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Dealing with lucid nightmares

Medea

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For a little bit of context I am narcoleptic and have a severe anxiety disorder because I think that can sometimes affect things. (I also can’t take some herbs because of this and have to be careful with some meditation methods and things like that) I lucid dream super regularly but also deal with severe and frequent semi-lucid nightmares. Essentially I wind up halfway lucid where I know I’m dreaming but can’t control the dream so I deal with weird threats from dream characters to my real body or life or feeling like I’m trapped in the dream. I wake up feeling terrified and it negatively impacts my life. What are good strategies for coping with this?
edit: For further context in case it’s relevant my method of lucid dreaming is reality checks.
 
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Nembra

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For such problems I usually advise trying out Jungian active imagination technique. At the very least it would give you the opportunity to gain some insight into the situation, and possibly much more.
 

Digiquo

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I can imagine your narcolepsy acts as a pretty large instigator of your lucid dreaming, it's almost an involuntary Wake Back To Bed lucid dreaming method.
Nightmares can be caused by many things, and while I'm sure your anxiety disorder could be partly to blame, I would first start with examining the mundane aspects of your daily life that could be contributing to them. Diet is probably the most understated and most influential source of most everything that's going on with our day-to-day mental health. Some people are sensitive to certain food substances that just do strange things to their mind.
A personal anecdote on the subject, I have to avoid regular dairy milk like the plague, not because I'm lactose intolerant, but because I have linked it to severe depressive episodes and mood swings whenever I consume it. These episodes typically start with eating a bowl of cereal a couple of days in a row and then all of sudden I'm wondering where everything went wrong in my life and if I should just give up doing anything. It took me years to make the connection, but after deliberately avoiding it and replacing it with non-dairy milk, I have been completely free of these out-of-left-field mood swings.
For your case, start recording every single thing you eat. Keep a log. The more information you gather, the more data you have to begin drawing potential connections. If there's one thing probably everyone has too much of though, it's coffee. Overuse of caffeine has a tendency at large to cause nightmares. I can imagine you probably drink a lot of caffeine in some form or another to combat your narcolepsy. I am willing to wager this is a large source of your nightmares. Caffeine also exaggerates anxiety, and will make your disorder worse.

I'm no medical professional, and you may already know some of this from recommendations by your healthcare provider, but the importance of physical health has a tendency to fly under the radar in discussions of occult matters.
 

speculumphilosophi

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For a little bit of context I am narcoleptic and have a severe anxiety disorder because I think that can sometimes affect things. (I also can’t take some herbs because of this and have to be careful with some meditation methods and things like that) I lucid dream super regularly but also deal with severe and frequent semi-lucid nightmares. Essentially I wind up halfway lucid where I know I’m dreaming but can’t control the dream so I deal with weird threats from dream characters to my real body or life or feeling like I’m trapped in the dream. I wake up feeling terrified and it negatively impacts my life. What are good strategies for coping with this?
edit: For further context in case it’s relevant my method of lucid dreaming is reality checks.
I think it may be Night Hag Syndrome. In my case (and with others) there's a presence of malice in the room but you can't wake up. In psychology it's called sleep paralysis, whereas in folklore Old Hag Syndrome (you can look it up). Alot of the UFO abductions or visitor phenomena are often rooted in this.
I am now totally cured of it after many many years. I somehow gained the ability to wake myself up. Apparently Nightmare On Elm Street was based on these severe nightmares.
 

Amizodpalsdon

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For a little bit of context I am narcoleptic and have a severe anxiety disorder because I think that can sometimes affect things. (I also can’t take some herbs because of this and have to be careful with some meditation methods and things like that) I lucid dream super regularly but also deal with severe and frequent semi-lucid nightmares. Essentially I wind up halfway lucid where I know I’m dreaming but can’t control the dream so I deal with weird threats from dream characters to my real body or life or feeling like I’m trapped in the dream. I wake up feeling terrified and it negatively impacts my life. What are good strategies for coping with this?
edit: For further context in case it’s relevant my method of lucid dreaming is reality checks.
For a little bit of context I am narcoleptic and have a severe anxiety disorder because I think that can sometimes affect things. (I also can’t take some herbs because of this and have to be careful with some meditation methods and things like that) I lucid dream super regularly but also deal with severe and frequent semi-lucid nightmares. Essentially I wind up halfway lucid where I know I’m dreaming but can’t control the dream so I deal with weird threats from dream characters to my real body or life or feeling like I’m trapped in the dream. I wake up feeling terrified and it negatively impacts my life. What are good strategies for coping with this?
edit: For further context in case it’s relevant my method of lucid dreaming is reality checks.
I've read the other replies to your problem and I think they offer very, very good advice. Dietary amendments and dream diaries are very, very helpful.

