Why do dreams have to seem so real?? - Fibromyalgia Acti...

Fibromyalgia Action UK

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Why do dreams have to seem so real??

JT_3 profile image
JT_3
39 Replies

Does anybody else find that? This is the third time in 9 days I've woken up sobbing. :-(

My dreams are so vivid I feel physical pain in them. They aren't always about the same thing though. The first one was horrific, I won't go into too much detail but I was being chased, assaulted and stabbed. And I could feel the immense pain of the knife. Thankfully I eventually woke myself up from it. But had only been asleep for 40 minutes and then stayed up the rest of the night as I was scared I would go back into the nightmare.

I am wondering if it's my meds but I really don't know. I don't sleep often as it is and sometimes when I do I wake up, like tonight, I'm distraught.

I am so desperately tired but I always feel like I am fighting in some way in these dreams that I am exhausted either way.

Has anybody else found this happening to them? I am sorry to sound so disheartened but it's the middle of the night, I'm so upset and I feel so alone :-( :-(

JT

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JT_3 profile image
JT_3
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39 Replies
dottyboro profile image
dottyboro

Hi jt my daughter who suffers from fibro has had nightmares an that's before she got diagnosed she 18 16 at the time she dreamt her deceased nan was standing there telling her to kill herself. I really had to reassure we told the docter but didn't recommend anything thats when the doctor really thought some thing was wrong with jayne .Since then been a lot more mainly about her phobias but we are getting there .Hope this helps xx Regards dotty

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to dottyboro

OMG that really is scary, bless her. Thank you for sharing that with us. It has made me feel less alone with these awful episodes. Was it due to a certain medication do you know?

JT

Cookie72 profile image
Cookie72

Hi jt I often wake up crying, and my body is in great pain, I feel that when we go to sleep we are reasonable still and stiffen up then to move in our sleep is highly painful, therefor we are dreaming of the immense Pain we are in but can come as a different kind of pain ie like some one is hurting us ect therefor causing the pain, hope all that makes sense to you, I'm not that good at explaining things......hope this help...gentle hugs to you ....Dee xx

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to Cookie72

Hi Dee

Yes I know what you are saying and if it was just the pain, that would be enough to deal with but the nightmares are so horrific and real, it takes it to a whole other level.

Thanks for sharing.

JT

Julesq27 profile image
Julesq27

Hi I have dreams like that, not necessarily painful ones but dreams that seem it's my reality and I find it difficult to wake up out if them. When I do wake up I have to adjust my whole mind to my actual reality and remind myself that it was a dream. It's not always that easy. I don't know if this helps. I also find that I get dead arms and legs during my sleep and lots of jerking movements which scares my kids and hubby depending where I fall asleep. X x x

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to Julesq27

HI Jules

I am also Jules! I wake up every day with with a dead hand, depending on which side I sleep on. My chiropractor thinks this is down to the fact that I have extreme tightness in my pectoral muscles and the nerves are being disturbed. It took two hours yesterday for my had to fully come back to life. I am also having dreadful spasms in both my shoulder blades too. Oh the joy of fibro!!

I am glad that I'm not alone with the vivid dreams but would obviously rather other people weren't suffering them too.

Thanks for sharing.

JT

Gramma profile image
Gramma

I have really vivid dreams too. I have woken up and spent hours trying to sort out reality from my dream.

in reply to Gramma

Look at that as a gift.. It's wonderful to dream so vividly provided

that the dream brings new experiences for you and good things.=)

Lucyhobbit profile image
Lucyhobbit

When I was first diagnosed with Fibro (in my late teens) I tried amitriptyline then but found it was giving me really scary nightmares that I couldn't wake up from - horrendous so I stopped taking it. Although now, 20 years later, I can take it and its fine, I have no side effects at all. So it may be med related.

