bad dreams and lack of sleep

all my life iv suffered with depression and bi polar . and suffered from lack of sleep. often staying awake til the sun rises. but only in the last few years have i had really bad nightmares. its just not one bad dream but a series of bad dreams and nightterrors one after the other. i find them very disturbing as they are always in color and and involve family members who are living and dead.  i dont think ive had one night where i didnt dream atleast 4 nightmares in a row.  can these nightmares be because of my bi polar ? or am i just cracking up? ive tried talking to shrinks in past. and its not for me ive always felt worse when i leave than when i got there. is my past and troubling childhood and life showing itself in my dreams?

[AshleyBaker]

I have night terrors from time to time. It was a lot worse before going on medications. I also suffer from insomnia and can stay awake for days at a time sometimes. I take a boatload of meds now that help with all of that. I have fewer nightmares...mine were bad too...seeing people slane, blood, guts...being shot and killed. Seeing dead people...and the list goes on and on.

Since being on the meds, they are few and far between.

I have seen shrinks all my life. Ever since I was a kid. My parents were worried and couldn't understand why I was acting the way I was. I have had good shrinks and bad ones. Find one that works with you. I have one now, he's awesome.

I wonder if night terrors/nightmares ARE a part of being bipolar? Maybe it's related to being sleep deprived....which insomnia can go with bipolar...so in a round about kind of way...maybe yeah....it is.

I don't think you're cracking up.

I often look at my dreams too for meaning...and sometimes really believe that there is relivence (sp) to some of them....others I have no clue.

Stay strong sister.

Ash

[kris123]

i have bad nightmares that have me wake scared and they seem so real.  i hate them

[rollercoaster1958]

My psych doc put me on Trazadone for my nightmares.  Without the Trazadone, I had the most horrible nightmares - and would wake up exhausted.  

No, you aren't cracking up.  I'm bipolar and although my doctor has never said the nightmares are related to my disease, I'm convinced they are.  

Ask for something to knock you out at night.  It might help.

Good luck.  

[Tyzer33]

I had the really bad dreams/night terrors, im on effexor which has a sideeffect of vivid dreams there so unbelievably real i couldnt even describe. I dream about dreams, when i wake im not sure wats actually happened or what is a dream it takes me most of the day to figure this out sumtimes. Im so used to these bad dreams that i would no longer even consider them nightmares, and strangely now instead of being scared in my dreams i feel no fear and constantly want to fight. My psychiatrist has spoke a bit with me about my dreams she thinks that because im quite stable at the minute its a reflection of this in my dreams ie me wanting to fight the illness and not giving / being scared by it. My dreams have the same family/ friends theme to it, i live by myself but in all of my dreams i still live at my mums and dream a lot of the time that im still in school even tho i left school 7 years ago. Ive started writing down wats happening in my dreams this has helped me to understand them a bit better and see a few patterns in them.

[skmedlin27703]

My doctor put me on Trazadone also... I was sleep walking and not getting enough sleep.  It has been working great for me! So well I do not hear my husband snore... so I am no longer woken up at all hours of night!

[starbunny]

I have always have had vivid dreams. I strongly suspect that the medication can interfere with your sleeping/dreaming patterns. When I first went on seroquel I had lots of nightmares.
However this was in some ways better than the dreams I had before which used to really bug me as they seemed to be like bizzare premonitions or have special significance, or linked into paranoia in some way so at least now I just have plain 'ordinary' ones!
I think dreams are bound to be linked with bipolar because if you are affected by the illness during the day, then your dreams are going to reflect the state of mind you are in, it just makes sense.