Why am I dreaming (without CPAP)

Newsgrouper · Post by **Newsgrouper** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:52 am

I get my CPAP tomorrow. I have been waiting a few weeks for it. In the last few nights I find myself dreaming for the first time in a vert long time.

The dreams are very vivid and I remember much about the dream when I awaken.

I can't understand why this is happening. The only difference is that I have been sleeping in a recliner (for a few weeks) and have lost approximately 10 pounds over the past few weeks.

There · Post by **There** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:50 am

When things started getting particularly rough for me, I did the recliner thing, too. I slept better, if for no other reason than the fact my husband wasn't thumping me to get me to roll over and stop snoring! But outside of OSA, I think any change in sleeping patterns will change the dreaming pattern as well. A few pounds off can't hurt, and maybe since you know you're about to have help from your CPAP, your stress levels have gone down. I know I dream more when I'm less stressed, at least more pleasant dreams than when I am stressed.

Enjoy the dreams. You'll be getting more of them - I'm already dreaming up a storm and just now wrapping up my second week on CPAP. My dreams were already vivid before, and I was a lucid dreamer. I can't wait to see what I can do when I'm getting more practice

Newsgrouper · Post by **Newsgrouper** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 10:33 am

"RemStar Pro 2 with C-Flex set at 9
Respironics ComfortSelect Mask (for now)"

Thanks There. I don't mind the dreams at all.

I noticed the equipment you are using. I am getting the same model machine and mask tomorrow that you are currently using. We even have the same setting of 9.

ChicagoCpap · Post by **ChicagoCpap** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 10:54 am

Let me preface this with saying that I am not a doctor. But I asked my doctor a very similar question... He said that people with OSA or CSA oftentimes vividly remember their dreams because they have an episode and come out of REM often.

Apparently the normal sleep architecture would have you go through various stages before getting into REM, this would be the stage where you would dream. Then after REM, there are a few more stages, and you would then come out of normal sleep. With this architecture, you would have some difficulty remembering your dreams. When are abruptly are taken out of REM, with an apnea episode, you will vividly remember your dreams. Does this make sense? I am pretty sure this is what my great doctor told me about this episode.

I can not account for you only recently getting these vivid dreams...

tater pie · Post by **tater pie** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:28 pm

I really don't know really what goes on when we dream, if it's good or bad that we remember them so vividly. All I know is that Sunday night, I didn't dream and felt exhausted and extremely sleepy Monday. Last night, I dreamed two very vivid dreams that I remember and I feel great today. I was awakened out of the last dream because the alarm clock was going off and I was sleeping so well until then. I know I just feel better the next day if I dream. I assume the apnea is being treated somewhat pretty well because of the way I feel the next day. I have a straight c-pap so I just have to go by the way I feel and like I said earlier, I feel more rested the next day if I dream.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:41 pm

Chicago Cpap, I'm not a doctor and am certainly no expert on dreams, but I agee with your doctor that a person has most likely been thrown abruptly out of REM if they remember a dream.

Probably that doesn't matter much if it's the last dream of the morning and the alarm clock or house stirring noises wake someone out of the last REM period of the morning.

But if it's happening frequently throughout the night (waking up and remembering a dream or remembering at least the wispy thought of "I was having a dream") I would think that's an indication that the treatment is not yet optimized. REM sleep may very well be being disturbed by apnea and/or hypopnea episodes -- events that are most likely to happen during the total muscle relaxation/paralysis of REM.

While it's fun and interesting to wake up remembering a dream - or disturbing if it was an unpleasant dream - I personally think it's a better sign of treatment going well if we wake up rested and don't remember having dreamed at all. The exception being, as I mentioned before, perhaps remembering the last dream of the last REM period if awakened by an alarm in the morning.

Not remembering dreaming is not the same thing as "not dreaming". I think we probably have to wake up fully for a long enough period (minute or two? 5 minutes? dunno) for the awareness of a dream to commit itself to memory.

