# vivid dreams



## LoriAnn

Over the years, or rather a life time, people can grow so accustomed to things and think its normal. I think I was 23 when I realized that not everyone hurt everyday. I actually believed that everyone experienced bone and muscle pain all the time. It was quite a surprise to me to know that that some people lead perfectly normal painless days.As I said, most of us get so use to some things we don't give it much thought, but lately I couldn't help wondering if any of you here also experience vivid dreams, mostly nightmares. I always have, until recently. When I mentioned it to a couple of people they told me they dream "normally" as compared to me. Guess I just wanted to do a poll, as its been a bit slow on the board lately, it seemed like a good time for an off the wall post.







Lori


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## Mio

Hi LoriAnn,I know what your talking about. I am pretty convinced that I have had FM since my childhood...I was about 31 until I talk to friend and she said: No thats NOT normal to have pain everyday!I also have alot of nightmares from time to time, I used to sleepwalk until I was about 31! People thought that was very funny, an adult who sleepwalks...But it wasnï¿½t fun at all, later I also had night terrors and Iï¿½m sure it all had to do to stress. I also think FM is involved here too. I mean FM includes sleeping disorder...I donï¿½t know, but I think my nightmares is worse when I have a tough time with my fibro. And when there is changes in my lifes. As I wrote I have moved to a new apartment and there have been alot of stress lately. Almost everynight I wake my husband and say or do something crazy in my sleep. He is use to all this, but he notice that this always get worse when Iï¿½m stressed about something. OR maybe Iï¿½m just an oddball














/Mio


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## squrts

i also had to ask if pain was normal.used to have bad dreams every night.most were filled with anger,i guess you could call that a nightmare.so much thrashing around my wife couldnt stay in the same room.i started trazadone at bedtime and it nearly disappeared.its amazing i could fix such a drastic symtome and still feel so bad.i was just wondering why some dreams imprint themselves on my memory and most vanish soon as i wakefunny i should find this topic here this morning when that question was on my mind.


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## Dylan

I have many dreams, I always have good dreams, and bad dreams. More bad than good though. Im not sure this is directly related to FM or pain because everyone dreams. However I would think that the dreams you have are related due to your state of mind in life wich is more than likely related to FM or other chronic pain illnesses. I have many dreams about nuclear bombs and scarry stuff repeatedly. I also have dreams about me and my familly and something wonderfull. Dreams about being chased and nightmares. Dreams about surfing a 900 ft. wave lol. Some dreams are just silly, some are scarry as hell, and some are happy. Dreams are something in my opinion that is not necesarrily related to science but rather related to our heart, mind and soul. Then again I could be wrong it might also be a pinched nerve who knows all I know is yes I dream alot 2 and I would miss it if I didnt. I suppose I could go without the nightmares but sometimes in wierd way I think they are helpfull to remind me of who I am. Ok that was deep well when any of you go to bed I wish to have many good insightful dreams.. thats my 2 cents


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## LoriAnn

Mio, I use to sleep walk too! I'd forgotten about that. My mother said she was always afraid I would wander off somewhere in the middle of the night.It seems like there was always something stressful going on in my life. But I can remember specific nightmares from the age of 2, how stressed can a two year old be? Though no doubt it did have some impact as an adult.Denny, I know exactly what you mean, some mornings I would just wake up with a kind of depressed feeling but couldn't remember the dreams and other dreams I have never forgotten. The brain is a funny place.







Lori


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## squrts

dylan,sleep disturbance is part of FM in many people.the aggressive dreams may well be related to ones state of being,but your body trying to act it out is not.


