Dreams

josh · Post by **josh** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:17 am

Hello,

I am looking for people that dream on a regular basis...perhaps nightly...that are on xPAP.

I dream once in a great while...perhaps once every two weeks or so, but when I do they are very vivid.

Thanks!

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:34 am

I have been dreaming on a regular basis since going on CPAP (now trying APAP) Aug 1, 2006. That first night was the most intense but I’m still dreaming a lot considering I did not dream but maybe once every 3 or 4 months prior to going on the hose.

- roberto

MD727 · Post by **MD727** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:21 am

I have been on cpap for about 4 weeks now - and I'm finally having dreams again...before cpap I never would - no surprise.

Ms Piggy · Post by **Ms Piggy** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:26 am

hi, glad you brought this up, I have been on cpap for just over a year and I still DO NOT DREAM, this worries me, maybe my therapy is lacking something! or some of us take longer than others.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 9:39 am

LINKS to dreaming - dreams - REM rebound

I'm no expert or anything, this is just my opinion.... if you wake up long enough to be able to remember a dream or even be vaguely aware that you were dreaming, your REM sleep was disturbed. You have to wake up enough and for long enough during the dream to be able to remember either the dream or at least have a vague awareness, "Hmmm, it's foggy, but I know I had a dream."

Just because a person on cpap doesn't remember a dream or even remember dreaming, that doesn't mean the person wasn't dreaming up a storm. We can have plenty of REM with plenty of dreams and not be aware of it at all.

During two consecutive nights of PSG while on cpap, the recorded data showed that I had 3 or 4 normal REM stages both nights. But each morning, if someone had asked me, "Did you dream?" I'd have answered, "If I did, I don't remember it. I don't remember dreaming at all."

Time spent in REM gets progressively longer as it gets closer to morning. Depending on how you are awakened in the morning, an exception might be something like this: If an alarm clock, or people moving about in the house wake you rather abruptly, there's a good chance you might be in REM. That kind of awakening in the morning could make it likely you'd remember some of that last dream period...even vividly.

The fact that REM gets longer as morning approaches is also a very important reason to keep the mask and machine on until we actually get up for the day. Some people have written about turning the machine off near morning to get several more hours of sleep without a mask. Not good. Apneas and hypopneas are more likely to happen during REM, so it's especially important to keep the treatment going during that much longer last REM stage near morning wake-up time.

I personally think it's a good sign of effective treatment if we sleep peacefully through REM without ever being aware of it.

CollegeGirl · Post by **CollegeGirl** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:22 am

I actually never stopped dreaming - through years of untreated sleep apnea. What should have made it obvious that there was something going on, though, was that I remembered everydream I had. I could tell you how many dreams I had last night, what they were about, etc.

Now, if I get awakened by my alarm clock, I can tell you what the last dream I had entailed, but not if I had any more.

If I get to wake up by myself, like I did this morning, I honestly don't know if I had any dreams. I don't remember them. But I can only imagine that I did.

I've never met anyone else with untreated sleep apnea who always had dreams anyway. Maybe I was just weird.

snoozie_suzy · Post by **snoozie_suzy** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:36 am

College Girl,

You're not weird, before getting diagnosed I remembered dreaming constantly and many times during the night too. Infact people I work with thought I was very unique that I could tell them all these details of each of my dreams. Infact, it seemed (to me at least) that that was all I did DREAM. It didn't seem like I had sound restful sleep.

Now on cpap for 9 months I still dream but don't remember half of them, or maybe halfway thru the day, I will see or hear something which will remind me of my dream the night before.

Suzy

gulfpearl · Post by **gulfpearl** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:55 am

College Girl I also remeber my many dreams pre-cpap. Many of them were nightmares in which I would be screaming in my sleep & my husband would have to awaken me to calm me down. I remember most of my dreams involved someone chasing me trying to do me harm. They were so vivid they seemed so real. Since I have started apap I donot remember most of my dreams& if I do remember its when I wake up in the middle or end of the dream. Pre-cpap after I awoke after a dream I would have terrible headaches.I'm having some issues now I'm waking up & remembering my dreams, some headaches so I feel my therapy is not effective now & I'm scheduled for another sleep study.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:58 am

I think some of us may just be wired differently. I know when I was younger I had lots of dreams and could often remember them the next day. In fact, even today I can still remember some dreams I had as a child quite vividly.

At 40 I began to notice lots of changes though, (number of dreams declined to almost none, going bald, gaining weight, having stiff muscles and joints, tired and exhuasted all of the time, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and needing reading glasses among other things) and I just chalked it all up to reaching the peak and beginning my downhill ride of life. The CPAP therapy has given me hope of finding another peak to climb (or at least some kind of plateau) before heading back down again.

- roberto

Mask