I can't take any other meds because I have kidney disease, but since it's processed by the liver I do get to take one for nightmares that really works for me: Prazosin. Ask your p-doc. If not, over the counter Melatonin works, too.

Thanks for your message. I've been on it already. My problem is I did so many different drugs and so much of them I am now very sensitive to meds. I used alcohol and drugs to bury the trauma.

kinda a cheesy way to say this but, think about things that bring you joy? I actually heard this suggestion on a kid show lol! the kid was having trouble sleeping, and feeling scared... and his dad told him to think about things that made him smile before he fell sleep. maybe it can help...

it definitely helps me :) cheers

Thanks

There are lots and lots of things to do about nightmares. I do believe we need them all because there doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-all solution.

What have you tried so far? No sense to trifling with the stuff that hasn't worked for you before.

I hear what you're saying about drugs and burying the trauma, BigMack. That's how I felt about being prescribed Seroquel for my nightmares and sleep. It over did it for me, just buried my dreams, both good and bad. I'm just a patient, not a doctor, but just from my experience I don't recommend it. I can't take most meds anyway because of kidney disease, so I can't take Xanax or Ativan or any other meds often used for PTSD. Heck, I can't take aspirin, even.

That's why Prazosin got my attention--it's the only one I can take as it's processed by the liver. Its original use is for blood pressure, and only around 2012 did they find it helped Iraq war veterans with nightmares. So far I find it to be the opposite of Seroquel--it doesn't flatten the subconscious. To the contrary, I was able to have good dreams on it for the first time in years.

Just passing along that one set of experiences. There is no one size fits all for the mind, that's for sure. Melatonin is a hormone, so its action is different from Xanax, Ativan, and other tranquilizers, too.

What has worked most for me over all has been Buddhist meditation. I started meditation classes the same week I got my original PTSD diagnosis. I'm not a Buddhist, but learning its meditation practice has been effective for me. Again, though, there's the issue of how we each may look differently upon that for religious reasons. There's no one size fits all.

As arfie mentions, would you like to list what you've tried so far?

It's hard to remember there's been so many. My pdoc one time through up her hands and said I don't know what to try next. I'm now taking zoloft and bupropione for the depression. Even that doesn't work all the time. I had a stressful day yesterday and today isn't looking much better. But I'll keep trudging that road.

Therapy resistant symptoms do make for a tough sort.

Anything that has helped enough to be worth revisiting and possibly modifying?

I have had them most of my life and generally go back to sleep. I have gotten used to them, not the night terrors though. I usually go to the washroom and then back to sleep with a guided meditation so my mind goes elsewhere. I am still here after 5 decades of nightmares, they are scary but they can't hurt us as they are not real. Hang in there and now we all go through this you are not alone

I don't know if I've been therapy resistant. Might be. I don't like to take any pills. I did give every med time to work. My pdoc would tell me how long it usually takes for a new med to start working. Unless I had a reaction to the new med immediately I gave them an honest try. I see my pdoc in January if I can remember I'll ask if she thinks I've been resistant. I have terrible memory problems. I was told that's due to ptsd. I was told ptsd affects the memory portion of the brain. The trauma happened in 1978. I never sought treatment until 3 or 4 years ago.

In my personal therapy, *I* put my honest best into my therapy, but I continue to have quite a few symptoms which remain therapy resistant, no matter how hard I or my therapy network work on them. E.g. Showing emotion remains somewhere between difficult and impossible for me. I continue isolating, no matter how many therapy tools I throw at it. I could go on, but you get the gist. Some of my snotty psycho knots untangle more easily than others, whatever my level of conscious willingness.

I, with the support of many, *just* keep tweaking the available resources until I/we find something that works. The healing mysteries be a complex and highly customized weave.

I've not been on any antidepressants since 2001 or so, B, so I'm not up on zoloft and this is my first time hearing about bupropione. I can't speak to anything regarding how they might affect sleep one way or the other, sorry. Prazosin's the only psychiatric med I'm on, and for me it's being prescribed specifically for PTSD nightmares alone. It's cheap, it's working, and it's just much, much, much easier on me than Seroquel was.

As for the Buddhist meditation, I didn't become a Buddhist religiously from it, but I did buy a meditation pillow, an altar, incense, a gong--the whole nine yards. The same week I got my PTSD diagnosis. For 5 years I went to therapy on Tuesdays, support group Wednesdays, and meditation group Thursdays and it built a good foundation up for me. When a new career opportunity came for me in another town, I was ready to move and feel I could care for myself and my PTSD. That was really put to the test when kidney disease took all the meds aware but Prazosin, since it's not processed by the kidneys but by the liver instead. To me the mix of therapy, support group, and meditation was key.

Of course, I paid a price. Feeling emotionally neglected because I was so invested in my 3 days of PTSD maintenance weekly, my partner got used to my weekly routine when I'd be out of the house and carried on an adulterous affair with a coworker of mine for those 5 years. I came home early from support group one day and caught them. They're a couple now. But that's another story.

I found that listening to the pastors sermons from a local church helped me. He had a calming voice too. He is retired, but there are other good ones on YouTube and also straight bible readings. I go to sleep to this. What could offer more than God's word filling the dark night. That and a couple pooches ir spouse nearby.

Ps. Psalms is a good book for sleep. I find when I concentrate on listening I fall asleep. When I wake up, I start listening again.
Some books are not the greatest to wake up but I just wake up enough to change it.