Nightmares

[rachel89]

I have been having actual nightmares about coming out process going badly. I don't usually remember my dreams that well, but I cannot really forget this one. Did anyone else have a lot of nightmares when they first discovered they were trans?

[Jo-is-amazing]

I still do :/
Although these days they tend to revolve around abusive relationships with a future partner and just being treated as Sub-human in general. It sorta terrifies me this whole transitioning thing and I think to some extent it always will ^_^

The best thing is to realise that it's just your brain playing out what you might do in those situations and to not let them effect you too much. After all it's all imaginary anyhow

[Cindy]

I use to have sickening vivid repetitive nightmares about past abuse. After help from my therapist I now wake up when they start, I get up, have a walk around the house, maybe have a cup of tea then go back to a nice sleep. It may well be worth asking your therapist to help you with this sort of technique.

[LoriLorenz]

I hope your situation goes better than your dreams!

I remember going through a counselling program that taught me that we can imagine our own problems to  be much bigger than they actually are. When you get stuck in this "imaginative functioning" mindset, catch yourself, take a deep breath and live in today as much as you can.

Best wishes, and just remember, nobody can make better nightmares about coming out than your own imagination.

[Angela]

Every now and then I have bad dreams about it, mostly about coming out to the family and it going horribly wrong in some way.

[Stevie]

   I have been waking up with sleep paralysis some nights. I used to have this when I was a kid, now its back. I wake up in what seems to be a an anxiety attack and cant move at all for a few minutes and feels like someone is standing over me holding me down. When I was a kid I thought its was one of my older brothers trying to smother me, I had one brother that I was terrified of he was such a bastard to me then.

[trapsouldoor]

   I have been waking up with sleep paralysis some nights. I used to have this when I was a kid, now its back. I wake up in what seems to be a an anxiety attack and cant move at all for a few minutes and feels like someone is standing over me holding me down. When I was a kid I thought its was one of my older brothers trying to smother me, I had one brother that I was terrified of he was such a bastard to me then.

When I get sleep paralysis, I try wiggling my fingers and toes first. That seems to help loosen things up and get me out of it more quickly.

[Ms Grace]

Can't say I had those kind of nightmares but I would have dreams about not being fully girl mode in public and worrying about people realising.

[ImagineKate]

Oddly enough I haven't had a nightmare that I can recall in a long time. I do have dreams though, some of them are transition related.

[DT4u]

Just remember one step at a time. Your happiness is yours. No one else's. When you start you realize changes are for you and only you, you are the only one who has to accept and matter. Your friends and family may not understand. So reach out to people who will muah

I'm saying that assuming your nightmares may be fear or anxiety related to coming out.

[Julia-Madrid]

Nightmares and vivid dreams of conflict and failure are common enough for us at the beginning.

What I use as a remedy is to wake up and, with the lights on, think clealy about what the nightmare was about.  If it's about finances, then I may open my budget spreadsheet to prove to myself that my plans are good.  If it was about coming out to family, I would review what my coming out letter said, and maybe tweak it a bit.  If it was work-related I'd review my plans and see whether they needed any changes.

Above all,  WAKE UP FULLY, and once you are awake, clear your mind properly so that you do not go around in circles the whold night.

Hugs
Julia