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## Feisty

Yes, I agree with all of you. Good topic Lori!The dreams I remember the most and are so frightful for me------I dream a tornado is coming and I shout for everyone (hubbie and 2 sons) to get down to the basement. The kids are young in my dream. Sometimes hubbie is in the dream and other times I'm alone with the kids. The scarey part is that hubbie and the oldest boy get to the basement and I'm following them---carrying the youngest---the tornado rips the roof off the house and tears my son out of my arms and sucks him away. Afterwards, I try to look for him and I can never, ever find him!!!Another one----the boys need me, but I can never quite get to them. I walk, or climb, or crawl, or whatever is in the dream, but I can never get to them. Awful feeling. I use to have a similar dream as a child---the difference was that I was trying to get to somewhere and could never get there no matter how hard I tried.I've had these two dreams repeatedly for years and years. The "boys" are 27 & 31, so you know how many "years" that has been.Several years ago when hubbie and I were going through some "rough times" I had the dream that something happened to him and he couldn't walk, so I had to carry him. My therapist suggested that perhaps that particular dream had to do with the fact that I have always felt like I've had to carry most of the "heavy load" by myself. By that I mean, mentally. Hubbie was a workaholic and was never there for the boys or me when we needed him the most.The therapist also suggested that it's possible that I have this fear of loosing the boys to some horrible accident or something. Guess that's a normal "motherly" worry---isn't it? Or am I overly sensitive.I also believe that some of the dreams can be brought on by the inability for us to get into that deep restful sleep "mode" that's so important in order to heal. So, our bodies and our minds are forever "restless'?Dylan, you have some very good insight for a person so young! Are you a college student? What are you doing now? Tell us a little bit more about yourself---but only if you want.Denny----here's your chance to converse with another male!! Go for it, man!! Dylan--- just wanted to let you know Denny is a real great guy and he's got quite a sense of humor in spite of all the health issues. It's good to hear from you, Denny!!Lori-----My oldest son has sleepwalked since he was a small child. He'd look like he was wide awake, but he wasn't. One night, hubbie heard him talking---we turned on the light in his room and he was sitting up in bed. He pointed to me and started laughing and said "Your goofy". I shook him a little bit and asked him if he knew who I was and he said, "Yeah, you're Goofy". We finally got him to settle back down. He also told us that he still sleepwalks and he seems to do it more when he's under a lot of stress. His roommates are always telling him things he did, but it's scarey to think he might get behind the wheel of a car or something. That would be horrid!!Karen


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## LoriAnn

Hey Dylan, you must have been posting at the same time I was, sorry I missed it until now. I dream alot about wars and nuclear bombs etc, but I figured it was because I was born at the beginning of Nam, lots of stuff about it in the news at the time. I've only had a few nice dreams, all of a spiritual nature, I'm sure I only remember them because they were nice.Karen, I've had dreams like that often, about the kids especially, the latest one was about not being able to find James (my 10 year old), those are such scary dreams, and James has also started to sleepwalk the past year- is there a connection I wonder?Lori


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## squrts

in childhood i always dreamed of the end of the world.im sure"duck and cover"didnt help any.then later it was war,i always got wounded but never die,i just lay in the battle field with badguys all around.then later still(recently)its about fighting,one on one.thats when my body started moving,my arms would swing,i hit my wife on several occasions.i hated thoses the most.i think thats a telling dream.now i fight!


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## LoriAnn

Denny,I think you are right. My dreams a very similar. Probably a million times I have stood in front of a mirror, looking at my body and thinking it was a traitor. I kept looking, like I would figure out why nothing seemed to work right. I have been at war with this traitorous body all my life, more than once I thought of it as my "enemy". Its a survival mission, only we didn't get boot camp training, or danger pay, or even survival gear. We have been thrust into the middle of a battlefield with nothing to defend us but our will & our wits. We may not be winning, but we are still here. Maybe thats why we dream of war so much.Lori


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## weener

I have say that I too have more bad dreams than good ones. I don't dream as much as I use to and I usually don't remember unless they are bad. The kind that makes you wake up in a sweat. When I went through a year's worth of therapy, I dreamt awful dreams almost every night. Lot of #### from childhood that I had to deal with. I dreamt about killing rats, my blind dog getting lost in downtown traffic, my farm animals getting loose, a little girl drowning and I had to save her, someone killing my whole family. They were dreams that always woke me up. The therapistt would have me document them in a journal. Every week he would analyze them. After much analyzing he came to the conclusion that many times when we dream about animals or other people (it's actually yourself, but you may come in the form of an animal or another person). The blind dog was me, somewhat lost and not sure where my relationship with my family was heading. The little girl was me, drowning, but I was also saving myself. The killing of my family was that I finally came to the conclusion that I didn't need to please them anymore they didn't have control over me anymore. Interesting, eh! Then there were the dreams that didn't make any sense at all. I find this stuff fascinating.


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## Guest

Vivid dreams come and go... they cycle. My experience with them has been that they are related to hormone levels. I remember when I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and extremely ill.... the vivid dreams that I had were unbelievable. Now when I have them, I know it's time to remove the estrogen patch for a while







I also had fairly vivid dreams as a child... scarey, repetitive dreams. Not sure what invoked them back then.... nowadays it's usually something I ate before I went to bed.


