Anyone else have mad dreams?: This isn't a serious... - NRAS

NRAS

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Anyone else have mad dreams?

16 Replies

This isn't a serious problem but it is getting a bit much. For the last few weeks I've had particularly vivid, long and sometimes very disturbing dreams. Last night's offering wasn't distressing, it was relatively entertaining - I was stranded in the mountains of Chile, about to give birth, in a sort of commune peopled by nutters including a rather evil ex-boyfriend. Typical dream fare in some ways, but the intensity .....!! I've always had vivid dreams but these are different in that they are reasonably logical and very clear and often very upsetting indeed.

I take Methotrexate and Sulfasalazine. I've been on Mtx on its own for yonks and, if anything, dreamt less than usual so I'm wondering if the Sulfasalazine is to blame - I've been taking that since March. I doubt there's anything I can do - I wouldn't stop the drugs unless I'm reliably informed that my dreams are tipping me over the edge! But I'm curious, that's all. Hope you all have a good day - avoid those mountains and ex-es like the plague! Luce x

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16 Replies

Hi, at last someone else has the same problem!!

Like you I've always had fairly vivid dreams but I'm now having such peculiar dreams that are quite upsetting, in that I wake myself up deliberately because they are so scary!

I too am on Sulfa. Is that a coincidence? Not sure.

Carolyn

in reply to

Phew! What a relief - I was a little worried that someone might tell me to get a grip! Sulfa is obviously a suspect so far ..... I find that I wake up feeling very shaky, especially if the dreams involve bad things happening to people I care about, but they don't ruin my day really. However I posted because last night I put off going to bed for as long as I could, I was that worried about what might be in store for me!

Thanks Carolyn, let's hope this doesn't last for either of us. Luce x

marg54 profile image
marg54 in reply to

Hi I have these type of dreams and I have noticed when I have had one of these dreams my fybro is worse than usual.

I can't explain it to me it seems stupid I feel as though I'm in the dream its self and I always wake up in the middle of the dream, but as I say myfybro is really worse in fact I end up in bed all day, I mentioned this to my partner the other week I thought I was going daft when I was telling him this.

I'm on Fentanyl 75 mg but have been for a numbervof years now and I also taktb2 30mg diyhidrocodiene too I'm just pleased to have read I'm not the only one with these dreams

Take care Maegxx

Neonkitty profile image
Neonkitty

Hi Luce, that does indeed sound scary! I have only had mad and scary dreams when I went up from Fentanyl 25 to 50. They were all bonkers and one involved a talking dog that bit me!!! ... and then I was dragging the local post box nearer to my house so I didn't have to cross the road! I always woke up in a lather and palpitations. I guess many drugs can affect our thoughts and dreams. I was on Sulphasalazine for years when I first got RA but didn't notice any wild dreams! Hope for some sweeter dreams for you soon! ;-) xx

in reply to Neonkitty

Ah, one black mark against the Sulfa so far, but obviously not a second one. Is Fentanyl a painkiller? It seems to make sense to me that painkillers affect dreams - because they target the nervous system I suppose. I like dreams in theory ...... dragging the post box across the road is a great image ...... but sometimes they just don't seem right. Thanks Neonkitty. Luce x

in reply to

I don't think this will be much help to you but during my 3 weeks on sulpha I felt very odd. I don't mean odd in the way that MTX affects me - I mean my sensory responses changed and I felt very unstable and I think I might have had some pretty strange dreams too. I can only really recall this because I spent a week down in Edinburgh with my sister and ended up at some doctor's because my neck had big swellings and my ear became extremely painful - with swellings in the outer ear.

I do remember describing my weird dreams to my sister. But then it would have been our late mum's birthday and there was a heat wave and my GP had told me i probably had RA so these things may have accounted for strange dreams just as easily?

I ended up being taking off Sulfa the following week because of a horrendously itchy purple rash that broke out over my whole body. I was meant to try abd get it under control with antihistamines and then start the Sulfa again and see if the rash came back but I just couldn't face any of these things again and felt euphoric once off it so I phoned him up and pleaded with him and he agreed. Then the rheumy said never again because of ear swellings etc so that was that.

