Nightmares

Hello ....I have a question ..... I have sleep apnea and have the most problems in REM sleep. Most of the time I don't dream at all but the last 3 nights I've had bad dreams. Now I wonder does that mean I actually got some good sleep or what because like I said I hardly ever dream. Just thought it was strange 3 nights in a row. Also I go for a another sleep study Tuesday and they called me yesterday and told me she was doing a overnight study for o2 and to come get the device......just thought that was kinda strange since I will wear one all night at the sleep study. Thanks in advance for anyone's thoughts. Jules

That is suppose to be oximetry test. I have morning head fog....lol

When your OSA is treated you tend to be able to fall into a deeper sleep. So yes you could be dreaming more. There are some articles that suggest you get into a rebound REM sleep mode where you tend to have more REM sleep than you had before. This eventually lessens as your body get used to having uninterrupted sleep again. But nightmares are unfortunate.

They might want to see your pulse ox when you are at home. Not surprisingly you sleep better at home than at the sleep center.

I have always noticed that if I'm having a bad dream I'm sleeping on some body part and it's gone to "sleep". It's like my body's way of telling me I'm sleeping on my arm or whatever. Your mileage may vary. I have been treated by CPAP for at least 8 years and generally don't have bad dreams at all. And very seldom remember my dreams up until recently. I got a new machine (BPAP) and suddenly I'm dreaming every single night. All good dreams too. And I remember them longer instead of forgetting them right after waking. I can't account for the details but the trend is promising.

Julie, are these nightmares while using CPAP? Was a little unclear if you are already on CPAP and getting another sleep study or it you're going in for titration. If you are on CPAP, it may just be that you're able to get more REM and this is what your dreams are like at the moment. However, it would be a good idea to make sure (by machine data) that horribly inadequate treatment isn't the cause of the nightmares. I had that issue when the low ramp pressure and long ramp time was a problem. Once my treatment was working properly and the overuse of the ramp was corrected the nightmares ceased.

If your nightmares are not while using CPAP, maybe using it will resolve them. Let us know how things progress. You might want to go ahead and register with the forum so you don't get asked the same questions over and over. When one posts as a guest with name variations, it's hard to follow what's already been discussed in other threads. Good luck going forward.

Before starting cpap, I had frequent nightmares--several a night.
I recalled them because they always woke me up. They stopped immediately,
as most were triggered by oxygen deprivation and the sudden release of stress hormones.
This is why I have always kept the mask on all night, even when the mask made my nose raw.

Usually when you get nightmare dreams, you are not breathing enough. Its how the brain kicks you out of dreaming. If you don't get scared and wake up because of repeated conditioning of nightmare type dreams, the dreams can get vivid and weird. The longer you stay in a vivid dream the longer you are going on a restricted or lowered O2 level. When your young and in shape you can deal with the stress of low O2.

When you get enough air, you won't get the nightmares or vivid dreams. So use the nightmare as a gauge of when your not breathing enough. So for some reason that you are doing cpap therapy and you get a nightmare type dream you can assume that something is not going right and try to figure out what it is. Just because you use cpap doesn't mean things work perfectly.

I probably dream every night. Prior to cpap therapy, I seldom dreamed. Some folks get bad nightmares and sometimes I do. And... sometimes I dream about a beautiful blonde... on the beach . This is normal because the therapy is allowing you to get more deep sleep, where dreams occur, and body repair can take place.

Sheriff

Sheriff Buford wrote:I probably dream every night. Prior to cpap therapy, I seldom dreamed. Some folks get bad nightmares and sometimes I do. And... sometimes I dream about a beautiful blonde... on the beach . This is normal because the therapy is allowing you to get more deep sleep, where dreams occur, and body repair can take place.

Sheriff

Does that beautiful blonde ever lure you into the water and try to drown you?
or
Maybe she tries to strangle you for coming to quick?
or
As you make out with the blonde her boy friend which is some big body builder grabs you n chokes you with a plastic bag over the head.


I don't think your therapy is working to good for you. If it was you wouldn't remember that sexy blonde doing nasty things on the beach.

borgready wrote:

Sheriff Buford wrote:I probably dream every night. Prior to cpap therapy, I seldom dreamed. Some folks get bad nightmares and sometimes I do. And... sometimes I dream about a beautiful blonde... on the beach . This is normal because the therapy is allowing you to get more deep sleep, where dreams occur, and body repair can take place.

Sheriff

Does that beautiful blonde ever lure you into the water and try to drown you?
or
Maybe she tries to strangle you for coming to quick?
or
As you make out with the blonde her boy friend which is some big body builder grabs you n chokes you with a plastic bag over the head.


I don't think your therapy is working to good for you. If it was you wouldn't remember that sexy blonde doing nasty things on the beach.

It never gets that far... besides... I've been jumped before...

I tend to remember dreams if I wake up during them. I am pretty sure I dream even when I can't recall them the next morning, sometimes in the afternoon I will think of something and realize it is a dream fragment.

I often have vivid dreams, I often know I am dreaming. Certain drugs would enhance this. Seldane was the best, though I never saw it listed as a side effect. I was sad when they took it off the market (some pesky thing about killing you it you mixed it with certain OTC medicines).

Sheriff Buford wrote:

borgready wrote:

Sheriff Buford wrote:I probably dream every night. Prior to cpap therapy, I seldom dreamed. Some folks get bad nightmares and sometimes I do. And... sometimes I dream about a beautiful blonde... on the beach . This is normal because the therapy is allowing you to get more deep sleep, where dreams occur, and body repair can take place.

Sheriff

Does that beautiful blonde ever lure you into the water and try to drown you?
or
Maybe she tries to strangle you for coming to quick?
or
As you make out with the blonde her boy friend which is some big body builder grabs you n chokes you with a plastic bag over the head.


I don't think your therapy is working to good for you. If it was you wouldn't remember that sexy blonde doing nasty things on the beach.

It never gets that far... besides... I've been jumped before...

you might have noticed, sheriff, that borgready is one of those nutjobs you'd have been eyeing suspiciously while on the job... or perhaps, locking up for the public good

Hey Palerider,
Back to trolling again. What's up with that anyways. Calling me a nutjob???

Yeah buddy. Those dreams can get pretty crazy. Yeah it will start nice and harmless but it turns dark. So you would have a nice blonde that you would approach. You might get close enough to touch her. Then she turns around and is some vampire that jumps you and attacks you. You try to fight her as she is biting you. You wake up from the dream swinging and punching and heart beating fast as you try to breathe again. Sounds like a pretty typical nightmare dream you would get from a bad apnea.

Come on Palerider. Lets here about some of your nightmares. Then I will call you the nutjob. LOL

I didn't mean to cause a disagreement but that's exactly what I was wondering because my new dr said my oxygen was really low all night and I had bad dreams 3 nights in a row and I never dream so I just wondered if I actually got some decent sleep or what.....but best I can remember I wasn't wearing my mask. So who knows.....I go Tuesday for a titration study so I guess after that I will know. I'm really kinda hoping she puts me on oxygen. I know probably sounds strange but I am soooo tired of feeling bad and the dr said that could be what's causing a lot of my problems. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and comments and again I didn't mean to cause a disagreement . Jules

Some people get more dreams with CPAP, some get less. People with apnea may get dreams about choking or fighting for air.

There are lots of theories about stress hormones, disturbed sleep patterns, waking up quickly, etc., but the end result is that it varies a lot between various people.