If you are experiencing an increase in nightmares will you respond here?

Yes, Covid has greatly increased my stress levels. I’ve been getting a lot more nightmares than usual, I have a lot going on all at once right now and am under a lot of stress so it’s getting difficult. I have a hard time falling asleep. I partly fucked up my sleep schedule over the break but even if I go to bed at 3am and wake up at 9am, I still can’t fall asleep until almost 2am the next night. This is all after I take Melatonin at a decent hour. It just doesn’t work as well as it used to because my brain overrides it it seems. I’ve also been getting my stress-hives almost daily. It used to be every few months. Same with panic attacks.

Safe to say, my stress is through the roof and it’s affected my sleep and I’ve been getting really intense nightmares.

Was this too much at once for me?
Yes, it was. This pandemic has really fucked things up. You had to put your dog down and I don’t know how close you were but that is always incredibly difficult. And before you really get a chance to actually grieve all this extra shit gets put on top if it. You work in a grocery store so that adds to it. Because you are “essential” but people don’t give a fuck and go out when they shouldn’t be, putting you at risk.

It’s very hard to stay positive. Being told “Just be glad you can still work” isn’t as positive of a comment as some people think it should be.

I’m always here if you need to vent @Jonsblond It helps sometimes to just talk.

^ Thank you. You are correct about mourning our dog. My attention was quickly diverted and I haven’t been able to process it correctly.

I’m so sorry you are having trouble as well and this is affecting you physically. This is why I asked my question. I hope we can all be here for each other and for those who don’t have support can find it here. I’ve heard that some people are experiencing this so I know we aren’t alone.

I’ve been dreaming intensely, but the dreams aren’t nightmares. Rather they are dreams about this house being the busy place it was prior to the lockdown. It seems I’d grown immune to how heavy the traffic was around here, between the kids and the wife’s buddies and my own friends. Neither of us has ever spent this much time in the house for so extended a period of time. And things have gotten really peculiar regarding my sleeping habits. I’ve been doing a lot more reading and youtubing and the topics from these pursuits are popping up in my dreams. I fell asleep watching an excellent biography of Mustafah Kemal Ataturk, and promptly dreamed of our house teeming with familiar friends & relatives—only they all sported big moustaches and bejeweled fezes of brilliant colors. I was anxious in the dream, because whatever the celebration was about, I couldn’t keep up. Guests were acting like they were new to the place and looked to me to cater to them. The wife shook me awake complaining that I was bitching in my sleep.

Definitely having some, especially of the home invasion variety (a common theme for me), although I’m not sure it’s an increase. Shouting helplessly at assorted unruly strangers, trying to make them get out.

What I’m waiting for is for people to start showing up in dreams wearing protective masks. It often takes a week or two for remembered dreams to mirror present reality with respect to some change. I’m actually surprised not to have seen this effect yet.

I’m not having nightmares, but my dreams have been vivid, more vivid than they are normally. I’m not sure if it’s got something to do with being more relaxed from not having to go to work, or concerned because of all the talk about the virus, or what.

Hmm. Story in The Guardian today:

“Many people are reporting unusually vivid dreams – and scientists think they could be a key way we process emotion.”

Another interesting article is linked from there, too.

And here’s another one:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/10/health/meaning-dreams-coronavirus-wellness/index.html

No masks yet, but definitely themes of scarcity and confinement. Last night: Trying to escape from a would-be captor by getting on a crowded train. First wanted some water to carry along. Went into a huge warehouse-store place like Costco looking for a single bottle. “Where’s the water?” I finally asked someone. He gave me directions to Walmart.

The other thing my recent dreams bring back is that they all seem accompanied by musical scores. I’ve realized this for some years now, but for some reason am almost always surprised on rediscovering it. Those of you who wake up with some tune in your head, I’ll bet it’s the score to the screenplay of your dreams.