Anybody else get nightmares?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
bjl
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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by bjl » Sun Oct 19, 2014 6:34 pm

First off, SSRIs can definitely mess with your dreaming. So your SSRI could be the cause. You also mentioned that you feel that you dream easily. If you had trouble getting into REM sleep previously, you could be experiencing "REM rebound". Google it and see if the symptoms sound familiar to you. Don't get too concerned about the PLMD just yet. Many people act out a portion of their dreams every now and then. If it becomes chronic, then it could be PLMD.

-b

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njenkinspa
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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by njenkinspa » Sun Oct 19, 2014 7:38 pm

Some of us dream in black n white others of us unlucky dream in color. I dream every night I have learned to fight in my dreams. Control and concentration. If you concentrate in sleep you can control the nightmares fighting is the first step. Your baby dog will come back to bed with you!

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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by borgready » Mon Oct 20, 2014 10:50 pm

Hey mgaggie,
Now that you mention it, the fighting dreams is another one of the apnea dreams. I have had those too. I think that type of dream can be linked with the running or being chased type of dream. As your not breathing your CO2 builds up in your blood and makes the heart beat faster. If your running or exercising, CO2 builds up in the blood and makes the heart beat faster which is normal when your breathing. My guess is when your CO2 builds up when your sleeping and not breathing right that you enter the dream state that tries to kick you out of a deep sleep. The violent fighting dream will bring you out of sleep and you will be punching and kicking when come out of sleep. If you stay in a fight and don't wake up, I have been stabbed, cut, beat, shocked in the dream as a means to get me out of sleep and to wake up and start breathing. Once you know what these dreams are get it through your head to wake up when this happens. A lot of times the dream can get vivid and interesting as the O2 gets lower than it should. When your young you can do the vivid dreaming where the O2 in the blood drops lower than it should. Of course when your young, this is can turn into a crazy sex dreams. Ever hear of people strangling themselves to get that orgasm and high from O2 depletion. Same deal.
Last edited by borgready on Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

borgready
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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by borgready » Mon Oct 20, 2014 10:58 pm

Hey njenkinspa,

Don't enjoy the dreams. During these dreams your not breathing enough. You start enjoying the dreams to much and you can die in your sleep. Keep the dreams scary and where you fight as that kicks you out of sleep. Ever heard of people jerking off and strangling themselves and being found dead in that state. Robbin Williams made a movie(World Greatest Dad) about it and then ended up dying from doing it.(autoerotic asphyxiation) Yeah, they did a cover up job on it.
Last edited by borgready on Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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palerider
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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by palerider » Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:01 pm

borgready wrote:Hey njenkinspa,

Don't enjoy the dreams. During these dreams your not breathing enough. You start enjoying the dreams to much and you can die in your sleep. Keep the dreams scary and where you fight as that kicks you out of sleep. Ever heard of people jerking off and strangling themselves and being found dead in that state. Robbin Williams made a movie about it and then died from doing it.
crackpot theory of the day nominee, right here folks.

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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by borgready » Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:08 pm

Hey palerider,
Crackpot theory???? What part of this theory do you have a problem with and why?

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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by Drowsy Dancer » Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:30 pm

Pre-CPAP I had recurrent nightmares about drowning, which makes perfect sense when you consider that my untreated AHI was in the 70s.

They went away with CPAP treatment. I had REM rebound for a while, but then it abated.

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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by borgready » Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:59 pm

Hey mgaggie,
I can't speak from experience of the SSRI drugs as a chose not to take them as the doctor was pushing them on me to cover my problems with sleep anpnea that he couldn't figure out. From what I hear the SSRI drugs can really mess with your mind. Just read the side effects of the drugs. I am not sure if they cause breathing issues directly or indirectly. I will assume they can as they mess with the core operation of the brain. So if your dreaming alot and getting crazy dreams, your breathing could be being suppressed too much. Remember during dreaming your body is paralyzed so you can't move. If your mentally unstable for one reason or another without the SSRI drugs, you will get some crazy dreams too. When dream world becomes your real world, you can start to think up some wild stuff. Hallucinations in the auditory, visual, touch, smell, taste can scare the shit out of you.

