How do I deal with Headaches associated with dreams? This occurs every night, but goes away after taking paracetamol.
Hi Jessica,
I totally understand the problem with headaches and bad dreams.
I’ve be reading a lot of fantastic books regarding sleep, by one of the world’s leading sleep scientists called Prof Russell Foster from Oxford University. He also teaches around the world. He’s a professor of circadian rhythm and neuroscience. I’m on his team’s sleep study for people suffering insomnia WITH depression as a volunteer. (No drugs involved, just a lot of hard work readjusting my circadian rhythms.)
I suffered a lot of physical and mental abuse as a child, then domestic abuse/violence when I got married and then I joined the British Army! I specialised in anti terrorism and fought in a war zone straight out of basic training!! I am very prone to nightmares and headaches due to complex and combat PTSD.
When we sleep our brain doesn’t recognise the difference between reality and what we are dreaming, it treats it both as equals. When we sleep our brain is working so hard, it’s consuming 20% of our calorie intake that we have taken during the day!
One of the biggest problems with stress and nightmares is our body will start producing adrenaline and cortisol for the fight and flight response. Your body may be feeling quite tense throughout the night too which isn’t great for managing pain and because of those 2 hormones it may be stopping the paracetamol from being effective.
There is an incredible gentleman called Charlie Morley from the UK, and he specialises in stress and trauma when it comes to sleep. He’s been endorsed by the British Army and he helps current service members and occasionally veterans too. He’s done a Ted Talk so you can check him out there also. He’s written a fantastic book called “wake up to sleep” where he tackles stress, chronic nightmares etc. The important thing is calming down the sympathetic nervous system through relaxation and breathing exercises and muscle relaxation. He’s also got his own website where he’s done online courses that can teach you how to do this if you don’t want to read the information. Personally I would rather read the book first before paying a lot of money to do a course.
If you don’t want to buy the book, contact your library and see if they have it or can order it in for you.
There is also CBTi. It’s basically CBT for insomnia and there are CBTi sleep specialist who you can see if your dr can refer you to? There are also books on CBTi too you might be able to find online?
Since I have been doing the sleep study with Oxford University, they have focused on slowly correcting the circadian rhythms and improving sleep quality, sleep efficiency and gradually increase the sleep quantity. One of the BIGGEST side effects of this treatment has been a reduction in my nightmares by over 95%!!! It’s been utterly incredible!! It’s the first time in my life I’ve been released from these horrific nightmare experiences since being a very small child. When I sleep now, I’m sleeping so deeply I rarely now remember my dreams and the ones I do remember aren’t as bad as they use to be.
At the moment I’m reading a book called “Life Time, The new science of the body clock, and how it can revolutionise your sleep and health” by Professor Russell Foster, from The University of Oxford.
The book sits very well, side by side with the sleep study that I’m on but the book explains everything in much more detail which the sleep study does.
For the first time in my life I’m no longer frightened about going to sleep at night, and the fear of what horrific nasty things my brain is going to inflict on me all night. The longer I’m on the sleep study and following the sleep plan, the less I’m getting those headaches. At the moment I’m on day 54.
It’s not been easy doing the sleep plan but it’s absolutely been worth the hard work and effort! Having a specific goal why I needed to correct my sleep has kept me on track with the sleep schedule and motivated to continue and not give up on really bad days when my fatigue was crippling me during the day and not taking naps!
Planning rewards for myself each week for staying on track with the sleep study has also helped massively so has keeping a journal of ideas for problem solving and getting any anxiety out on paper and not onto others.
Some people’s insomnia wasn’t too bad, mine has been badly wrecked for years so it’s been harder for me correcting it. The sleep study put me on the sleep plan The Monday before Christmas, I was horrified but as the sleep nurse told me, “the sooner you get onboard and start the work the sooner you will start feeling better!” She was absolutely right, there is never a good time to start something difficult or challenging but once you start you are on that road to success. It still is the case of taking it one day at a time even though I’m on day 54!! I know if I put in the hard work I will be able to sleep better and consistently!! I’m gradually getting my life back again. Everyone is different, some people find it easier than others, but I promise you it’s REALLY worth the effort and hard work!
I hope this information will really help you and inspire you to improve your circadian rhythms, improve your sleep quality, your sleep efficiency and hopefully improve your sleep quantity eventually.
Please feel free to ask me any questions? I just hope I’m emailed directly from this site because I don’t check the forum generally.
Best regards
Nicky Williams
My son was sceaming in pain from those. I tried to get him to sleep without headaches for months before finding the solution. I put him on a GERD diet and gave him no food after 8pm. I give a spray of Beconase in each nostril, then rub 2 drops of Anti Snoring Blend from aromatherapyclinic.com.au under his nose, on temples, under chin and behind ears. I give 1 x Upper made by Factionlabs (it has 100mg of caffeine plus many other good things and no, caffeine does not keep you awake), 1 x 475mg Swanson’s valerian root, a scoop of Nutricost magnesium glycinate powder and 600mg of Passiflora incarnata. No more (hypnic) headaches and no more choking in his sleep from post nasal drip. (Apnea.) It took months to get it right. He also takes cannabis oil and melatonin an hour before bed to help him relax.It seems like a lot but it really isn’t. It’s only 5 minutes out of our night to organise and it works. 