My contribution to help solving your problem though would be practising calming meditation (Samattha in Buddhist terms, which you can learn for free) to ground yourself in remembering/appreciating that even everyday thoughts and appearances and interaction with others, come and go, are illusory, transitory, and ultimately insubstantial. More so dreams. So perhaps after daytime meditation practise, consciously try to take your calming meditation into your sleep pattern by practising it a little at first, when actually falling asleep. And again before getting out of bed (not easy if you're employed, I know). I've had lucid dreams for as long as I can remember (a long time) Some are helpful, insightful and some, well... shall we say they're thrilling, exciting, erotic? But some are absolutely, truly terrifying, a bit like real life tbh. I've never understood why people like extreme fairground rides - they terrify me and make me sick at the very thought of the experience, yet again, for many years now, I've approached bedtimes and anticipated dreams with the attitude of fairground thrillseekers - I can't wait to be scared ****less. I trust you'll not think I'm inconsiderate of your problem. It was very much a problem for me. That’s been my primary solution. Best wishes.
 

Tryp

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I haven't experienced quite what you have but still I hope my feedback can be useful. As a child, I went through long periods of night terrors. Which in principle are quite different, because they are usually not lucid -rather the contrary, an invasion of a deeply unsettling dream experience into a partly awake state. The relevant part is how I understood better their mechanics when they manifested (thankfully, in much rarer occasions) in my adulthood. The trigger was unresolved tension and anxiety, related with loss of control, that seemed to erupt soon after drifting into sleep.

Some of the advice above is of course reasonable -making sure that for instance your diet is not contributing further to the problem, trying meditation techniques, or journaling to gather more insight about your dream mechanics in order to hopefully be able to alter them within lucidity or to at least modulate your response. But I understand that a core source of your anxiety is the helplessness that narcolepsy can bring, the dread that comes with the loss of control, and that dread I know well.

In my experience, there were two ways to fight this. One, which can be much more challenging for you, was securing my environment. And I don't just mean securing it physically, but rather sharing my fears with peers or family, which worked in a way as a partial delegation of that control and responsibility. Perhaps if you can make your surroundings more aware of your fear and challenges, the outcome will be less rough.

The second way, which is perhaps not that different, is to build some sort of protection. This of course depends on your practice and paradigm. For me, and for instance, protective fragrances helped a lot. A mist diffuser near my bed, or a bottle with some infused oil I prepared before hand, with a few drops of vervain, cedar or frankincense oils. Some plant spirits work well against nightmares, and I say this with a completely straight face.
 

speculumphilosophi

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I must admit I found it odd my final ability to wake up seemed to dissipate the attacks. I can even sleep on my right side now (most people are more affected in that position). I don't know how I suddenly became able to wake myself up after years of the problem.
I was once in a guest house and the screams of my nightmare apparently.caused the lodgers to bolt their doors. I heard it being discussed over breakfast. I suppose that had it's funny side.
Post automatically merged:

Any thoughts on the so-called visitor phenomenon, popularised by Whitney Streiber? Plus the film "Communion", now much more popular than when it was released.
Personally, I think Whitney suffered sleep paralysis. In his dreams, he claimed abduction experiences, yet these are similar to my own. Mine, as a matter of fact, were terrifying. While asleep I would hear footsteps approaching the door - some sinister presence. I would then leap out of the bed in sheer terror and click the light switch. The lights didn't come on. The rest of the family seemed to be completely asleep. The remainder of the nightmare never surfaced. The very scary bit is my parents finally called an electrician to check the circuits since they would find the lights dead on the following day.
Much later I discovered sleep paralysis but the folkloric Old Hag Syndrome stretches back centuries. For Whitney, the sinister hag had become "a grey". So, he wrote the book Communion and later it became a film, which got dreadful reviews, but is now highly praised. I suppose I could write a book similar to Communion with similar experiences. I put them down to sleep paralysis, though I once heard someone reported her cat had shown up on the CCTV clawing at the air, while sat on the bed. All very strange.
 
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uraniumglass

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I would first start with examining the mundane aspects of your daily life that could be contributing to them. Diet is probably the most understated and most influential source of most everything that's going on with our day-to-day mental health. Some people are sensitive to certain food substances that just do strange things to their mind.
For your case, start recording every single thing you eat. Keep a log. The more information you gather, the more data you have to begin drawing potential connections. Caffeine also exaggerates anxiety, and will make your disorder worse.
I'm no medical professional, and you may already know some of this from recommendations by your healthcare provider, but the importance of physical health has a tendency to fly under the radar in discussions of occult matters.

One, which can be much more challenging for you, was securing my environment. And I don't just mean securing it physically, but rather sharing my fears with peers or family, which worked in a way as a partial delegation of that control and responsibility. Perhaps if you can make your surroundings more aware of your fear and challenges, the outcome will be less rough.
The second way, which is perhaps not that different, is to build some sort of protection. This of course depends on your practice and paradigm.

These responses are worth their weight in gold.

I don't have narcolepsy, but I do have non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder and an anxiety disorder to match. I've had some rough bouts of lucid nightmares and they can be terrifying.

