KM Viray
5. Drugs
People who use drugs, particularly illicit drugs with psychotropic effects, may experience nightmares. Many drugs alter both brain activity, nervous system arousal, and neurotransmitter levels – potentially leading to bad dreams. A wide array of medications, including certain antidepressants, antibiotics, and blood-pressure drugs are also culprits. Some drugs tend to cause bad dreams when they are first taken; others bring nightmares when they’re stopped.
Medications particularly apt to bring troubling dreams are those that affect neurotransmitters, the brain’s chemical messengers that influence sleep cycles, among other things. That includes most anti-depressants, as well as antihistamines and anticholinergic drugs used to treat a broad range of conditions.