We can be dreaming up a storm during much of our sleep and be breathing so well with our machine that we move smoothly in and out of the sleep stages and REM just as Chicago's doctor describes. Sleep peacefully enough and we won't "remember" having dreamed, even though there was a lot of REM and dreaming going on.

Dreaming is good and healthy during sleep. Remembering the dreams, though (unless last dream of morning sometimes).... I don't know if that's a sign of good treatment.

littlebaddow · Post by **littlebaddow** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:31 pm

rested gal wrote:While it's fun and interesting to wake up remembering a dream - or disturbing if it was an unpleasant dream - I personally think it's a better sign of treatment going well if we wake up rested and don't remember having dreamed at all. The exception being, as I mentioned before, perhaps remembering the last dream of the last REM period if awakened by an alarm in the morning.

I'm also not a doc, but this sounds spot on.
Pre-PAP, I remembered having many vivid and frequently disturbing dreams, night after night, and most noticably during the periods when the other symptoms were most apparent.
Now, post-PAP, I still remember dreaming some nights but much less often and, thankfully, more often than not, pleasant ones!

Nitro Dan · Post by **Nitro Dan** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:16 pm

I remember not having any dreams at all, (before treatment) and frequently dreaming during CPAP. I always wake up ready to go, usually between 5 and 6 AM. Must be my internal alarm clock....

chrisp · Post by **chrisp** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:51 pm

its the drugs man.

I gotta go study for my drug test tomorrow.

JimH · Post by **JimH** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:11 pm

I very rarely dream. Before or after being on CPAP. I used to dream alot then. I found the lost 10 pounds

WayneL · Post by **WayneL** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:52 am

I just had UPPP done 10 days ago; I am experiencing an extreme amount of dreams to include alot of very audible talking in my sleep. Previously, I was getting poked because I was snoring; now, I am getting poked because I am talking in my sleep, from one to the other. I just can't win! She waits for awhile, to see if I reveal any deep dark secrets, before she pokes me. Prior to UPPP, I was having minimal dreams that I could remember. I was recently diagnosed with mild sleep apnea, and was issued a CPAP. I tried the CPAP once; I decided it wasn't for me, so I pursued UPPP. My better half now says I don't snore, but I talk in my sleep! How long will it take before I get used to breathing appropriately during my sleep, and not being as disruptive with sleep talking as I was with my snoring?

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:47 am

Wayne, I hope you plan to have another sleep study about this time next year to see what kind of results the UPPP surgery is providing down the road.

Good luck!

Namovicz · Post by **Namovicz** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:47 am

I too have had very vivid dreams for many years. I always attributed it to being on Prozac because that is a recognized side-effect of the drug. It now makes more sense that it was the apnea the whole time because I rarely remember my dreams since starting with the cpap and I still take the prozac as a prophylactic for the migrains.

Newbie question:

What is a UPPP?

WearyOne · Post by **WearyOne** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:11 am

I remember reading somewhere about this type of thing quite a while ago, maybe on this board, maybe as a response to a question I asked...I'm getting old and my memory is slowly draining out of me!!

I believe I remember reading that we apparently have two stages where we can dream, and the dreams seem more vivid in one stage than the other. One of those is right when we go to sleep, the other is in REM. Before CPAP, many times I would wake from a dream, look at the clock, and see I'd been asleep less than 10 minutes. I'll see if I can locate this.

I remembered so many dreams pre-cpap. Now, only occasionally. Like the other night, I had a horrid nightmare and bolted upright in bed, scared to death. Checked that time on my software graph the next morning and there was nothing there, so apparently, the scariness of the nightmare is what awakened me this time, rather than an event. I'm a very light sleeper, too, so it doesn't take much to wake me up (which is why I wear earplugs even with the cpap machine running).

Pam

WearyOne · Post by **WearyOne** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:20 am

Okay, think I found what I was talking about. It's not exactly related to the OP's question, but it is about dreams.

viewtopic.php?p=162757&highlight=#162757

Pam

Machine	Mask