Geez...I've always had bad dreams. When I was 5-ish I remember having dreams of people dying and finding decapitated body parts everywhere...my mom blamed my drawings. I had always liked to draw "scary things". She told me if I stopped drawing then the bad dreams would stop too. I eventually did stop drawing those type of things and it did slow, but never really stopped. Some weeks were worse than others. Some weeks I couldn't even remember my dreams, but when I did remember I always put in the back of my mind.

About 8 months ago I kept having this dream of people being stuck underground, almost looked like a little dirt room? Boards holding the walls up and such, and it starting filling up with water and mud and people couldn't get out. And for the past 4 months now I have been having really bad nightmares, the same one over and over; of it flooding. I can see people and hear people and animals fighting to keep themselves from drowning. Its some scary stuff and it always kind of puts me in a bad mood in the mornings. lol And man...this dream I had last night was nothing I have ever had before...

I had a dream I saw a young girl around my age (23) get shot in the face, and the two people who did it tried to hide her body in someones yard, but the dog in the yard was ripping her body up to pieces...so they decided to burn her instead. She had long dark hair, really wavey and her name was Jessie (not sure of the spelling). I just kept hearing the name Jessie so I assumed it was her name. lol I told my boyfriend about my dream and he said that the nextdoor neighbor's daughter has long brown hair and her name is Jessie. That was just a bit too creepy to hear and I don't know if he was just pulling my leg or not, since I had never seen this chick before. It wasn't just the dream that was horrible either, when i woke up my eyes were burning so freaking bad and I was crying like I hadn't cried in years.

I wonder if dreams really do mean anything. I don't understand why I get these nightmares, but its really tiring. Who else here still suffers from Bad Dreams?

I had a dream about a ginormous grasshopper last night, like, the size of a horse. Yech.

lol

Awww Jennie, I'm sorry you're having bad dreams. I do think however, that your mother had it backwards. You most likely drew the pictures because you were dreaming of stuff like that, not the other way around. I've had horrible dreams about serial killers and such. The one that always sticks out in my mind was so bizarre. My boyfriend and I were in this town and there was this killer going around called "The Staple Gun Killer". He had a high powered gun but it was rigged to shoot the long staples used in construction. For some reason my boyfriend had to fight him, and the boyfriend was wearing Halo armor (I know this came from the fact that he had showed me Halo on his console gaming systems a few hours before bed). The big showdown battle took place at a bronze statue of Kathleen Turner dancing with some kid. It was the most screwed up dream I've ever had, and I've had some pretty screwed up ones.
I hope the dreams let up.

Do you think you could be sensitive (or psychic is what most people call it, I guess)?

I have thought about that before roxmysox and I have no idea.

My bad dreams seem really chaotic most of the time, almost doesn't make sense or seem to have any general story line I guess, or purpose, other than just being frightening. This last dream however seemed pretty clear, and the actions taken by the chars in the dream seemed very believable...except for the dog thing, that was a bit out there. I grew up with no belief system whatsoever so It's a bit mixed on what I do and don't think is real. As far as dreams go, I've never had any real evidence to back them up, so I'm just guessing they are normal nightmares. Maybe I've just seen too many scary movies or something.

I also have really vivid dreams that are sometimes horrifying and sometimes delightful, and that I usually remember when I wake up. I've been a dreamer (at night, at least!) all my life, and they are not linked to any traumatic event and I'm not psychic... so I think it is just the way that some people's brains work.
I wouldn't worry about it because there is probably not much that can be done to change it -- I've tried a few things unsuccessfully.

Dreams, just like any other psychic phenomenon, don't have to be literal to be prophetic. I'm not trying to steer the conversation way off into left field, or anything I'm just saying... I would look into it a bit, if I were you. Especially since you say there is a potential you were dreaming about someone you've never met, but is known to exist and lives close to you. Otherwise, I'm sorry to hear about your bad dreams. That can't be fun!

There are also physiological reasons for bad dreams. Night terrors and bad dreams can have physical causes.

I've always had extremely vivid dreams. I always thought I dreamed more than other people, because I always remembered a lot of my dreams, and usually woke from them. My neurologist tells me that doing so can actually be a sign that a person isn't dreaming enough - that it's a sign you're waking up before you complete the REM cycle. He said,"If you stayed asleep, you wouldn't remember the dreams."

