Do you ever have nightmares that you just can't wake up from?

I don’t have nightmares, and this doesn’t seem normal.

I have had the nightmares and sometimes it is difficult to get out of them. You can fight will all your might and cause yourself to wake.

Yep, and I just stick along for the ride, the same old general story every time and I am used to it now.

At the moment my life is feeling like one.

But no I know what you mean, and yes.

I have never had nightmares like that.

@downtide Your lucky. It’s a yucky feeling, and has stuck with me all day.

@tedd I know the feeling, I feel the same. This time of year is really stressful.

@JustJessica they sound horrible. I hope it stops soon.

Yep, I decided to go into the software engineering field a couple of decades back.

I’m still hopeful that I will still be in good health when I am finally able to afford a comfortable retirement.

I’ve not had exactly the experience you’ve described, but I’ve certainly had dreams that continue between bouts of awakeness. You might try “directing” your dream—see if you can see your dreaming self as an actress who responds to the director’s (your) voice.

I do not have nightmares. Well, others may consider some of them nightmares.
For example I died once in my dream (headshot). But it was not scary, terrifying or anything like that. Just a bit weird.

I have sleep paralysis coupled with night terrors. I just recently discovered that my oldest brother had them also. I have known for about two years that my youngest brother experienced them as well. It is related to REM sleep. It absolutely freaks my husband out. I’ve read that it is thought to be sleep-onset REM periods. Trust me, it is deathly scary. I aware of my surroundings but I can’t move and can’t wake up. In my mind, if I could just wiggle a pinky or a toe, or squeeze my fingers together, it would help me awake. I usually end up struggling out a scream and my husband wakes me up.

@bkcunningham i know that has to be horrible!

I think @Winters and @picante have good suggestions. It does sound similar to sleep paralysis, and there are drugs that might help, but it’s cognitive techniques that will do the most.

The first thing to do is to learn to recognize that you are in a dream. This is called lucid dreaming. So figure out some triggers that will awaken you to the idea that this is a dream, not reality. Practice this thought when you hit the trigger.

Next, learn to ride the dream. Distance yourself from it, knowing it is a dream. Try to appreciate it from the side, as if you are not in the dream, but are just watching it. That is, you move the “I” from inside the dream to the side of the dream. Many people find that just doing this really helps remove some anxiety.

Next, do as @picante suggested. Try to direct the dream. You are lucid (aware you are in the dream), and it actually is your dream, and this means you can take it wherever you want it to go. Again, this takes practice and you won’t get it on the first of even fiftieth time. There are tricks to this, such as walking into the air, or deciding to fly, or other weird things that you can’t do while awake and that are more fun than riding the mare. It’ll come.

Once you have started to gain some control, keep on practicing. Eventually you may even be able to sidetrack the mare and corral her. Maybe even train her. But even just riding the dream will help it lose it’s power. Yes, it makes you go where you want it to, but you realize this and go along for the ride and knowing what is happening is a big help all on its own.

No I can wake up, I some how wake myself up

Yeah, it’s called a bunker :¬(

Sorry that you are dealing with that…. I’ve had nightmares, but never over and over.

I’ve never had dreams like that before. Usually all my dreams run their course and then eventually the alarm clock goes off.

wow; I have bad dreams; mostly persecution from family members. Glad I got Midnite Sleep pills today! I have to block out the dreams to go back to sleep.

I’ve had this happen a few times when I was younger, and once recently. A couple months ago I started having nightmares where I was bleeding to death again and again. Never experienced something like that before. Worst part was I was hit with the idea that I had caused myself to bleed and it was my subconscious trying to make me kill myself. It lasted over two or three or maybe four weeks, a nightmare every few nights, until I did sort of try to kill myself and then they went away.

I think it was just my brain reacting to present and past stresses all piling up on each other with unfortunate event after unfortunate event unfolding before me daily. Things got better externally and, internally, things followed. I am definitely more reactive than active. I’ve always been that way, since I was a child. I think it’s a good way to be, naturally. But entire modern cultures are built around belief systems that value the idea that one’s choice changes everything all the time no matter what and is always unaffected by outside forces and always up to a self-defining free-will. Which is kind of annoying sometimes…

Annnyway,

“Ask your doctor” about melatonin supplements. I can’t reliably vouch for them because of my unusual circumstances and proneness to fall for the placebo effect, but every night since I started taking 3mg of the stuff I’ve had good dreams. It’s been 10–12 days now. Nothing but long, good dreams. That I remember anyway. It’s very inexpensive and you can get it over the counter in the states.

@zophu Thank you for the idea.

Yes, I have. That time my brain was sober but I couldn’t control my body in the nightmare. I wanted to wake up but I couldn’t. Then, I searched the internet and knew it was about pressure. If you have the same problem with me, please remember just relax and calm down.