h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am good at nightmares. Real Stephen King style nightmares.

I have been known to do the reverse of lucid dreaming, in that I wake up having a nightmare, come downstairs make a cup of tea etc.. but the nightmare keeps running in my head like a soundtrack. I can't stop it. It can take ten minutes or so and some heavy distraction to make it stop.

Anyone else had this?

-Peta

Well a few times when I have been very sick and had very disturbing dreams, I have awoken with the nightmare-type feeling persisting for a long time afterwards. In one nasty episode, I dreampt everything was moving way too fast, and woke up to find everything in my house going way too fast. I ran around the house yelling "slow down!" Finally I found my sister and started talking to her, and I guess the natural timing of conversation somehow slowed everything back down. This occurred several more times with lessening intensity and frequency until I was back to 'normal' more or less.
Have you been reading Stephen King? He doesn't give me nightmares, but when I read him I find my dreams are often narrated.

I avoid him like the plague. I am bad enough *without* help from him!

Sometimes I have nightmares that startle me into waking up, but I am so tired that I fall back asleep again after a bit. So I remember waking up but then scary stuff starts happening again, and I can't tell the difference. Sometimes this happens more than once. For the rest of the day I'm all paranoid. Now that's not any fun at all.