Dreams

[spacetoast]

I've read lots of threads on dreams here. Even with my Sleep apnea, I still had dreams. But they were more like dream snippets. And of course, that makes sense if you keep waking up from them. I can specifically remember times when I would wake up from a dream and wish I could go right back to sleep to get back in to whatever dream I was in. That never seemed to work, though.

So, I started my xpap therapy a week ago last night (Monday), and I was a little bummed because I read all these posts about long, vivid dreams and hoped I would have some too. Well, I didn't remember any of my dreams until one I had this morning. It was a long, rambling, dream! Nothing too wacky, crazy or vivid. But it was long enough to have a strange, disjointed story. The funniest part was being in a university theater and the characters from Deadwood were coming through a time machine portal. I think I remember Seth Bullock and the Doc for sure. It was funny. (And yes, I was watching Deadwood before going to bed last night )

It was nice to have a long dream again. If anyone has recently started therapy and seemed to have stopped dreaming, here is a post disucssing that:
viewtopic.php?t=3836

And here is RestedGal's link page for dreaming and REM rebound. I found a lot of interesting threads in here:
viewtopic.php?t=3524

[Captain_Midnight]

The topic of dreams and OSA comes up from time-to-time as it rightly should.

Pre-diagnosis, I had turbulent, nonsensical, fragmented dreams that I just hated. They inevitably involved conflict and were often yucky nightmares. I now believe that such dreams for the OSA patient can be part of our defense mechanism to throttle us awake with a surge of epinepherine and other hormones, so that we do not suffocate in our sleep (a process to be repeated endlessly, each night.)

One of my very first indications of xpappian therapy success was a near instantaneous conversion to user-friendly dreams (and no more night sweats!)

I can also report that the effect is durable, with nice, long, interesting but not conflict-filled dreams for the last 3.5 years.

I had to chuckle at the date of the original post you cited Space Toast,( 7/05). It was right in the middle of my worst OSA episode, a time when I was not sure that I was going to survive (I think I had mono which made the undiagnosed OSA worse) and I had no clue as to what was wrong. What a turnaround from those dark and miserable days to the present. You could say...it's been a real dream!


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[DarkSideOfTheMoon]

Before CPAP I had dreams that weren't even dreams. It was more like obsessing. I would sing the same song over and over or rehash a conversation I had that day over and over....all while asleep. If you can call 95 AHI's sleep!!! Everything was over and over again like a clip. I hated it and thought I was going crazy. Now I am having wild, far out vivid stories. I love it. Even in my dream I know I'm having a dream and I'm loving it in the dream. I'm saying things like "this is so cool" and laughing from the sidelines.

Cathy

[stanps]

The only dreams that I had for a few years pre-CPAP were dreams that i was suffocating. They were obviously not dreams at all. Since I have been on CPAP I have been remembering more "normal" dreams than I have in a couple of years.

[spacetoast]

Even in my dream I know I'm having a dream and I'm loving it in the dream. I'm saying things like "this is so cool" and laughing from the sidelines.
Cathy

That's called Lucid Dreaming and you are very lucky to have those. Next time you realize you are lucid dreaming, try flying! I've only had a few lucid dreams myself (that I remember), but when I did, I would jump up and start flying!

What a turnaround from those dark and miserable days to the present. You could say...it's been a real dream!

That's good to hear that effective treatment can keep away those fragmented, frustrating dream snippets. It really was frustrating! Not all of mine were bad, but just having the "trailer" version of dreams was pretty depressing. I'm glad to hear it is a long-term thing too!

Curtis

[grybeard77]

Just wondering, I dreamed I was wide awake, laying there listening to wife snore, tried everything I knew to fall asleep, woke up tired.

What kind of dream is that????