Nightmares/vivid dreams

[Henk]

During the last 3 years I have been experiencing very vivid dreams/nightmares. The dreams often take me back to when I was working in an office 12 years ago and a major source of stress. I often become vocal screaming and shouting. I have jumped out of bed several times, trying to escape a fearful situation, leading to injury. I have installed a bed barrier to protect myself. I have spoke to my GP and he says it’s the Citalopram I take daily that’s causing it! As I cannot function without the Citalopram are there any fixes for this? Does anyone else have similar experiences?

 

[bin_tenn]

Talk to your doctor about switching to a different medication. They'll help you transition, usually by gradually slowing down on the current med and slowly starting a new one. This isn't an unheard of side effect, unfortunately.

 

[Cuchculan]

You might have a form of PTSD about this job you once had. If it was that bad. Deep within you still remember it well. These thoughts can play out in our dreams. They are still with us. I take Remeron. It causes nightmares too. Some dreams can feel so real. Lucky I don't mind bad dreams. But what you are dreaming about is something you hate. A fear you still hold about a past event. Hence I mention PTSD. Only it is coming out in your dreams. other than that follow what was said in the post above. And if the past does still haunt you, about this job you once had, maybe talk to somebody about that too Deal with the reasons as to why it still haunts you.

 

[Henk]

Thanks for the feedback. The thing which concerns me most is I could seriously injure myself leaping out bed! I will speak to GP about switching meds

 

[Camden]

I have EXTREMELY vivid and detailed dreams where I'm aware of my own thoughts and emotions within the dream. I usually have a nightmare once every two weeks. My last nightmare was about being bullied at a previous job, despite currently loving my current job.
Many factors I've found influence dreams. Melatonin supplements cause deeper sleep and thus far more vivid and sometimes disturbing dreams. Drinking alcohol before bed reduces sleep quality and diminishes the amount of time dreaming. It's interesting how something trivial that's seen or heard in passing during the day can pop up in the following night's dream.
All items seen in a dream have some sort of latent meaning or symbolism. Not everything in a dream is literal. The people or objects you see in a dream will make you feel a certain way and translate to how you're feeling about something in real life. For instance, I dreamed one night that I was running around my house locking all the doors and windows to make sure nobody could get in. I was going through a terrible period of stress and bullying at work, and desparately wanted to just stay home and hide in my house and not deal with anyone. The action of locking all of my windows and doors was my desire to shut all people out in real life because of the bad situation at work.
Dream interpretation is fascinating and I'm always glad to help out anyone who wants to share their dreams and look into interpretations!