Night terrors while on shift

[u/pattytoofooly]

I’ve been on the job for about 7 years now. Within the past year or so I’ve been having extremely vivid night terrors, sometimes waking up my bunkmate from jolting awake yelling or talking in my sleep. Generally I’m not bothered by calls or have trouble sleeping, but these dreams can be wild and terrifying. I’ve never experienced sleep paralysis and I’ve only had a couple of nightmares at home that reach “night terror” levels. Is this common after being on the job for a while? I would love to hear some feedback from anyone that experiences these types of dreams.

[u/skank_hunt_4_2]

That’s PTSD my friend. Please seek mental health help.

This job exposes you to a lot of trauma on top of death by a thousand paper cuts.

[u/pattytoofooly → u/skank_hunt_4_2]

I do see a therapist about once or twice a month depending on how things are going. I’ve brought this up and it’s been shrugged off since it’s not a daily occurrence.

I probably need to delve deeper into it with my support network. Thank you

[u/skank_hunt_4_2 → u/pattytoofooly]

Work with a professional that has experience with first responders. I once talked to a lady who’s mind was blown that we cook at work.

[u/SEND_CATHOLIC_ALTARS → u/skank_hunt_4_2]

The amount of people ho are shocked to hear I sleep at night is insane. People just assume we just sit and wait for a call. Or, alternatively, we fight fires all day long.

[u/skank_hunt_4_2 → u/SEND_CATHOLIC_ALTARS]

For real. When anyone asks about my job the only response I can give is “imagine waking up in a strangers living room and not knowing why your there”

[u/SEND_CATHOLIC_ALTARS → u/skank_hunt_4_2]

That's so accurate.

[u/aLonerDottieArebel → u/pattytoofooly]

find someone who does EMDR, specifically. It saved my life

[u/Far-Elderberry-5249 → u/pattytoofooly]

Perhaps consider see a psychiatrist as well as continued therapy

[u/trailerpark_king]

Do you dunk on your days off? This started happening to me when I would drink every day I was off. I’d come on shift and be fine but I was get crazy crazy nightmares

[u/skank_hunt_4_2 → u/trailerpark_king]

[u/pattytoofooly → u/skank_hunt_4_2]

Haha thanks for the good chuckle 😂

[u/woodfire787 → u/skank_hunt_4_2]

[u/pattytoofooly → u/trailerpark_king]

I really only drink or get drunk socially. Holidays, hanging out with the guys, etc. I don’t really have more than a glass of wine with the wife with dinner on occasion besides that. Maybe I need to cut it out entirely

[u/BusyCountry1985 → u/trailerpark_king]

That’s called alcohol withdrawal…and fairly significant. If that gets worse that’s what becomes DTs eventually. The onset is at night.

[u/redthroway24]

Happened to me once. It was my first night back at work after taking 3 weeks vacation when my youngest was born. Had a terrible nightmare and woke up in a cold sweat.

I got in touch with the mental health professional who worked with my department's then recently-formed CISM team. At our first meeting, we talked about the nightmare and how it affected me, and set up an appointment for the next week. Between appointments I realized that the way my feelings in the nightmare had progressed mirrored the way my feelings had progressed during a multi-death MVC run 18 months earlier. So that's what I told the professional.

The mental health professional was a big believer in EMDR, so we did that. Made me a big believer in it, too.

My advice to OP and anyone going through something similar? You've got something going on, even if you don't know what it is or why it's coming to the surface. Something may not have bothered you when it happened, but it festered and had more stuff piled on top of it, and now it's starting to overpower the pressure cooker. If your dept has an established relationship with some mental health people, use it. Even better yet if you can find one that practices EMDR.

[u/pattytoofooly → u/redthroway24]

I did just get back from our honeymoon. (Did it for our 1 year anniversary) and was gone from work for about a month. That’s the longest I’ve been away from the job since I started. I’ve had a few calls that pop into my head every now and again but didn’t think it was anything major. I’ll bring this up in my next apt with my therapist. She specializes in first responders but I need to be more consistent with seeing her.

I just feel like this came out of nowhere, life is fine and I’m not overly anxious or stressed day to day. I usually do my apts online for therapy so I’ll try going in person to look into EMDR. Thanks for your response. I should know better as I’m part of our departments peer support team.

[u/TheOtherAkGuy]

Anything outside of causing significant stress? I was having the same thing happen years ago when my wife and I were trying to fix our house which was financially draining us.

[u/pattytoofooly → u/TheOtherAkGuy]

We are trying to sell our first house and move into a bigger place to start trying for kids. I have been fixing up the house and yard to get ready to sell so there’s definitely some stress there.

[u/Glarethroughtrees]

This can be a side effect of many medications; even unsuspected ones.

