Dreams are making my depression even worse!

drucill · Silver Member Joined: 19 Apr 2001 Posts: 210

Hello. I'm 38 year old man and I'm feeling depressed for about three years now. My depressed mood is caused by death of my daughter. Three years ago some drunk man hit her with a car on her was home from school.
This devastated me and my wife also and since this happened I'm not a same man. I'm using some antidepressant called Celexa and I'm feeling much better now than two years before.
One thing is bothering me. I started to dream much more often that earlier in life and I have noticed I wake up in the morning even more depressed. Is this caused by my medications or what?

stevison · Newbie Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 17

I have also experienced this and I was wondering also what is causing my “bad” dreams.
I did some research on this subject and I have came to conclusion that
depressed people dream up to three times as much as non-depressed people. So, this probably didn’t cause by your medication.
You are suffering from one type of sleep called paradoxical sleep.
It’s called paradoxical sleep because it is not the part of sleep which provides us with rest.
During that sleep, in fact, you have more so called stress hormones in your system such as adrenaline and thyroxin.
Your primary problem is depression and you should cure it first. You are not doing this properly because these bad dreams are consequence of not-treated depression. Consider medication change!

womenplayrugby · Newbie Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 1

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I can certainly see why that would lead to depression.

I also suffer from depression. I am taking Cymbalta. I have had small episodes with depression for years, but fell into a big, deep hole after the death of my mother in a motorcycle accident.

The Cymbalta helped me out of the deep hole, but it has not cured me. I continue to have depressive episodes and terrible thoughts about myself. I am reading a book called "Undoing Depression" which is really good. It talks a lot about depression being a lack of feeling because of emotions that we don't want to let ourselves feel.

Here's where the dreams come in for me. I am working daily on my depressive thoughts. For example, because a friend doesn't call me back doesn't mean they don't like me; if my husband snaps a response, it is because he is angry at the subject -- not at me. During the day, that is working really well. At night, though, the depressive thoughts attack me -- I can't do things right in my dreams, I cry, I get very angry. My dreams are very emotional.

Of course, the more I dream, the less I really rest and then I feel terrible about myself the next day, either for oversleeping or for not being able to handle things. A solution in the past has been to take sleeping pills -- good for short-term, but don't really address the problem.

I think I still have a lot of emotional stuff to deal with -- a lot of sadness and anger, and I suspect you do, too. I would be very, very sad about the loss of my child and very angry at a lot of things (the drunk driver, the system that lets that happen, even God).

I don't think the medication causes your dreams, anymore than they cause mine. I also don't think medication helps (like sleeping pills) more than to get you over that initial hump.

I think we both need more help. I am planning to find a good therapist in my area. How about you?

Guest · Guest

I am a college student. In high school, my friends and I driving back from a party were hit by a drunk driver. I know, there are many stories similar to mine, but I understand exactly what you are talking about; I lost my best friend.

I was diagnosed with serious depression, was hospitalized for a while, and was put on the highest dosage of Celexa. It did nothing to help my dreams; my depression worsened over the next year, and it started making me sick all the time.

I tried many other things, and am currently using Zoloft. Even when I started this medication, my frequent and depressing dreams continued; I would wake up crying. We continued to increase the dose, and finally at over 200 mg I HAVE HAD TWO WEEKS BAD-DREAM FREE. I know that doesn't seem much of an accomplishment, but it's a real sign that I'm getting better. It's been years since I've had a break from that.

I would STRONGLY suggest getting a doctor to prescribe you one of the following for sleep:
Periactin - reduced 50% of bad dreams in war veterans. It is an antihistamine but works very well. That is what I use!
Trazodone - it makes you sleepy, and it has many uses. But it is a mild anti-depressant that can be taken with your main medication; it'll give you a little 'boost' of anti-depressant during the night

Also, Propranolol, Atarax, and Clonopyn are anti-anxiety pills; Bad dreams ARE CAUSED BY DAYTIME ANXIETY. By taking an anti-anxiety pill, you calm down, the Celexa can work on your mood, and hopefully you sleep better.

Last but not least; Please, please do EMDR. Even one session may help you. It is a controversial therapy because there is no proof that it works, but you don't lose anything by it. They have you shift your eyes back and forth in certain patterns while going over what makes you depressed. Thousands of people have found solice in this, and it's helped me recover. It is never too late to try EMDR.

I wish you all the luck in the world.
if any of this helps send me an email loveandpeace13@gmail.com

Dreams are making my depression even worse!

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