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## Guest

Most of the really scarey dreams that I have anymore aren't really dreams..... I believe they are "nocturnal anxiety attacks". I wake up, feel as if I cannot breathe...and in this half awake half asleep state I can see "bugs" attacking me and I will grab the covers and pull them over my face and tremble and scream (hubby will vouch for that one from way back) We don't sleep together anymore because I must sleep without disturbances. I also occasionally dream about evil spirits.... that one always leaves me awake and frightened to death.... literally paralyzed with fear and I can't even get up and go to the bathroom unless my husband gets up with me (from the other bedroom, no less) That's a real bummer when he's on night shift


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## LoriAnn

I've had one or two evil spirit dreams myself, scared me so bad I couldn't sleep again for days. It scared me again a year or 2 later when I friend described the exact same dream.....freakyLori


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## weener

Has anyone had a dream like this: I'm not sure whether I'm awake or dreaming, but I can't move, I try to lift my arms and legs and something is holding them down. I feel like I'm suffocating and I've lost complete use of my arms and legs. I try lifting them and by the time I can lift them a iota I'm huffing and puffing. This has been an ongoing dream for years.


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## LoriAnn

I've had deams like that, but not often thank goodness.Lori


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## squrts

i think thats sleep paralisis.i had thadt alot for a couple mounths and never again,knock on wood.


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## Guest

Weener, I've had such dreams, although not very often. I awaken feeling as if I am dying. Somehow I manage to come out of it and live to see another day of pain.....


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## LoriAnn

In my favorite dreams I am always in a BIG old house with lots and lots of rooms, and the house has all kinds of cubby holes and built in shelves and cabinates. The woodwork is always fabulous, I run my hands over the woodwork and I think about the loving craftmanship that went into the building of the house (my fathers daughter again) Maybe its because I have always lived in small places, or maybe it has a bigger meaning, like the desire to feel free, not trapped, and all the cubby holes and cabinates are about the hidden parts of me. I don't know, but I like those dreams best.  Lori


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## weener

Lori Ann, Squrts, Artspirit, thank goodnesss it isn't only me that is having those weird dreams. I asked hubby if he ever had a dream like that and he said "no". As I mentioned I'm not even sure if it's a dream. Squrts what is dream paralysis? My favorite dreams usually involve falling in love with some gorgeous actor. Don't get me wrong, I love my hubby to bits, but every now and then and I don't know why I wake up with a warm, fuzzy feeling about a hunk with his arms around me. (Probably way too much info here!!) Anyways, I like those dreams


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## Guest

Geez, Weener! No wonder I never get any "hunks" in my dreams...you've got'em all!







Seriously, this conversation about dreams, sleepwalking, etc. is really interesting. I was a sleepwalker (and talker) as a child. I still occasionally did it in my early teens. One of the funny stories about me walking and talking happened when I was in 8th grade and almost 13 years old. Schools where I lived were crowded and we were on half-day sessions for awhile. It was my habit to come home, eat and then take a nap. No cat naps will do for me. I've always slept in the afternoon for at least an hour, sometimes longer.This one particular day I woke up and walked out into the living room. My mom looked up at me. She said my eyes were open but, clearly, I was not in there, so to speak. I'm standing there with a short petticoat on, a shirt, and my underwear and I have my socks on top of my head! I started talking to the dog, trying to get her to go outside. All the while she is cringing away from me. Then I start for the outside door. Mom says, "Where are you going?" I picked the socks up off my head and replied, very matter of factly, "Well, I have to put _these_ on! Mom said she figured she'd just let me go and as soon as the cold air hit me I'd wake up. This was Michigan in the dead of winter and cold. Sure enough, I woke up on the porch in my skivvies, wondering what I'm doing there.When my hubby and I first married and for some years thereafter, he said I would start talking in my sleep. He said it almost sounded like I was speaking in some sort of language but nothing he'd ever heard before. Mostly gibberish. He says I haven't done that in a long time.Now, about dreams. I seldom dream. At least not anything I remember. Possibly because of my erratic sleep patterns I just never get to the place where dreaming takes place. It's a real puzzle, isn't it?Good night all (well, it's good morning really)calida


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## LoriAnn

lol calida, your post started my day off with a big smile. Wonder where you would have gone if it were summer?


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## LoriAnn

I dreamed of a BIG house again last night, with a lot of antique furniture, the house needed work, (they always do) but I couldn't wait to move in. Gosh I love those dreams.Lori


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## squrts

i have the house dream too.in one theory the house represents your body.from my dreams i would say more like your whole person.mine always have dark scary places in them,misterious places,bright airy places,lots of cubbies and so on.sleep paralisis,is`spose to be fairly common.described as a diaorder(what else?)in which you cant wake up,cant move,im not really sure actully,lets do a serch.speaking in toungs calida?in your sleep?i wonder what that means.i dream about girls sometimes,no hunks though,you can have mine i`d never use them.


