• CreativeWoman said on Feb 28, 2009....

  I have really scary nightmares sometimes.  I wake up with my heart pounding and wanting to scream but can't.  Those mornings I have higher blood sugar readings and I'm sure my blood pressure probably is too.
  
  Maybe I should be certain to have made my peace with God every night when I turn in.
  
  CW
  

• secretlife said on Feb 28, 2009....

  and i never dream- or never remember them.  i have had 1/2 dz nightmares in my whole life--several from my childhood that i remember.
   
  i still think dying in my sleep isn't such a bad thing-
   
  especially compared to some of the real life nightmare ways to die that there are!

• superbozo said on Mar 01, 2009....

  Got a suggestion for you to slow the heart/adrenaline/fear responce. I find deep breathing helps calm the mind and body. Most people when faced with fear (sudden noise) tend to freeze for a split second, they also hold their breathe (a loud scream also being part of the fear responce).

  And when people do breathe under stress they do so tightly.....up in the chest as adrenaline tenses the muscles ready for fight or flight.

  Martial artists breathe deeply to overcome /control this perfectly normal response. When you breathe in do so by pushing your belly out. Trying to bulge your belly out forces your diaphram down allowing more oxygen to enter the lungs.

  It also takes longer to do than short sharp breathes. So you slow your breathing and as a result your heart slows. Oxygen is often used for victims of shock (an extreme fear response). So deep breathing does the same by allowing the lower as well as the upper lungs to fill completely therefore increasing oxygen in the blood system. You may notice the shakes come on as you calm thats just the body burning up the access adrenaline in your system so dont try to stop them they will just last longer.

  If you wake with a shock or just get a shock you'll notice your arms sort of want to hug your chest or you tuck in the elbows tight and bend your arms up across your chest try to push your arms away from you this helps relax the chest area and then try to control your breathing by breathing with your belly by pushing out as far as you can on in breathe and by pulling in belly to breathe out. Practice when you go to bed at night you may also find it will help calm the mind before sleep too.

  Also as a carpenter I really hope you have had someone go up and check your roof. Some movement is normal but what you describe could be the start of something serious. If your live in an old house you may find the nails that hold the joists and struts together have corroded away. You may have some rot in the wood and the struts are breaking loose untill someone has a look you'll never know. Unless of course it does come down you'll know then. It may prove to be nothing but I'd still take a look if I was you.

   

• dyingman said on Mar 01, 2009....

  CreativeWoman,
  
  Couldn't hurt.  I did myself no favors writing this latest entry.  Always thought dying in your sleep was a good death.  Maybe it is.  Loved ones figure you went peacefully.  That's a good thing.
  
  Secretlife,
  Like I said to CW, you're probably right about sleep being a good way to go.
  
  You get no dreams?  Funny you should say that.  Sometimes I wonder if dreams are "emotional practice".  Those dreams where you show up at school naked...  How does one handle that mortification?  These extremes might prepare people for stressful situations that aren't quite as bad.    Do you consider yourself stoic or do things fluster you fairly easily?
  
  Superbozo!
  Good to see you.  I don't recall you commenting.  Dyingfans are few, but dedicated.
  
  The joists are held together with plates rather than nails. (Unless you're referring to nails that hold the plates on, but I thought the plates were equipped with dozens of spikes that gripped the wood.  I've never examined them before they ere installed.
  The house is circa 1973.  Not sure how old it needs to be to make your scenarios likely.  Still, when money allows, I'll have someone look and maybe I can zero in on trouble by sending them to teh joists that click when I push on the wall.
  
  The web sites mentioned the clicking starts when teh heat comes on and that has been the case for us.  Collapsing roofs should click and pop year round, no?
  
  As for the breathing?  By the time I would do all that, I've calmed down anyway.  Panic is something I don't easily do and don't stay in that condition long.  Even the bang that caused my worst start lasted all of thirty seconds.  I was more annoyed that frightened.  My terror was of a cerebral nature.  A rational acknowledgment of risk without the emotional internalization.
  
  Again, welcome!
  
  

• secretlife said on Mar 01, 2009....

  no, i'm not stoic. 
  i'm pretty emotional- lol!
   
  i remember having a few nightmares as a child- house fire, parent dying....
  i remember having one as an adult- not so much a nightmare as a bad dream that had my dad in it after he'd died.  but it wasn't a feel-good dad dream as i was hoping for.
   
  everyone tells me that i dream and  just don't remember them.
  i'll assume they aren't horrible dreams since i sleep well.
   
  no idea what it means dm....

• dyingman said on Mar 02, 2009....

  I hear that old saw about not remembering your dreams but I find it plausible that some don't dream as much as others and I'm wondering if it helps one cope with the less nutty real world.
  