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palerider
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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by palerider » Tue Oct 21, 2014 8:46 am

borgready wrote:Hey palerider,
Crackpot theory???? What part of this theory do you have a problem with and why?
so far, pretty much everything you type has been bullshit.

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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by bv1800 » Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:46 am

Funny that this would pop up on the forum, today. Yesterday my wife was talking about weird, repetitive dreams that she was having. It reminded me that I used to have dreams where my mouth was filled with a gummy, glue like substance. I could breath through my nose, but I couldn't clear it from my mouth. During the dream, I knew that I was dreaming, but I couldn't wake myself up. I don't recall having that dream in the 10 months that I've been using my CPAP. Probably a more than obvious reaction to apneas during REM sleep.

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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by ems » Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:09 am

borgready wrote:Ever heard of people jerking off and strangling themselves and being found dead in that state. Robbin Williams made a movie(World Greatest Dad) about it and then ended up dying from doing it.(autoerotic asphyxiation) Yeah, they did a cover up job on it.
I spent a few minutes googling this and other things you said... the majority of which is nonsense.

As far as Robin Williams is concerned, I'm wondering how you became privileged to this information? Are you saying that they did such a great cover up that you are the only one who knows about this? I live about 15 minutes from where he lived and for several weeks his death was all anyone talked about... which included people who were close to him and I would think know far more than you do.
If only the folks with sawdust for brains were as sweet and obliging and innocent as The Scarecrow! ~a friend~

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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by mgaggie » Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:28 pm

Please can we not argue about Robin Williams death? It's taking away from the subject at hand

borgready
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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by borgready » Wed Oct 22, 2014 1:27 pm

I am not sure you will find anything on the dreaming nightmares and sleep apnea/oxygen deprivation by doing simple google searches. I have not really looked and don't need to look as a I know this is true from my own experience. Anyone that has sleep apnea will get the scary themed dreams. You get used to them and may even think its normal. So I have my doubts that your going to find main stream medical articles on this. If you do find them post them. I know many of the drugs will list side effects like trouble breathing, disturbing dreams, being tired. They don't directly say they are associated with sleep, oxygen deprivation and nightmares. There are books out there that talk about dreaming and vivid dreams but I don't know whether anyone has figured out that oxygen deprivation while sleeping will trigger vivid dreams.


People's dreams are a fuzzy area that is hard to nail down because each person is going to react to the situation differently as each persons experience is different. What scares one person does not always scare another. There are common themes of dreams. Certain themes scare people. Just look at the horror movies to see a window into a person dreams. I would say many of the creators of these movies are in touch with their dark side and are telling dreams that they have. Kids are sensitive to scary themed information and get scared easy. Adults, on the other hand, can be hardened to that information and not get scared so easy. If an adult is not hardened to scary themes then they can get freaked out too. You have a natural fear of spiders, snakes, heights, death. You can override that core programming by learning not to be scared of them. Dreams are the same. If you do a lot of dreaming, you can get used to the scary themes. You can even start to control the themes. Make the dreams pleasurable through sex and happy type themes and the person will try to stay in the dream sleep as long as possible and that is not good.

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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by borgready » Thu Oct 23, 2014 9:36 pm

Well I did a google search for sleep apnea nightmares

I have to say I was surprised to see this in the medical literature.

This is one article that talks about nightmares coming from oxygen desaturations:

Nightmares and oxygen desaturations: is sleep apnea related to heightened nightmare frequency?

Has anyone been trying to research this topic? Post any articles you might find.

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Re: Anybody else get nightmares?

Post by ShepherdBeverly » Thu Mar 10, 2016 7:44 am

I had my first nightmare last night after a months use. I sat up in bed screaming so loud it woke my husband.