Mental Health Suggestions to stop nightmares from PTSD

[ConstanceG]

They come from my job, and it is every other night it seems.
I am in a room on the phone with a woman and a small child who are both crying & screaming "He has a gun." I am under a bench hiding in the child's room. There is a bunk bed and toys. As I try to talk her to safety, I hear two gun shots. Then foot steps. I am desperately trying to hear what is going on...and he comes in and shoots me in the neck. It goes black and I feel the trickle of blood. I smell it. I am crying when I wake up.

So...what non-medicationhelp has anyone else had with PTSD? I know I can't be the only one who is affected by life. Thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Sorry we can't promote drug use, only harm reduction.

That sounds horrible and disturbing.

You're not the only one, that's certainly. But we just can't do the recommending thing here, even if its for a non-abusable med. Please see a doctor about this if you think it significant to warrant medical attention.

I'm going to modify the thread a bit to keep it open so we don't shut you out. We can suggest habits or such.

 

[ConstanceG]

I do see a psychiatrist but what we have tried isn't working. All of my meds are prescribed. Thank you.

 

[Kittycat5]

Have you been prescribed Prazosin?

 

[chompy]

If you drink alcohol, don't drink it. Also I have been reading this website about ptsd and other articles that the doctor has written. Perhaps there will be some information in it to help you out. http://pete-walker.com/fourFs_TraumaTypologyComplexPTSD.htm

 

[ConstanceG]

@KittyCat - I have not. I will go research it, thank you!

@chompy - thank you for the link. What a great site. I haven't drank in over a year. Just causes too many issues for me. I would drink straight from the huge bottle...and wouldn't stop until I blacked out. Makes me sick thinking about it.

 

[yompf]

I don't understand , did you witness a murder ? Are you one of those guys who pick up when you dial 911,?
Why not try a different approach to the situation. Idk your spiritual beliefs but if you experienced a trauma you should have a soul retrieval done. A shamanic practitioner can do wonders for you.
Medicine won't heal your trauma...
So what happened I'm confused?

 

[ConstanceG]

Yep. 15 years as a 911/police dispatcher. What is a shamantic practitioner?

 

[yompf]

It's someone who can help you deal with issues on a spiritual level. Hypnosis could help you too . I think a hypnotherapist will take you back to your traumatic memory, in a controlled environment and help you work through it. Supposedly the memory actually changes.
I've experienced this .It's not easy going back but it does change the way you think about what happened. So it works when successful.
I hope you look into alternative methods . Meds won't really help you I'm. I mean they will help you sleep but you need actual healing . This sounds pretty messed up. Having these dreams every other night.
Shamanic practitioners are usually licensed hypnotherapists too. I would go with one of them because they can do soul retrievals . Idk if you need that but you might, like if you were so traumatized by what was going on ,that a part of yourself broke away because it couldnt handle it. These guys can get that part of you back . I've experienced this as well. A soul retrieval. I had some trauma when I was a child and some as a teen. It was like having all this extra strength come back to me, that had been missing for a long time. I hadn't been whole for most of my life. That's what trauma can do. abuse....
Anyway , if that's too out there for you ,at least try hypnotherapy.?
Hope you get better soon. I think you can find your way without the meds.

 

[ConstanceG]

Yompf, thank you so much. I am sorry you've had trauma in your life. I too experienced some horrible things as a child both at home and at the sitters. I suppose thats why I chose to go into a career that I thought could help others...in doing so it has left a bit more for me to deal with. The shamantic practitioner sounds like a good investment. I put my soul into my work...

 

[JessFR]

I've had countless PTSD nightmares in my life. One thing that has been explored in recent years, a novel treatment for this sort of thing, something I had some success with, is using lucid dreaming. The idea being that by mastering lucid dreaming you can then take control in the nightmares and change them. Usually in the beginning its just being able to turn the dream to your side, so for example, you can stop it from happening. Or learn to identify that you're dreaming and wake up. With practice you might learn to end the dream entirely and replace it with an entirely different one.

Like I said, I've had success with it. For me it started by identifying I was in a dream and willing myself to wake up. Other times I'd change the dream to give myself a weapon and kill the son of a bitch instead. Like I said, it helped. But it took time. And time has probably done more to reduce my nightmares than anything else. A LOT of time though. Many many years. But time has helped. I don't get them too often anymore. They tend to come for about a week every month or so. A lot better than every fucking night.

Anyway, just a thought. I don't hear it suggested very often.

 

[ConstanceG]

Kittycat, I was prescribed prozasin today. Got a new pysch, amd she couldn't believe the previous one hadn't tried it.

 

[herbavore]

Yes to exploring both lucid dreaming and also somatic therapies. Trauma is held in the body as well as in the mind. For me, I had to go through hell with constant nightmares and also wakeful imagining that damn near drove me over the edge when I first got a house on my own. I had PTSD from a childhood rape attempt and every single night I would sit up with every light in my house on and my eyes wide open while my mind made every single squeak and creak of an old house into an attacker. I would stay awake until I finally exhausted myself and then have exhausting "sleep" where my mind just kept the horror show running. This went on every night until I finally outlived my own minds capacity to keep reliving the past. I still get nightmares occasionally. I still cannot hike by myself without panic being a part of the experience. But I do not suffer the relentless mind-movie that was life threatening back then and I believe it is because I began to understand that I had lost control of my own thoughts and addressed that as best I could. We are both incredibly fragile and incredibly strong. I truly believe that we can heal ourselves from the worst traumas. The way to do that is to acknowledge that you will carry some of it forever but that does not mean you have to carry the whole experience or be defined by the trauma forever.