I've had a few rough days because of my nightmares, they sto

Mental Health Trauma-Related Disorders
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I've had a few rough days because of my nightmares, they stopped for maybe a week or so and they came back in different ways and they've been keeping me from sleeping. I've been able to control myself when I'm out in public for the most part but I'm sleeping every other day because I'm scared of what I'll see in my dreams. I want to say I'm still on this path to recovery but I'm just starting to hit some setbacks and it's really discouraging me, all I've got to look forward to at the end of the day is my dog Raven now and she won't even sleep in the same room as me because I wake up screaming and trying to stop something from happening or keep someone away from me, my therapist kind of shrugged my nightmares off and said it's because I drink to much coffee. Would anyone have any ideas on helping lessen them? I'm struggling to keep away from alchohol again because of this

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Hi. I see you are awake like me right now. My first time in a chat room so sorry if I sound like an idiot. I don't think OTC products work very well for sleep when it comes to PTSD, do you have a MD you could ask for a prescription from? So you don't relapse on alcohol bc you are trying to self medicate. That'd be my idea.

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I feel for ya . You will get through it. Alchohol will just stunt the process though that your brain has to go through to heal itself. I always heard that dreaming was the brains way of processing. And healing itself. Thank you for your service. Its been 3 months now and my sleep hasn't gotten any better I still wake up 6 times a night in a panic from dreams. Despite massive amounts of benedryl, melatonin, and Aleve. It's become my normal. I'm like on constant alert and the littlesy sounds that I hear over a 2 fans, like footsteps down the hallway I hear and it puts me from 0to panic in seconds. It sucks. Really. Good luck to ya though. Hang in there and call your sponsor!

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@CoastingCrazy I never got to serve, it was actually my dream but I got denied for having ptsd already. And I’ve tried stuff like melatonins and background noise but it doesn’t do much at all, I wanna say I’ve tried every basic home remedy but I’m sure I’ve missed something. I’d try a doctor to get something but I can’t afford that so I don’t bother. I keep thinking maybe if I workout until fatigue I’ll sleep better but it only works maybe one out of ten times