.

[secret agent girl]

.

[JohnBFisher]

Prior to my new ASV unit, I remembered had very, very few dreams. With my ASV unit, I almost always awaken from a dream. I don't always remember the details, but they are rich and well, er ... "different" ... yup, that's the word I will use. "Different!"

Seriously, it's wonderful to be dreaming again. I know from experience over the years that I am most creative and effective during the day when I dream vividly while asleep. I often go out of my way - such as by reading a book, watching a movie, etc - to help encourage active dreams.

I find that creativity is an active process and dreams are an important component in that process.

[RipVW]

About the same for me before/after cpap.

[littleredtree2]

I always had dreams. Not good ones

Always woke up after dreaming, I was running for my life or drownding.
Now its mostly normal dreams. Even happy dreams.

[Patrick A]

My draems have become weird.....I seem to be dreaming more now that I have a mask that is fitted right than before go figure?

[Jaylee]

Before the BiPap I rarely remembered dreaming. Now I dream every night. Weird ones, too. Last night I dreamed that I was serving bacon, mashed potatoes and coca cola to my 4 year olds at school Talk about an unhealthy snack!

[littleredtree2]

Before the BiPap I rarely remembered dreaming. Now I dream every night. Weird ones, too. Last night I dreamed that I was serving bacon, mashed potatoes and coca cola to my 4 year olds at school Talk about an unhealthy snack!

is that your favorite foods?
sounds good to me. Although I have never had bacon with mashed potatoes.

[jnk]

Hmm. Don't know how to answer that, because I seem to go in cycles.

My sleep and my dreams have never been all that normal or predictable, likely because of having sleep/breathing trouble all my life. I think I used to go in waves--days without REM then a night with a sudden burst of REM rebound when my body went dead to the world.

If a person remembers several vivid dreams from the night before, without even trying, that may mean his sleep was unduly fragmented, especially during REM, which is when the more vivid, strange, emotionally-charged dreams are generally supposed to occur.

When a person begins getting successful PAP therapy, REM rebound may cause a run of several nights with somewhat long periods of vivid dreaming, which can make it more likely that such dreams will be remembered, but it generally requires a significant arousal of some length for a dream to get deposited into the conscious mind. Couple that tendency with the fact that the first few weeks of getting used to PAP can cause some arousals from getting used to the mask and pressure, AND the fact that the nervous system may be particularly "on edge" in its expectation from years past that airway closures may be occurring any minute, and you have a formula for a person's remembering particularly vivid dreams for a while.

So, the answer to the questions in the poll may depend on where a person is in that process, in my opinion.

It is my opinion too that one indication of particularly good sleep, once a person is used to therapy, is waking up and not remembering vivid dreams other than the one that may have been happening right when the alarm went off.

Now, if a person puts some effort into remembering dreams at that point, when first awakening, while lying perfectly still before stirring, a person may be able to remember more dreams in that halflight between asleep and awake--in a sense, yanking some of the unconscious stuff over into the conscious part of the mind. But if a number of vivid dreams are remembered without even trying, that, to me, means the person had a number of significantly long arousals the night before, which allowed the unconscious stuff to spill over into the conscious on its own over and over again during that night.

But what do I know. Just one man's opinion.

All in all, I think it is a highly individual thing that may relate to how important dreams are to a person and how well a person happens to be getting along with his own unconscious, and subconscious, self at the time.

jeff

[Julie]

I dreamt a lot when I was a child, but don't remember much during adulthood (either I dreamt but was too busy with life to remember anything about it, whether or not I was able to remember any dreams I might have had) but for a few months prior to dx with OSA I had vivid, memorable dreams. Now I dream a lot, but they're 'normal' ones, 99% about my life, though mostly past life, i.e. work related, etc. and I have an idea they're as much about what's going on with my life otherwise than necessarily OSA or CPAP related. So I'm not sure any of this is helpful!

[gasp]

I'd like to forget last nights dream : )

[jnk]

I'd like to forget last nights dream : )

If you'd like to share it with the whole class, we will listen respectfully, and then make silly comments about it to make it easier for you to forget. If you want, that is. Just offering.

[gasp]

I'd like to forget last nights dream : )

If you'd like to share it with the whole class, we will listen respectfully, and then make silly comments about it to make it easier for you to forget. If you want, that is. Just offering.

LOL Ok, here goes - you asked for it : )

My husband and I had a slight tiff - we're not afraid of conflict - however it must have reached a part of me that thought differently

I found myself being kissed by a man I didn't know and he was a pretty good kisser. I thought in the dream how this shouldn't be happening. I tried to tell him but every time I tried he'd kiss me in a different way that was like a tickle. Shortly that vanished and I was helping a girl make her bed, worrying that if I didn't tuck her sheets and pretty quilt in good enough the pesky scorpions would get in her bed. I had to keep jumping here and there to avoid them on the floor. This story vanished shortly and then I was looking for a plastic toy that served as a key to my vintage corvette, like I owned in my twenties in real life. The room was a mess and it was hard to find. Then I understood it was my mom's house that was such a mess (which is completely opposite of her real home) and I told her how come I had to clean my room so good if her house was in such a mess.

Thank God it all ended there. Sheesh. There you have it : ) I'm not even going to look that up in a dream interpretation book!

[sleepywolverine]

I never really remembered any dreams before therapy. Occasionally I would remember some random dream, or I'd have some really horrible ones that would wake me up which I now think were related to OSA. I didn't know I had OSA it at the time, but I'd wake up gasping for air and either I'd be dreaming that a pillow was stuffed over my face or that my head was covered in some weird leather thing with a zipper over my mouth that I would finally find and unzip and then wake up. They weren't common enough for me to think my brain was trying to tell me something, but I do remember having those same dreams several times.

Since starting therapy, I've only remembered 2 or 3 dreams. My numbers look okay other than my leak rate sometimes, but if I'm not remembering dreams often- is it cause for concern?

[jnk]

. . . if I'm not remembering dreams often- is it cause for concern?

I would consider that an indication of very good sleep, myself.

[jnk]

. . . My husband and I had a slight tiff - we're not afraid of conflict - however it must have reached a part of me that thought differently . . .

So, then, it sounds like you already have a pretty good idea what the dream was "about."

. . . I found myself being kissed by a man I didn't know and he was a pretty good kisser. I thought in the dream how this shouldn't be happening. I tried to tell him but every time I tried he'd kiss me in a different way that was like a tickle. Shortly that vanished and I was helping a girl make her bed, worrying that if I didn't tuck her sheets and pretty quilt in good enough the pesky scorpions would get in her bed. I had to keep jumping here and there to avoid them on the floor. This story vanished shortly and then I was looking for a plastic toy that served as a key to my vintage corvette, like I owned in my twenties in real life. The room was a mess and it was hard to find. Then I understood it was my mom's house that was such a mess (which is completely opposite of her real home) and I told her how come I had to clean my room so good if her house was in such a mess.

Thank God it all ended there. Sheesh. There you have it : ) I'm not even going to look that up in a dream interpretation book!

Perhaps your subconscious is reminding you that intimacy (tickle) and security (protecting the girl) are important enough for you to tread more lightly. The memories of the fun and freedom of younger years (toy/car) may be alluring, but it still had complications and conflicts (messiness/mother). It may be that not disappointing your loved ones is still very important to you, even when their expectations are unfair, arbitrary, and contradictory.

Or, then again, maybe it was just a dream.



jeff