Posted by Jiggitykid on September 2, 2004, at 6:46:00
In reply to Effexor withdrawal nightmares,sleep, posted by Erica22 on September 2, 2004, at 6:15:45
First of all, flesh the dream out, write a book and make a million dollars!! ;-) I had the same type of horror-dreams. I was scared to go to sleep, too. I usually held on to dear hubby's arm (when he'd let me - he is one of those, "Don't touch me, it's hot," sleepers, but he was more patient with me during this) which helped keep me grounded. Another thing I did was keep a lamp on, so that when I woke up, I could become immediately accustomed to my surroundings. And, I also did what I joked about and what you just did: I wrote the dream out or told someone the entire detailed thing, so that the dream was "out of my head." That helped put it into perspective.
This is part and parcel of the withdrawal, I'm sorry to say. Knowing that these dreams would not stay forever helped me get through that time. Be very careful about taking sleep aids, etc., that might become habit forming; you don't want to make a bad situation worse.
Take care, and write that next horror blockbuster! :-)
> It is 3:30 AM and I just woke up from a horrible nightmare. It is day 7 of being off of Effexor. The nightmare left me so shook that I am still feeling paranoid. Thanks to you guys I knew that getting nightmares from Effexor withdrawing is typical. I feel like those zaps are my brain misfiring *shrugs* I really pray that not getting sleep because of nightmares doesn't become the norm. Since getting off of Effexor, by 7 PM every night I can't take the dizziness anymore and I fall into a deep sleep and wake up at 9 PM so I won't be as tired with that extra sleep. Anyways before these nightmares and after getting off Effexor I was having long sleeps over night where I felt like a long complex dream where I remembered the plot of it vividly. I would wake up right away as soon as the dream ended, like tonight but this time it was plain horror! My dream went like this- I had got drawn into hanging out with a new love interest and his family and they always stuck together at his house. Turns out they lure people in and make them part of their gang. Any attempt at leaving will result in your murder. Well I got the cops attention focused on us all stuck in the situation which lead to the gang being busted but not all of them went to jail and since I was the newest member they suspected me and I had it coming, a whole new life if I was lucky to escape death first. How crazy! I woke up paranoid of who could be lurking around and contemplating my vunerability if the situation were true. I never was like this before and I want it to end! I know its a dream so I haven't done anything to exhibit paranoia but man if these horror dreams keep happening like others have said it does- no fun as if we haven't been through enough bad unproductive days that made us get on the Effexor to begin with. The withdrawal symptoms of Effexor can be quite interruptive to one's life.
poster:Jiggitykid
thread:12459
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040830/msgs/385584.html