  Your emotional nature gibes with this hypothesis, but you're a sample size of one, so I'll need to continue wondering for the time being.
  
  I've always wanted to lucid dream more.  That is, KNOW that I'm dreaming and control it.  I've been afraid of tampering with basic needs like sleep though.  Supposedly there are ways to train yourself to lucid dream more but I don't know if random dreams are fulfilling an important purpose that I mustn't meddle with.
  
  
  

• KathQuiet said on Mar 06, 2009....

  Lucid dreaming. I don't usually remember dreams.  Sometimes, I dream so lucidly in the moments of dreaming that I wake still in that other world, but quickly come around and lose the details, but have great inexpressible recollection of the emotions.  Great joy.  Great fear.  Utter amusement.  Complex confusion.  It varies.  The joyful ones are treasures, I wish they'd come more often because they paint the following day in pink and gold.

• superbozo said on Mar 07, 2009....

  OUCH. Joists should not crack because you push on the wall. I would see if there are any contractors that give free inspections and quotes. You might not be able to afford the repair right now. But what your describing does worry me mate. You do not need to hear cracking all year round for a roof to collapse. I once repaired a house where the garage/backroom roof collapsed because of termites. All  the householders had noticed was that the ceiling seemed to be slightly bent in the middle. They ignored it. Luckily no one was home when the roof went. The problem was only at the rear end of the house but roof trusses are all conected together and when they go it's like dominoes. If there is a problem you may be able to shore up with acros (big adjustable metal struts) to avoid any problems.

  House movement because of heating and cooling does occur. That noise should only be background though unless you have a metal roof. Most timber frame, brick and cement roof tile homes should not creak to much. Your place is 25years old if you have cement tiles you will probably find the seal on the tiles has gone and they now absorb as much water as they repel. Increasing the weight and strain on your trusses and joists. Small leaks are possible. The water never hits your ceiling it just gets soaked up by very dry timber which allows mould and rot a place to get hold. Normaly around the plates.

  But on the other hand it may prove to be nothing. LMAO. It's a bit hard to know. I just know that if i could move walls and joists slightly by pushing on them I would have to get up there and check.

• dyingman said on Mar 07, 2009....

  Heya, Kathquiet,
  
  Yours sound better than mine.
  When I wake up, it's GONE.
  I almost always try to fly when I realize I'm dreaming. 
  
  It's been a long time.  *sigh*
  

• dyingman said on Mar 07, 2009....

  Superbozo,
  Thanks for dropping in again.
  
  Cement tiles?
  On the roof?  Am I understanding you right?
  
  We have plywood roof with asphalt shingles.  Pretty typical.
  The roof should be in good shape.  It was redone maybe 5 years ago.
  
  No popping for the past week. 
  Acros?  Sounds expensive....
  Might be covered under insurance though.
  
  I have a contractor friend.  I'll tell him about the popping and see if he'd have a look someday.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• superbozo said on Mar 07, 2009....

  Yes cement tiles on a roof. They normaly have a colored seal/glaze. So they do not look like cement from the ground. The real problem with them is the weight. You need bigger and more trusses/joists to hold the weight. When I was younger and in the U.K. many people replaced their old slate roofs with these (at the time) new cement tiles. No one stopped to think that they were placing 3 times the weight on 100 year old timbers. Yes I have repaired many roof collapses through the years and that might be the reason for my concern now. I hope I'm causing undue worry at the moment. But a stich in time. :)
   

• dyingman said on Mar 10, 2009....

  No problem, S.B.
  We have asphalt shingles.  (Some blew off my neighbors recently!)
  
  We had a cold snap and the pop came two more times.  Not as loud.
  
  My pushing on the wall... I think I'm hearing popping of drywall nails in and out of teh studs.  NOT the ceiling.  Having heard the ceiling pop again, the soudn is different and from a different location.
  
  

• KathQuiet said on Mar 15, 2009....

  dyingman...do you live where there are bentonite soils?  The pops could be shifting caused by clay-soil expansion and contraction.  It's a huge problem around Denver.  Some neighborhoods had to undergo massive repairs because of it.  On the other hand, other neighborhoods have spot issues and some homes look a little crooked, but they're relatively sound.  Has anyone gone up in the rafters and looked around?  Checked the foundation? 

• dyingman said on Mar 15, 2009....

  Hi Kathquiet!
  
  Welcome to my blog!
  
  I'd been unfamiliar with Bentonite soils.  The problems are most common in Colorado and Texas.  I live in neither.
  
  I am also in a position to have some knowledge of foundation issues of the housing in my community and have heard of no such issues despite having clay soil.  (It doesn't percolate much.)
  
  No one has looked around and I should invite my contractor buddy to do so.
  
  I've had two pops (that I know of in the past two weeks.  Pretty soft compared with the gunshot level pops earlier in the winter.
  
  

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