked and amazed at my behavior, and most of the time embarrassed.

Do you guys have the paranoid delusions of the foretelling doom?  Like you can sense something bad is about to happen to you.  Panic over that sense?  I don't think I am psychic - please - but I know it's to do with my BP.  I am just wondering if others do that, too.  I would LOVE to harness that - it really plays on my paranoia and mania.  

Helpful - 0
666265 tn?1225967137
I also have memory loss during a psychotic/manic episode.  I remember NOTHING and that itself is very scary!!  I always feel like "they" are coming to get me, so I stare at the driveway.  I don't know who "they" are...then I continue to get worse.  Currently, I am taking Tegretol, Seroquel and Klonopin.  Has worked well for me.  As for my nightmares, they are always related to death in some way, thus, I get paranoid about even going to sleep.  What a cycle!!
Helpful - 0
539694 tn?1434565947
I sure do.. ive lost a lot of the people i care about through my paranoia and delusional beliefs about what they were ''really doing behind my back'' its horrible and you wont believe a word of it until quite a while afterwards when you realise yourself.

As for nightmares yes ive always had them and i believe this is why i and many other bipolar sufferers have such screwed up sleep patterns. I got to a point where i learned to control when i entered REM sleep and i could in effect switch it off and stop myself dreaming just not sleep to heavilly. But this is very bad for your body because starving your brain of REM sleep and dreams is very very damaging and can contribute visual hallucinations in many sufferers.

Would you be able to tell us anything else about your nightmares like are there any particular ones that recur frequently? What are they about? Have you ever had lucid dreams where you can turn a nightmare into a positive dream for a short while before you wake?
Helpful - 0
666265 tn?1225967137
Hi, I'm new to the forum.  I was diagnosed Bipolar I in 2000 although the symptoms haven been with me for many years.  I noticed this post about paranoia, nightmares, etc.  I feel the exact same way!!  Once then paranoia sets in, I know I'm headed for a manic or psychotic episode.  Luckily, my symptoms can be easily stopped with medication, but it sure is no fun while it is happening!
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Avatar universal
I am on Lamictal and it's worked great so far - but I do have these delusions, at times!  It's scary at times because they are so real - and I know it's my paranoia kicking in.  My ex told me all of these things that I didn't remember until getting on Lamictal - really paranoid things.  It was weird because I would ask him - "Did I do this???"  or "Did I say that??"  My therapist says that  I was in a psychotic episode when I did things I couldnt remember clearly and progressively, I will remember things (I guess as I am ready to remember, too).  

What bothers me is that a lot of time, I don't remember ANY dream - just that I am horrified when I wake up.  Other times, its the dejavu when I am totally awake.  

Do you have BP?

Helpful - 0
222267 tn?1253302210
I was paranoid right before I became psychotic and manic.  It lasted for months.  I had nightmares for years though every night.  Horrible ones where they effected me throughout the day.  When I was paranoid, I thought everyone was out to get me including my boyfriend my friends and my own family (I am very close with them).  I didn't realize how paranoid I was.  Medication is the only thing that helped me.  I hope you see your doc asap before it gets worse.  I don't know if you are on medication but if you are, it's not working.  I hope you start feeling better soon.  Hope this helped a little.  I have been there and it's awful.
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