Trying to find some answers...

Hey.
Let's jump right in. My whole life I have been plagued with nightmares and what I described at exhausting dreams. I felt as though I may as well have not gone to sleep at all. I have also struggled greatly with being able to distinguish my dreams from reality. I still often ask my parents if a certine experience happened to me as a child or things I had done, as recently as age 18. I am 26 now.

I am often very aware of the fact I am dreaming, able to alter the dream and eventually control my fear in the dreams. I have had many recurring dreams that have ended since gaing control over the situations. I have actually been dreaming lucidly and having OBE's ALOT less since I began to conntrol them. This is GREAT to me. They scare me and leave me with a horrible feeling afterwards and still now when I recall them.

I am very happy that I am not crazy. I was starting to wonder.....:boogie:

Now that I realize that this is "normal" I may take a deeper look and see what it is about...:lol:

Interesting story. Welcome to Dream Views.

My wife has had lucids and hates them. She either doesn't recall or doesn't have them anymore and is thrilled with that. I find it kind of ironic that I struggle every night to achieve what she strives to avoid.

It can indeed be an amazing, gratifying and wonderful experience, and the level of control can be absolute. I wish I had known that when I was younger and having lucid dreams. I never knew I could control them. I never even knew what they were.

There are others on board here who have struggled with horrific dreams and night terrors and are using lucid dreaming as a way to deal with it. Hopefully they'll find their way to you.

I wish you all the best in your efforts. If there is anything we can do for you, don't hesitate to ask! You'll find the staff here most helpful and very experienced.

Take care, and good luck.

Allegra26, I'm glad you decided to join us!

You might want to review the Newbie Zone Guide for helpful information about this site: http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=36723

You may also want to check out the Tutorials forum which contains information on the various lucid dreaming techniques and other helpful information: http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...splay.php?f=25.

If you should have any questions, please ask and we'll do our best to get you answers.

Welcome to Dream Views! :D

Hi and welcome to the Dream Views.

I spent most of my life plagued with nightmares and bouts of sleep paralysis that made me think I was dying. I always only felt half there during the day due to extreme sleep deprivation.

Once I started seriously learning about dreams I unintentionally rid myself of waking up in sleep paralysis, which is great. I used to also have bouts of what I though were OBE's and I was scared of them because like the SP, i automatically assumed I was dying. And damn but I feel stupid now to know that all that was just a normal part of falling asleep. Now when I feel that rising out of my body sensation I know I'm dreaming.

I also rarely have nightmares anymore. I have a few disturbing dreams but nothing that crosses over into nightmare territory. Which also is great. This site has helped me to tame the 'monsters' that had haunted me all my life. I honestly can say I owe my sanity (or near sanity) to DV.
:silly:

Hope you stick around and things get better for you too.

Hi Allegra26
You certainly are not crazy.. well if you are, you are in good company. ;)
pj has known me for some time now. He knew that I have had similar experiences with nightmares coupled with the problematic differentiation between a dream and reality.
I have some journal entries of some of these experiences.

Having looked back, as I tried so hard to explain to others, and as my lucid dreams became so stabilized, I believe that what I failed to address was that - while I was awake, I had no difficulty realizing I was not in a dream. But as I was in a dream, I had subtle hints and clues that I would be in a dream, yet I could not ...prove it? It sounds a little contradictory. It just has to be experienced.
I would be curious to know of your experiences.

Lucid dreaming is such a great avenue to face some of our nightmares. If we have them often, they can be used as dream signs. Me, like you, also had my reoccurring dreams end after gaining some control.

Do you still have many nightmares Allegra26?

Best of dreaming and hope to see you around the Forum. :yeah