Keep a dream journal if you aren't already. It'll increase your dream recall and awareness, don't be surprised if you continue finding yourself lucid frequently, the awareness is what you want. You could also try adjusting your reality checks to increase your initial agency upon realization. What are the reality checks you're using now?
 

Firetree

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For a little bit of context I am narcoleptic and have a severe anxiety disorder because I think that can sometimes affect things. (I also can’t take some herbs because of this and have to be careful with some meditation methods and things like that) I lucid dream super regularly but also deal with severe and frequent semi-lucid nightmares. Essentially I wind up halfway lucid where I know I’m dreaming but can’t control the dream so I deal with weird threats from dream characters to my real body or life or feeling like I’m trapped in the dream. I wake up feeling terrified and it negatively impacts my life. What are good strategies for coping with this?
edit: For further context in case it’s relevant my method of lucid dreaming is reality checks.

See my post 7 ;


Magnesium Glycinate - its a supplement you can buy at a chemist

How Magnesium Affects Dreams
    • Deeper Sleep Cycles: Magnesium helps quiet the nervous system and supports restorative sleep stages where dreaming naturally occurs. [
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    • REM Rebound: If you have been sleep-deprived or deficient, your brain catches up on missed REM sleep, which temporarily intensifies dream activity and recall. [
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    • Processing Stress: Deeper sleep allows your brain to process unresolved daytime stress and emotions, which can sometimes manifest as unsettling or intense dreams. [
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Managing Intense Dreams



    • Adjust Timing: Take your supplement with dinner instead of right before bed to let your system metabolize it more gradually.
    • Lower the Dose: Reduce your serving size temporarily to let your nervous system adjust to the change in sleep quality.
    • Give It Time: Vivid dreams usually fade within one to two weeks as your sleep architecture stabilizes. [
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    - also , fill the sink with cold water and when you awake from a nightmare stick your face under the surface . this triggers your remnant 'infant submersion syndrome ' , in case baby fell in water ; an instant calming effect on the blood , pulse rate and nervous system ( thats why the old remedy of splashing the face or a damp towel in the forehead ) .

  • keep your hair short for good air flow , sleep naked with just enough bedclothes to be just under the cold level .

  • Have an incantation handy ; this is a good one

  • The Magician .

    O Lord, deliver me from hell*'s great fear and gloom!
    Loose thou my spirit from the larvae of the tomb!
    I seek them in their dread abodes without affright:
    On them will I impose my will, the law of light.

    I bid the night conceive the glittering hemisphere.
    Arise, O sun, arise! O moon, shine white & clear!
    I seek them in their dread abodes without affright:
    On them will I impose my will, the law of light.

    Their faces and their shapes are terrible and strange.
    These devils by my might to angels I will change.
    These nameless horrors I address without affright:
    On them will I impose my will, the law of light.

    These are the phantoms pale of mine astonied view,
    Yet none but I their blasted beauty can renew;
    For to the abyss of hell I plunge without affright:
    On them will I impose my will, the law of light.

  • Practice the Zoroastrian principle of ; Good thoughts ( leading to ) good mind (leading to ) good words ( leading to ) good actions . In short , cultivate 'Spenta Mainyu ' ( good quality of mind ) ;


  • ''

    Spenta & Angra Mainyu​

    • A brilliant, positive, constructive, and beneficent spirit that seeks wisdom is called a spenta mainyu.
    • The archetype and embodiment of spenta mainyu is called ratush, the righteous leader.
    • A gloomy, negative, destructive, and harmful spirit that wishes to remain ignorant is called an angra mainyu.
    • The archetype and embodiment of angra mainyu is called ahriman, the devil incarnate.

    Spirit & Attitude - Fundamental Choice​

    • The fundamental choice we make is the nature of our spirit and attitude.
    • Because our choice can change and because a spenta mainu is particularly vulnerable, we need to periodically and continuously reassess and reaffirm our choice of spirit. ''
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Noctua

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For a little bit of context I am narcoleptic and have a severe anxiety disorder because I think that can sometimes affect things. (I also can’t take some herbs because of this and have to be careful with some meditation methods and things like that) I lucid dream super regularly but also deal with severe and frequent semi-lucid nightmares. Essentially I wind up halfway lucid where I know I’m dreaming but can’t control the dream so I deal with weird threats from dream characters to my real body or life or feeling like I’m trapped in the dream. I wake up feeling terrified and it negatively impacts my life. What are good strategies for coping with this?
edit: For further context in case it’s relevant my method of lucid dreaming is reality checks.
During the hypnogogic state before you drop off to sleep, suggest to yourself that if you become lucid in a nightmare, you will see a certain object, for instance, a sign that says "Wake up!" When you see the object, awaken. If you can't find the object, command it to appear. I'm not sure where this technique originated, but probably Stephen LaBerge or a similar sleep scientist.
 
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