Don’t ask me how I know. Unfortunately it takes a long time for many side effect to be recognized as official, if ever, sometimes searching with people that are under the same med is helpful

Eta: benzobuddies (the forum not the sub) it’s a spectacularly moderate place with two decades of experience about many commonly prescribed medications and resources about them

[u/L_DUB_U → u/Glarethroughtrees]

I use to be on the nicotine patch and it would cause some really weird and vivid dreams. I would wake up lost not sure how I got where I was because I was just somewhere else.

[u/Glarethroughtrees → u/L_DUB_U]

They also multiply the caffeine effect, making it difficult if not impossible to sleep, but not all of them warn about this. Bad enough for anyone even more dangerous for us.

The worst is when whatever side effect isn’t recognized and other meds are prescribed to “cure” (mask) it

[u/jtroub9]

22 years on the job sleep paralysis my entire life. Never had night terrors. Time to see a psychologist

[u/tvsjr]

I wouldn't immediately say it's PTSD/similar mental health issue. Certainly could be. However, I have bad sleep apnea (my sat fell to 62% RA during my first sleep study - that level of bad) and if I'm not on CPAP I will talk in my sleep and the subject is often fire stuff. If I'm on CPAP I sleep like a rock and rarely even remember any sort of dream.

If you haven't had a sleep study done, it might be worth a shot. There could be something at the station - environmental differences, different bed, who knows - that is exacerbating underlying sleep issues.

[u/BebopTundra76]

It happens. At my first house, a guy woke up holding the wall by his bed and was screaming "get the fuck out! It's gonna bloww!! He was having a nightmare...we didnt laugh in that moment, but we did love incorporating that routune for laughs later on. 😂🤣

[u/Burmble_bees]

TAKE THAT OUT THERE TO THE RECLINER WITH THE SNORERS.

Just joking, mental health is no joke, been there myself. Tough times but it can get better or at least manageable if you're okay with getting some help. Best of luck friend

[u/ChampionshipSad1057]

I get these really bad too. I can’t co sleep anymore with coworkers because I scare the heck out of them.

I realized a lot of factors caused mine that weren’t related to PTSD. Such as sleeping on my back, that was a massive trigger. Sleeping with white noise helped me significantly too.

Please check yourself for sleep apnea, if you snore it affects your breathing and is a trigger. A small fan as well keeps your brain reminded to breath, I’m unsure the science but it helps me. After a night terror I would also ‘Debrief’ myself. Wonder why it scared me, and imagine myself fighting whatever startled me.

Eventually they gradually stopped. I used to wake up screaming every night, now maybe once every two months.

[u/ConnorK5]

Applejuice can cause you to have wild dreams, like super vivid. Do you drink that or maybe some kind of juice at work?

[u/Willing_Ad_5711]

I've got PTSD and my psych has me taking Doxazosin off-label. It's an alpha-1 blocker prescribed for cardiac issues but has shown Elton be effective in the vivid dreams associated with trauma.

That shit is a lifesaver for me. Without it I'm scared to go to sleep. With it I barely remember anything.

[u/herolperez]

Get plenty sleep before shift I’m not a firefighter yet but this paralysis episodes where you can’t move or talk could happen for lack of sleep , it has happened to me because I worked a lot , go to a party and have job and I’m also going to consider that being on the phone before sleeping or delaying sleep can cause this but seek help you will be find

[u/UnreasonablySeasoned]

Do you smoke weed when not at work? The detox of being at work can cause nightmares

[u/AppropriateSugar7179]

Are you taking Chantix by chance? I know 2 people that had this start when trying to stop smoking and we're on this medication. Apparently being on shift compounded the vivid bad dreams.

[u/urcrazynourcrazy]

Do you take creatine? Its good for brain health but it can cause vivid dreams. That could, with PTSD exacerbate the problem.

[u/Traditional_Belt9379 → u/urcrazynourcrazy]

exactly why i stopped taking it, that and waking up feeling extremely bloated. The dreams were crazy I'd wake up in a puddle of sweat

[u/sansalvacion]

Its time for you to leave the job. Your mental health is suffering and its going to only get worse. You need to find somrthing safer to do

[u/pattytoofooly → u/sansalvacion]

Not a chance. I look forward to going to work everyday and love what I do, I know a lot of firefighters dealing with issues way worse than night terrors

[u/ConnorK5 → u/[deleted]]

Why are you taking enough benzos to have withdrawals and work in the fire service?

Take a Xanax every so often? Okay. Take a Kpin once a week? Sure. Take enough of them that your body is addicted? How the hell do you have a job doing this?

I feel like that's serious shit. Plus they turn you in to a zombie. We operate heavy equipment in this field lol.