For as long as I can remember I always have had nightmares. A few years ago I addressed this and was diagnosed with chronic nightmares but no explanation for why. Over my life I've grown used to lower key scary/disturbing things in my dreams but every now and again they get so scary I wake up screaming or in a cold sweat. The older Ive gotten those types happen more and more often and recently for the past couple nights in a row. I also find it harder and harder to wake up and often times I find I can't wake up at all and will just resign myself to the horrors of my subconcious until I wake up on my own, which is mentally taxing and I feel like I'm going insane from it. Is there ANY way to stop this? I find that I'm more and more afraid of going to sleep and numerous times in my life I have forced myself to stay awake for days, the first time being when I was around age 8, just so I wouldn't have to experience anything horrifying. The longest time I've been able to stay awake is 3 days but the older I get the most I can stay awake for is two nights and one day. I don't know how much more I can take. Im 21 years old now.