Disturbing Pseudoreality.

Hi.

I've been plagued by a recurring theme of dream that I have nearly every night.
I'll give you some background info, i'm a Caucasian male, 25 years old. I'm a Blacksmith from the UK and I have a pretty comfortable life, stable relationship with family and and friends and a fiance of 6 years.
I have analysed my external situation and I have almost no major issues, introspectively however I feel deeply unsettled.

I have a recurring dream that is pretty much every night. The majority of my night is a very shallow semi conscious sleep, which I think has developed over time because I'm afraid of falling into a deep sleep.
When ever I get into a deep sleep I have a dream I can recall very vividly because as soon as I am in this dream I can not wake, not only that but when I "awake" I am actually still in the dream. It is horrifying. It is the scariest thing to believe you have woken up only to experience the nightmare of the dream you think you have escaped.

So I dream I am a survivor of the zombie apocalypse. Some times it is the initial outbreak and i'm scrabbling around with the masses trying to escape the outbreak of zombies. Some times the zombie wasteland has been around for a while and i'm just dodging and weaving, trying to survive. Some times I'm alone and sometimes I'm with other survivors.
When I'm awake this scenario doesn't bother me, or didn't bother me. I'm so paranoid now that I actually have a backpack full of supplies and a route/plan to the nearest oil rig. That's how badly my nightmares have effect me, I actually have a complex over this now.

These "dreams" (and hopefully not premonitions) have been afflicting me for about 4-5 years now. At first I found it hard to sleep, now I'm finding it hard to fend off the psychological damage.
A break down of the usual dream consists of me personally running, fighting or hiding from zombies. When I run I find I am often too slow, I am running in slow motion or it's like i'm trying to run through treacle. I'm never caught but the intense feeling of something about to catch me is very upsetting. I often have to fight and kill/incap zombies in hand to hand combat to escape. These are incredibly intense and traumatic parts of my dreams, there is always the element of fear of death or perhaps "the life beyond death".
Every moment is incredibly real and vivid, I'm scared to sleep and I'm scared when asleep, I'm even scared when awake. I once stayed awake for 5 days straight to avoid sleeping and the result was even more traumatic, I can only describe the feeling/hallucinations as insanity. I'm at an impasse. I either lose my mind to sleep deprivation or lose it to sleep. I probably need some sort of professional help but I thought I'd start with public opinion. Am I losing my mind or is this kind of recurring nightmare common for a reason?
Please, any input or opinion is welcome.
Thanks.