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to Lucyhobbit

Funnier enough when I was first diagnosed 4 ish years ago I had the same problem with them too. But I haven't taken them in years. I'm now on venlafaxine, pregabalin, baclofen, co-formally and oxycontin. So with all those, God knows which one causes them. Oh and diazepam. Funnily enough, if I take zopiclone sleeping tablets they put me in a coma like sleep and I don't dream at all. I can't take them every night tho as I wouldn't be able to function. I can't win :-(

in reply to JT_3

Do you feel okay after taking that much stuff? Is it like a hangover

the next day? It seems like a lot but maybe I am wrong..In the USA,

it's so hard to get narcotics..Advil is one of the stronger medicines that we can buy over the counter...You are so lucky to have a doctor

that is liberal on prescribing them..I mean that respectfully, not meaning to sound like a crabby old woman. =))) . Oxycontin is a

drug for after a major surgery over here...not prescribed for more

than a few days otherwise...I want to move there, by you! =)))

Between Fibro and RLS, RA...I go nuts with pain sometimes at night.

and I am always awake with my legs moving about. =./.

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to

Bless you.

I do have a very good doctor and the pain management clinic at the hospital prescribed the oxycontin. I must admit I feel quite dizzy sometimes and that is since taking the Oxy. I've been taking the others for so long now I am used to them. I don't even know if they work tbh. I still have a lot of pain.

Where in the US do you live?

JT

in reply to JT_3

I live in Wisconsin..the great lakes are

not far from my house. They are far

too cold to swim except a week or two

in the summer..just dipping the feet in

can cause the feet to cramp. Still,

it s beautiful beaches for miles. =)

Wisconsin is a vacationland with all of the

lakes and rivers..we have a lot of trees as

well so it's good for hunting..All winter, we

are cooped up in the house. Wisconsin is one

of the coldest states from about Thanksgiving

to May..sometimes schools shut down in fear

that the kids will get frostbite..on the way to

the schools. We get plenty of snow days too.

Summers are gorgeous. With 4 full seasons,

and the weather changing, Fibro puts people

right down in bed..arthritis can be bad as well.

With the cold coming on here now, people are

eating lots of carbs and their bodies are hurting.

Mine is very much under control except my

back has areas that is bothering me and my

shoulders..the doctor said it's fibro without

a doubt. Why not...I already have RA and RLS..

why not throw another one in there. xxxx. =)

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to

Sounds like a wonderful place to live, you are very lucky, apart from a few ailments that is!! :-)

JT_3 profile image
JT_3

Funnier means funnily. New phone is driving me to distraction!!

hamble99b profile image
hamble99b

I have horrific dreams, wake up, then go back into them.

I know I'm dreaming because there's always a late friend in them who I share my feelings/fears with during the dream.

my brother wakes himself out of nightmares by tapping the back of his hand!

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to hamble99b

I fell asleep the other night and my hubby woke me up because I started shouting his name. I had been asleep for 5 minutes!! So he held me til I went back to sleep and wenr straight back into it. I managed to wake myself after what seemed like a lifetime but was only 40 minute!! I was so distraught that I made myself stay away the whole night :'(

in reply to hamble99b

Do you always have bad dreams or good ones too?

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to

Always bad.

in reply to JT_3

aww..I'm sorry. I hope that the doctor can shed some light on this. I have 80% good dreams..they are so vivid that I feel like I am living 2 lives. For me, the dreams are a gift.

coetzeegisela profile image
coetzeegisela in reply to

Welcome all 'dreams' - a resonance of being alive?

Fibrofoggiest profile image
Fibrofoggiest

Hi there, I too get some extremely vivid dreams, and ones that recur time and time again, going to a certain place, which I could almost draw a picture of its so clear. I do take amitriptyline but haven't found that I have nightmares, just vivid non scary ones. I think our subconscious tries to work things out during our dreams, which could account for being emotional if woken by them. Not sure that I'm making much sense today, sorry :o

Foggy x

in reply to Fibrofoggiest

No wonder we are not feeling refreshed when we wake up!! haha

We've been working on our problems all night long. =)

It's true, I'll bet..

haribo36 profile image
haribo36

Hi Jules,Have you tried reading the leaflets that come with all your meds to see if bad dreams/nightmares are a side effect of any of them?you could try discussing it with your g.p as well x

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to haribo36

Hi haribo. No I haven't, but I will. I hadn't thought to look for that in particular. Thanks x

spiro profile image
spiro

Almost certain its your meds. I never remembered any dreams til I went on duloxetine. Helps me sleep, but I also have very vivid dreams & I'm told I talk in my sleep & make weird noises. My hubby's on lots of meds for mental illness & he not only has awful dreams but also fights in his sleep. Usually I come off worst, but last month he actually fell out of bed! I would definitely check with your GP.