My sleep pattern is actually characteristic of people with fibromyalgia (which I have). Some studies have found up to 80% of people with fibro having this particular type of sleep pattern. I wonder (because my dreams have been this way all of my life), if the sleep disorder isn't just something I was born with (some doctors think so - and some think that the sleep disorder actually causes some cases of fibromyalgia, but it's still not clear how many people without fibro might have the sleep disorder, and whether or not they eventually develop fibro).

I had very vivid, scary dreams but they almost never scared me. And often I could tell that I was dreaming, and even control the dream to a certain degree (I had apparently "taught" myself lucid dreaming, a technique I later learned about in college).

Then recently, I began having true nightmares. There were two types. One I would wake to find that I hadn't really woken, I'd realize that I was still in the dream - and I'd try to concentrate really hard on waking up. Sometimes this would happen repeatedly within the same dream waking again only to quickly realize I was still asleep. I would panic, thinking I couldn't wake from the dream.

The other type was just garden variety nightmares, but I'd wake with my heart pounding instead of just watching them like a movie or participating in the action, but calmly (I'm usually the one that "keeps calm" while everyone in the dream is freaking out. I wake feeling like I was an action hero in a movie).

Turns out the dream in a dream, was probably a side effect of prolonged REM deprivation. It's just a side effect of the fibro I mostly have to deal with; although medication helps it happen less frequently (amitriptyline and cyclobenzaprine at bedtime to help increase deeper stages of sleep).

And the waking with my heart pounding was a side effect of a new blood pressure medication. The medication was causing the racing heart - and the racing heart was influencing me to incorporate that feeling into dreams.

Sorry - long story to basically say - if you're not bothered much by it, mention it to your doctor at your next check-up (and if it's interupting your sleep, or concerning you, make an appointment to talk about it specifically).

I wake up throughout the night occasionally, but I have always been a night owl and stay up almost to the point were I just pass out. My bf and I are both that way so I'm sure that doesn't help. I'm also very known to talk and walk in my sleep, I don't know if that has anything to do with it. It has freaked my mom, and past boyfriends out before...I honestly find it hilarious. You could actually have a conversation with me if you caught me on a good night lol.

I don't have insurance at the moment so I'm just going to have to deal with the nightmares either way. Usually I can kind of brush them off and forget about them, but there are times like last night, that just put me in that bad bad mood. lol

You should look into dream interpretation. I remember someone I knew who would dream about zombies all the time. When she talked to a dream interpreter she found out the deeper meaning of her dreams had to do with the resentment towards her mother. She was told until she let herself be at peace with how her mother treated her as a child she'd never stop having the dreams. It was her mind's way of telling her to let it go and move on.

I looked up floods and it has a lot to do with emotions and surpressing your emotions and having difficulty expressing yourself- does that sound about right to you?

Thats kind of what I meant when I said I wondered if these dreams have meaning behind them.

I'd say thats pretty accurate actually. I've always had serious issues expressing emotions, not even so much because of being shy or having THAT type of personality but because I was put into a situation (living with my mother) where I learned If I kept my thoughts to myself I wouldn't chance getting my *** beat for saying something "wrong" not that I ever had anything bad to say. My mom is very bipolar and most of the time with her have been spent in silence to avoid fights. I'm very opposite when it comes to telling close friends how I feel for sure and very open and outgoing. Maybe since moving over a year ago and not having those people to talk to anymore has stirred something up with my dream issues. I do have a boyfriend, so its not like I don't have someone to talk to.

jennie,

sorry to hear about your nightmares...i have some pretty scary, often recurring dreams as well. sometimes i wake up screaming. recently, i've been ok, but in college, i would have horrible dreams almost every night. i've always been fascinated by dreaming, so did some research and found some helpful ideas.
the one that i still practice to this day i writing down all my dreams. i have a little journal that i keep by my bed, and if i wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning, i write down as much as i can remember while its still fresh in my head. little details too...colors that seemed prevalent, expressions on people's faces, scents, music , etc...
after a while, you might notice a pattern, and be able to correlate it somehow with whatever has been going on around you or how you're feeling. it might shed some light.
you might also be sensitive to other people and their drama (in their own lives) and internalize it somehow, and it manifests in your dreams.
fascinating stuff, these dreams

I'd look into it some more- maybe even get some therapy/counseling to help you deal with those issues?

Good luck I think now at least knowing where these dreams are coming from will give you some peace of mind.