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## squrts

heres an interesting one: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/1700/hag.html


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## squrts

another(better?)view. http://dreamemporium.com/sleep_paralysis.html


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## weener

Calida, (lol) I'm willing to share my hunks! Squrts, thanks for the interesting site on dreaming. I'm bookmarking that site.


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## Guest

Hi Everybody,Lori, glad my story gave you a smile. It was kinda funny (although I'm sure I didn't think so at the time.) I've had dreams about old houses too. Also have a fascination with old, abandoned houses in real life. I like to go inside them. Hubby has had to caution me about that as many of them look as if they are about to cave in. We'll drive by one and I say, "Oh look, honey, there's a real fixer-upper". He just groans.Denny, I wish you well with getting off the Neurontin and hope that's the cause of the impotence problem. As far as me speaking in tongues....nah, I don't think so. It'd be totally out of character for me. Oh, thanks for the dream study websites. I bookmarked them too. Now if I could only start dreaming and remembering them!Weener, thanks for the offer to share your "dream hunks" but I'll pass. LOLTake care all,calida


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## slacker

Has anyone had the sleep paralysis where you actually wake up, and you can't move at all?It happened to me one time at college, when I had been shroomin' too much that week. I woke up in the middle of the night and I could not move a muscle in my whole body. This was before I knew sleep paralysis can happen, so I was scared. So I started trying to yell and scream but I couldn't do that either. This went on for a couple minutes, with me trying to yell as loud as I could. I finally snapped out of it and could move again.It has never happened since. How weird







slacker


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## squrts

better stay away from them shrooms eh?yes,thats partly what it is.you wake up,but sleep hormones still wont let you move.could very well had to do with magic mushrooms,as we used to call em.


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## weener

I wasn't sure what shrooming was, glad you clarified that for me Squrts. Whew, now it makes sense. Never had the magic mushroom experience, but I've heard that it's one wild ride. I don't even drink anymore, because it would take me a week to recuperate. I found out that I'm allergic to alcohol. My face and body would go beet red after a glass of wine or anything alcoholic. I sure do miss my wine.


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## joey

I dream quite often. Some are happy, most are actually nightmares. I sometimes dream of friends and family having accidents and dying. I have this other weird dream that I have had repeatly three or four times in my life. I am riding in a car as a young child. My Mom and Dad are in the car with one of my older sisters. We are crossing this very long, high bridge. There is a problem with the bridge but we are allowed to continue crossing it, then it collapses. I jump in my sleep and wake up. Everytime I've had this dream it is exactly the same. The scary thing is about 10 years ago they built a very long, very high overpass crossing over a major highway in our area. I have butterflies every time I cross it. This dream and a few others including war are so real when I wake up I have to come back to reality.


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## LoriAnn

WOW! Thats incredible! Joey that is the one constant recurring dream I have had since childhood, except all my bridges are over water. Several years ago the Gov't built a 20mile bridge from New Brunswick to PEI, it is now the quickest way for us to get to the island but I can't go near the thing, though my husband has used it many times when traveling for business. When we have to go to Halifax (the provonces capital-about an hour from me) the only way to get there is across one of 2 very long, very high bridges over the harbour, (one of the largest natural harbours in North America) It terrifies me, I have to close my eyes and I always hold my breath, its been my one great fear that stays with me outside my dreams. Perhaps is an internal warning. Like the reporter determined to overcome her fear of flying, she survived a chopper crash with a broken leg, figured that was the worst it get. The next time she went up the chopper crashed and she didn't survive. Or like my father who got depressed every Christmas, he told me he had no idea why, it wasn't some scar from a childhood Christmas. My Father died at Christmas, 8 years ago. Perhaps there is something instinctive in all of us. Or maybe we are all nuts, guess we'll never know for sure







Lori







Lori


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## squrts

yeah but,lori ann,lots of people overcome there fear of flying without ever crashing,and lots and lots of people get depressed at Christmas without dieing on Christmas.i think the bridge dream portends an inner fear or other inner feelings rather than a prophecy.maybe has to do with ones life being interupted in the middle of everything.now,dont go on any bridges,i hate to be responcible for your having a bridge fall out from underneth you and joey.


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## LoriAnn

can we really be sure though? do we really know that most people who get depressed for no reason every christmas don't eventually die at christmas? Its not really something that a poll has been done for, after all, they'er dead. Same with fear of flying, how do we really know that someone who overcomes their fear of flying won't eventually be killed in a crash.There are some things which we aren't meant to know I guess.I can't speak for Joey, but for myself I'll probably still hold my breath & close my eyes when I come to a bridge, just because it scares me. I don't think I'll be taking any chances, just in case. But if I'm ever killed on a bridge I'll make sure a relative posts it here.Here's to death from natural causes!