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to spiro

Oh bless you Spiro. My hubby also tells me I speak a lot of garbage in my sleep. He can never make out what I am saying, he says I ramble!!

in reply to spiro

Sounds like a circus in your room..haha..No wonder you can't get decent sleep. I like the vivid dreams..mine are almost always good. =) I feel bad

for your husband..falling out of bed is very serious.

spiro profile image
spiro in reply to

Don't worry, Yikes, he survived to kick me another day! He says we could do with a king size bed, but w'out knocking a few walls down that would be impossible.

in reply to spiro

Oh dear!!! I am on a support group for kicking my legs

madly at my husband and even when he is not there

my legs keep at it all the while I am falling asleep or

while I am so soundly asleep..I have to take pills for it

to stop..We had to get a king sized bed...nuts..we are

double bed size people..that bed that we have is huge.

It takes up enough room in our bedroom. =)

Shazzzy profile image
Shazzzy

Hi jt i have had nightmares since i was 14 when my family made me sleep downstairs as i kept waking them up with my screaming, i am now 49 and still have them, i find ehen i wake up its very hard to convince myself they r not real the feelings provoked by these stay with me all day which is very depressing i have to sleep again to grt rid of them. If i wake in the night with them i am too scared too go back to sleep as i fall straight back into them. Sometimes i know i am in a dream and can tell myself to wake up but not often enough.

Once I dreamed that my husband cheated on me...I dreamed that he told me that

I was going to be alone and he wanted to just leave everything for me. I had small

kids then....I stewed all day over it and was treating Todd terrible...I was short with

him and gave him my "look out, I am a witch today* look. He paid hell for the day

before we sat down that night and he asked what in the world he did...then I told

him..it was so real to me that it did provoke emotions and attitude toward him..

just as it happened to you. My mother figured it out. I was watching talk shows

about husbands and wives who cheated and hurt each other...then I would watch

soaps while I was sewing clothes..sure enough, I shut down the tele and started

listening to soft music..My pains responded hugely and so did my thoughts, dreams.

Thinking back to those dreams..I had to actually "forgive" Todd in my mind for

cheating on me..when he never ever did such a thing..I still watch minimal tv and

when I do it's usually the news or a home and garden show, cooking shows..Yes,

I am an old granny at age 47. =)))

in reply to

p.s. my name is jules too. lol

JT_3 profile image
JT_3 in reply to

:-)

I just wanted to say in this seemingly long life after my accident my dream life has taken on a life separate of my own. It is exhausting. I can't tell what is real and what isn't. with much thought i have to discern what has really transpired and what hasn't. Like did that gun fight really happen or was it a dream. Did i really jump and run and shoot those bad guys and hide in trash cans etc. Yes i wake up more exhausted than before i sleep. I have changed my tv schedule to minimize what i might dream, To me these are PTSD symptoms, from the accident and the many life changes that chronic pain has brought to my life, the grief i have been going through as my old life is over and my new life begins. Hope this helps. Any change in life pattern def. changes our dream life. Like ... why am i up at 2a.m writing on the computer. lol. thanks for the topic.

JT_3 profile image
JT_3

Another example of how a dream manifested was the other day I was in town and saw a little tot, not more than 3, running across a road. My heart was in my mouth and cursing coming from my mouth. I couldn't believe the stupidity of it's Father strolling along behind about 15 feet away. So there's me saying to myself how some people are irresponsible and don't deserve to be parents etc. So my dream was about children being neglected and me not being able to help them and then people goading me and bragging, Saying really hurtful things about me not being able to have children. (unfortunately that part is true :'( ).

I eventually woke up so distraught and devastated. I sobbed for about and hour.

So my dreams often do have a bit of truth to them but how do I make them stop?

JT

RIBBONPINK profile image
RIBBONPINK

hi i have vivid dreams some nightmarish some confusing.i think its my medication.they seem so real at the time..i keep something sweet by my bed,it makes me feel better,or leave tv on ,so if i do it brings me back to reality,hope that helps x

coetzeegisela profile image
coetzeegisela

Welcome all 'dreams' - a resonance of being alive?

Bmoney_97 profile image
Bmoney_97

Had.. A dream dat i walked into a store and my brother got shot and the killer got away i keep keep having that dream over over over agin dont kno if its real or fake scared at nite just to go to sleep cause idk if it real

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