Chryss

In my experience nightmares are extreme warnings. The good news is that you can tell your Subconscious that you understand it wants something, that you will deal with it on (give it an appointment), but for now you need to sleep and please let you rest. It works for me - I sleep like a baby. But don't miss that appointment! The nightmares will come back with a vengeance and there will be no truce. So at the appointed time you sit down and figure out the dream. Write it down in every detail you can recall. Then "decode" it. If you're comfortable with posting it here, I'm sure we'd all be glad to help if we can. Here's an example of mine: I made a new friend recently and was kind of excited over how much we had in common. Then I had nightmares two nights in a row. The nightmares were confused and full of crowds of people coming and going - finally I figured out who all those people were. They were "friends" from my whole life who had turned out not to be friends at all. So my subconscious was trying to warn me to slow down with the new friend. So I did and have no more nightmares plus I kept the new friend.

I was a freshman sitting a final exam with the blue book in front of me. Honestly, I don't they could hype that situation up higher if they tried. Finally somebody told us to open our blue books. The first question was "Name." I had absolutely no idea what my name was. Not the faintest clue, not even a "sounds like" hint. My name could have been Rumplestilskin for all I knew. Actually, that was the second question - the first was "Student Number" and I knew that. But not knowing my name rattled me and panic began to take over. That was when I remembered the nuns (bless them!) from when I was a kid. I could almost see them in my mind and hear them saying, "If there's anything you don't know on an exam, skip right past it to something that you do know, and if there's time, go back and try again." So I did. I answered all the questions and then went back and remembered my name. And I passed.

I can't stand being touched or kissed by anyone I'm not married to. There are situations where it's unavoidable, like buses etc., but the stress of being touched and the effort to "act normal" is absolutely exhausting. That means that I arrive at work already exhausted. I try to get some alone time at lunch but that can offend people who don't understand and think I'm stuck-up or something. Once I worked in an office where the females took over the conference room at lunch time on the day when the new Cosmo came out. My name was mud when I didn't go, and they asked me twice and I said I needed a walk. They didn't accept it. The thing is, a crowded conference room is pretty much the same as a crowded bus, except everybody's sitting. But it's rubbing shoulders, reaching out across each other, and even patting the person next to you. Do you remember that man on TV who wanted everybody to hug everybody else? Buscaglia? Some name like that. I honestly think he was one of the most dangerous people on earth. Imagine me coming along just shattered after a subway ride, and this guy hugs me. Or somebody who watched his TV show hugs me. That should be punishable under law.

I think you might want to try Al Anon, which is for the relatives of people who drink. My father drank a lot and there was no point in talking, though Mom tried for years and years. It really was wasted effort. Al Anon does help those of us who are stuck in that kind of situation. There's also Alateen, for teenagers. This is the url for Al Anon on-line - http://www.ola-is.org/ And this is the url for physical meetings in USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico http://www.al-anon.org/meetings/meeting.html I sincerely hope you find help and relief and healing from this terrible situation.

I used to live in a middling state of panic 24/7 and that was if I didn't go anywhere. If I tried to get groceries, I'd be in full panic and I could only manage half an aisle of groceries before the panic was too great for me to go on. It was like living in a war zone. I'm in Canada, no wars here, but that's what it felt like. I expected attack all the time. I lived like that for years but kept jobs and supported myself - I don't know whether to be proud of that or not. Maybe it was just being stubborn. Anyway I finally collapsed and I'm on disability now. Reduced income but now I've got meds that work. These days my panics are situational. I rarely panic without knowing why. If the question is "how often" then my answer would be "As often as I go to the mall." Or the dentist, etc. The best thing I learned was to grab that first instant of panic and *know* that it's panic. That defuses it somewhat. It's not a nameless horror, it's a panic attack.

I had a seriously painful crick in my neck for ten years. It would spread up over the top of my head and down my side. And then I discovered that I snore like a locomotive, to the point that my neighbour was throwing shoes at my wall and my dog was howling! Desperate, I ordered a chin strap from e-Bay - "guaranteed to stop snoring." Within two minutes of strapping this thing around my head (it closes with velcro) the pain in my neck was gone! I think it realigned my jaw or something. And - I stopped snoring. It cost $50 and was cheap at the price. I'm not trying to sell any - I can't remember its name. Right now, I'm holding tension across my shoulders and down my back. That's situational and I'm taking pain pills, although I know that some yoga stretches would be better. Pain causes fatigue and I take a pill and go back to sleep. It's almost counter-intuitive to believe that exercise would help, but I know a long walk relaxes my body.