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## joey

In my dream the bridge seems to be suspended and something is wrong. There are policeman directing traffic across. I never really get the whole dream I always jump in my sleep (falling) and wake up. I think this dream was after my father died, I was six. What really scared me is why was this dream repeating and why so real? I'm pretty sure the repeated dreams were after this bridge was built here. Is this the bridge in my dream? I think of this dream every time I cross it. This bridge is a suspended bridge and part of it crosses a river. It is about 10 miles long mostly over marsh land and connects to the interstate hwy., west and east for another 10 miles both ways. The highest point which makes me "nervous" is crossing marsh land going east, and over water going west.(lake) I'm not afraid of crossing the bridge or dying on it, I have to cross it once a week or go out of my way to cross another. I would think twice during a storm or hurricane esp. if there were policemen directing traffic. As to why I have these dreams I don't know. Could be fear of heights and water. While working this overtime I had to climb. The areas with stairs are fine, but the areas with ladders are rough since my fibro. One of the death dreams I had about a friend (hit by a truck and killed), she was robbed at gunpoint 3 weeks after my dream. She's OK and I think it was some med. I took to sleep but who knows? Then there's the war dreams that are so real. I've never been in a war. So maybe I can foresee the future or maybe its the past??? Deep! I wish I would foresee how to cure fibro and ibs!







Or at least the lottery numbers!


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## squrts

the war is in your body.


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## LoriAnn

Has anyone had dreams that come true? I took a nap one Sat afternoon and dreamed of a terrible earthquake in China. When I got up my oldest girl asked if I slept well I told her no and then discribed my dream to her, within a few minutes my husband came in from work and said "did you hear, they just had a terrible earthquake in China?" I was stunned, and it scared the #### out of Nicole.It doesn't happen to me often, but it does happen and thats weird.Lori


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## squrts

i was dosing,not awake not asleep.i kept seeing people being killed with an axe.the next morning the paper told about an escaped con killing a family with an axe in a neighboring town.DO NOT want THAT again!!


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## slacker

I get that all the time, LoriAnnAlso, sometimes I can;t distinguish a dream from reality.For example, I will think someone said or did something in real, but in reality it was something I dreamed.I often dream a certain scene, like at a store or at school, and then several weeks later that exact frame/scene will become a reality somehwere.Kinda like Deja Vu (sp?) except its like...real...?slacker


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## Paige

I have always had very detailed dreams, walked in my sleep and talked in my sleep. Had dreams that came true. With FM came very intricate dreams of activities such as mountain climbing, which for me would have to be a dream. I would be climbing some mountain (would even know the proper names for all the gear when I first woke up) and have an accident. One left me dangling by a single rope and banging against the side of the mountain. I would wake up in excrutiating pain. I guess pain fuels the imagination.Paige


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## LoriAnn

Slacker, its deja vous, living in a country where french is crammed down our throats every blessed day, it pops up in your head even when you don't want it to.Paige (I love your name)I dream like that too, its almost like watching movies sometimes and I'm not in them, sometimes when I wake up I think, WOW that would make one heck of a story, then an hour later I can't remember a thing.Lori


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## joey

LoriAnn,Its nothing bad but my bridge made the paper. We were having really bad thunderstorms Monday night. Wednesday's newspaper had a picture of the bridge. The picture was the exact portion I spoke about that reminds me of that dream. (Its the part that passes over another highway). They were showing the spectacular lightning show over the bridge. Its a pretty interesting picture. I wish you could see it!







joey


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## bethy_3

Lori Ann,I was just telling my boyfriend yesterday how I found someone on the site that finally knew what I was talking about. I try everyday to explain to him my dreams but he only nods his head and kind of loses interest. I get soooooooo frustrated because I want him so bad to understand what these VIVID DREAMS mean to me and how vivid they really are. No one seems to understand and if I start telling them they seem to say,"ya, I dream too". But I don't believe ANYONE really understands the depth of reality my dreams are. I have come to the point were I can predict future events and direct to reoccuring dreams. I have just been diagnosed with fibromyalgia 3 weeks ago and finally found an answer to why I have a dream life like I do, not to say that I was happy with a diagnosis of FM but at least it gives me some answers and the feeling that I am more "normal" than I had thought.Thanks for your interest and topic of vivid dreams. It gives me hope that I am not the only one.Beth


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