I crunched the numbers, comparing 2024 and 2025. My issues for this, um, flare up started in late 2023. I first sought help in January 2024, and began recording data in late January ’24. I started prazosin in April ’24 and began CBT-I treatment in July ’24. I completed my treatment in February 2025.
The monthly stats showed a clear improvement after I started the prazosin and then when I had my “breakthrough.” But the yearly data shows just how much of a difference medication and CBT-I made. I had 3-4 times as many nightmares and bad dreams in 2024. What a huge drop!
I hate following the treatment protocols so much. But tracking the numbers shows that it really does make a difference. My 2023 self said, “I’ll do anything to make this stop.” I’m trying to keep that promise.
Perhaps if I followed the protocol perfectly I could get the numbers to 0. But I am not perfect.
For the last decade or so, it seemed that nightmares were part of PMS. (There is data to support this, that the menstrual cycle can influence dreaming.) I began seriously tracking in March 2024. I was really surprised by the results. Only 50% of the time in 2024? 33% in 2025? I’m curious if the number has gone down or if I’m misremembering. Or perhaps equating vivid/long-lasting with nightmare?
I started tracking themes, too; I added a ton in 2025, so I kept this chart to the themes that covered both years.
I’ve often said I dream a lot about water, so I was surprised to see that it’s 3/5. Perhaps the water dreams are most common in nightmares (oohh I can track that data, too!) or otherwise more vivid, and hence more memorable. An (oooollllddd) episode of “Stuff Mom Never Told You” mentioned that water is a common theme for women. Dream dictionaries suggest water refers to what’s below the surface, metaphorically. I freely tell my dreaming brain: you can just tell me what’s up. I don’t know what I’m supposed to explore.
Airports are sometimes different, but the bus and train station are always the same in my dreams. I don’t know what they mean. Going by a traditional dream dictionary, they relate to new beginnings or transitions or something. But I don’t have anything in my waking life that fits that, nor do I want that.
Dreams about school are no surprise. If I’m a student, I’m still in college or grad school, and usually have a class I’ve forgotten about that I need to graduate. If I’m teaching, it’s a time from my adjunct years teaching college frosh. Pretty classic anxiety dreams.
Family also seems a pretty “normal” topic given. . . everything.
I really don’t know what to make about grocery store dreams. I’ve written about them before. “Searching for something” seems pretty obvious, but again I don’t know what I’m supposed to be searching for. And sometimes in my dream, I get what I need: I’m literally just grocery shopping.
My tracker for 2026 is ready to go. I use the Monthly Symptom Tracker by Drxgonfly, and it’s awesome.
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