Looking for some nightmare relief!!!

[SleepSolace]

Hi, new guy here. I've been investigating on the internet trying to find some remedies to allay a recent rash of nightmares that have been plaguing my sleep lately and started reading into lucid dreaming, which I'm finding extremely interesting! First let me tell some of what led up to this point. I am 37 yrs. old and have been a pot smoker since about 15 (please don't judge, things just turn out the way they do). About 3 weeks ago I quit cold turkey and, within about 3 days, I started dreaming again (or at least remembering them). Not just dreaming, but having extremely vivid dreams like I can't ever remember having before. In one of these, I did realize I was dreaming and did not awaken. This has happened before once or twice in my life but I would always wake up immediately. The trigger was I was at a place I used to work at about 10 years ago and was playing basketball with the owner whom I was never really close with. I asked him what he was doing in my dream and he just smiled but didn't reply. Then the dream shifted to somewhere else, and I was still aware that it was a dream, and lasted a while longer before I woke up. It was a great experience but, ironically, not what got me here. Over the past couple weeks my dreams have become much more intense and, in some cases, quite terrifying. The most recent was last night where I was on an island with some friends and my girlfriends son (who is 12 but in the dream he was only about 7 or 8 for some reason) when two giant tornadoes appeared in the distance and began to bear down on us. I was trying to protect him and did succeed in weathering the storm, but it caused giant tidal waves which sent ships careening into the island from every direction. I put him on my shoulders and was dodging everything from ocean freightliners to small fishing boats. Just when it seemed to be over, one last boat came shooting straight at us. As I attempted to evade it, I lost my grip and he fell from my shoulders and was run over and horribly mangled. I tried revive him and he did come to but his head was so cut up that the skin was literally falling off his skull. I tried to scream but could not make a sound and soon woke up sweating profusely with my heart feeling like it would pop right out of my chest. These are the kinds of dreams I've been having 2 or 3 times a night for the past two weeks and I feel completely exhausted during the day from lack of restful sleep at night. While not every one is as bad as that they are never good and, other than the dream I mentioned earlier, never lucid. In my investigating I discovered that vivid nightmares are a common side effect to marijuana withdrawal but haven't found anything definitive on how long they will last and I don't know how much more of this I can take. I go to bed dreading sleep. So here I am, I have just finished reading the entire DreamViews website and already have a dream journal on my nightstand. I am gonna try my best to follow all the guidelines and read up more of what I can find because I am at my wits' end. I was wondering if anyone else here started researching lucid dreaming to help them with nightmares as well and if there are any specific tips or material on-line that I could reference to help expediate getting back to some peaceful and, more importantly, restful sleep. Sorry for such a lengthy post!

[Kaos]

Hey, there! Welcome to Dream Views Don't worry about people judging you at all, the people in here are extremely open minded and kind hearted. Although I am not nearly as knowledgeable as some of the people on this site, I know enough to reassure you that becoming an avid lucid dreamer will in fact help you with these nightmares you are experiencing. Personally, I used to experience nightmares on a nightly basis before getting into lucid dreaming initially, similar to your schedule. After getting into lucid dreaming, a lot of my nightmares are turned from being terrifying to a dream that is actually fun and enjoyable. I still haven't reached the point where I become lucid in all of my nightmares, but I can settle for some rather than none. Be religious about writing in your DJ, do daily reality checks, and keep a calm and patient state of mind. Don't get frustrated if you don't get it for a while, just keep at it. It is by far one of the most rewarding things I have ever experienced in my life, regardless of getting rid of nightmares or not.

[Mascot]

I'm glad to hear this, your lungs will probably thank you too! Lucid dreams are funner than any of the drugs I can think of, so you won't regret your decision.

[SleepSolace]

Thank you for the advice and support! It's been 3 days since I started and I've added entries into my DJ each morning. None of my dreams have been nightmares since I've started which is awesome. One was a little scary and all of them were very strange, but nothing jerking me out of sleep in the middle of the night at least. I actually enjoy waking up and writing right away everything that I can remember. Maybe just by being proactive about it I am subliminally steering my dreams in the right direction? When writing my dreams down I am noticing a TON of dream signs that I otherwise wouldn't so I can already see how useful the DJ is. Well i'm gonna keep doing it at any rate and hopefully I can start REALLY taking control! Thanks again!

[SupaCoopa]

When I read the title was about nightmare relief I was originally going to tell you to do what I did. Try enjoying them, think of them as a scary movie. But mine rarely involved people I know and care about. But recognizing them as dream signs could work to. Basically once you have a nightmare realize it isn't real and then use that to get lucid. But yea, I think lucid dreaming would greatly help you. Just the fact your remembering your dreams like this is a good sign though. Btw can anyone explain why the dream journal helps so greatly? I always use it and now I can remember up to five dreams a night. But before I kept one I could never remember any. Why is that?

[SleepSolace]

Just woke up at 3:30 am and wrote down another bad one (dammit!). Serial killer sniper on a roof across the street with a laser sight pointed in the room I was in trying to draw a beat on me... Entered into journal and gonna try to get back to sleep now. Here we go again...