As you know I have some pretty strange things going on myself so I'm not a great person to advise but both MTX and Sulfa are powerful medications and it seems to me to be quite possible that either or both could cause these intense dreams you are having. Tilda x

in reply to

I don't give the Sulfasalazine a second thought usually, which is a happy state of affairs. I blame Mtx for everything though, absolutely everything, but maybe it's time to even things up!

Your experience on Sulfa sounds awful! So if it is to blame for the mad dreams I suppose I'm lucky really. Don't like anything messing with my head though & have also been unusually emotional at times or rather suddenly very over-wraught without seeing it coming. So I'm going to keep myself under observation! Thanks Tilda. Luce x

Oh Luce where have you gone? I hope nothing bad has happened to you because your sunset has disappeared and I'm really worried? I hope one of these nightmares didn't induce you to actually delete your account or something. Come back to us please! Tilda xx

in reply to

I have been looking on the site to see if Lucy has responded to anything else and cannot find her, she is one of the people who gave good and encouraging responses, so I agree with you Tilda, and hope that nothing has happened to her.xxx

in reply to

Something has definitely happened to her account settings because she's been deleted so can't PM her. But she only PMd me yesterday so I think it must be a technical glitch. Hope she gets back soon and puts our minds at rest. Xx

rattusrattus profile image
rattusrattus

i'm getting a 404 error - page not found. her name's still up so it might be a glitch..

i'm not on sulpasazine but iv'e been plauged with vivid dreams for years - so bad that if i dreamt i'd given birth i'd really feel it and lift the blankets up to look for the baby! luckily for me i haven't had a 'dream baby' yet!

i had one dream where i was looking out of my window and could see every strand of hair on someone (who was walking past's head - that sounds really boring but the colour a detail are so clear that i remembered it for years.

vivid dreams can be so real too that it feels like you've really lived them and not slept that night - once in a while they're pleasant but after years of having vivid dreams nearly every night it can feel like you've never slept!

i had a bad one the other night where i dreamt my teeth were falling out and i lay in bed for ages when i woke up with horrible nerve pains where i had four of my adult teeth removed when i was about 10 - no teeth but very real pain - it felt like my brain went back in time and was reliving the pain i had when they were pulled!

usually i have dreams about getting my fingers bitten or burned - the teeth one was a new one - i hope it was a one off. lol!

i dont know if this helps but my vivid dreams are worse when my iron levels are low. mtx gave me some pretty awful dreams too - at least i'm guessing it was because they've not been so bad lately.

allanah profile image
allanah

i got very bad dreams on amitriptyline so stopped it, but usually i can dream and decide in my dream that i want to change for example whats happening in it, so i say in my dream ok this dream stops i am going to the caribbean .. and the dream changes, strange!!

bruce18 profile image
bruce18

Hi,

I was on Salfasalazine and complained to my husband at the time about my terrible dreams. I have always had interesting dreams but these were something else. As said they were very real and upsetting. Id be worried about going to sleep because of these horrible dreams. I come off Salfasalazine and in time my dreaming returned to normal. I would definitely say there is a connection - absolutely no doubt. Claire

in reply to bruce18

Yes I agree it is too much of a coincidence that various people, including myself and Claire had these weirdly intense dreams while taking this drug. The more I think about it could it be connected to the sulphur in Sulfa perhaps that seems to affect some more than others perhaps?

Emoprazole, Sulfasalazine, Naproxen, Tramadol (or Cocodamol) and Paracetemol.

It has to be one of them, (it's type, basically) or a combo (their type) that leads to the Looney Tunes Head Adventures. Lol.

sheddweller profile image
sheddweller

Hello - I have been one Methotrexate for only one month. I am also on Lyrica for neuropathy so I am not certain if it is a combination or just the methotrexate. I have been having bizarre, intense, and memorable dreams. Think five year old boogeyman, witches, or flying monkeys dreams. They are happening immediately after falling asleep. Last night after the third nightmare jolted me awake only 30 minutes had passed since noting the time after lights out. The surprise is both how vivid they are that I can retell the story and the feelings / thoughts that occurred during the dream. That is very new for me!

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