Unrelated Dream Topic

slash25rc · October 24

So a semi-unrelated post, but I guess it could fall into mental-ish topics depending on how you view it:

Ever since I could remember, I had the most vivid, crazy, dreams. I think it must be hereditary because my dad experiences the same thing. I remember as a kid, he would doze off in his recliner for no more than 5 minutes and wake up and tell me what he dreamed about. He has been prescribed Ambien for years just to have the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep through it all to at least have a rested body. I know a lot of people cannot remember their dreams after they wake up, but the two of us can and recite it in super detail. My wife is baffled at the scenarios that pop into my subconscious. I never had night-terrors/nightmares as an adolescent or adult, but its always the most off-the-wall situations ever. Sure, I have the ones about the ability to fly, win the lottery, get some random inheritance check to pay off student loans, and purchase new Corvettes and I wake up super disappointed when reality sets in that the new C8 ZR1 is, in-fact, not in my driveway. I can watch something, or have a conversation with someone during the day, and it will show up later in the night. I can almost watch something crazy on TV, and think to myself, "Yep, I'll see that later on."

Take last night for instance: I was holding my grandmother's hand when she passed when I was 12 years old--but my brain decided to make a different scenario. In this dream, she in-fact did not pass away, but instead abandoned our family, got remarried, moved to a fancy country club, and raced modified VW Beetles around a dirt horse track. In this scenario, my grandfather confessed he had known all along, so I went out to search for her. This hypothetical country club with the multi-purpose horse track was in Massachusetts and I took a train to get there. On my search, I found the burgundy 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass that she actually drove up until her passing, parked outside the country club bar, that was oddly decorated like the inside of a Cracker Barrel. I went inside and found photos of her and her new hotrod lifestyle and found out from the bartender, that she had recently passed but was willing to share more information regarding her new life there for the last 21 years (which would have made her around 89). After I had seemingly found the answers I was looking for, I was talked into playing a round of golf at the country club (this is where a version of a nightmare would begin). I went to the first tee with an Augusta-type gallery surrounding the tee box and fairway, and for what seemed like forever, I could not tee the ball up, and when I did, it was like I could never get aligned correctly to actually take a swing, then the ball would fall off the tee. This cycle continued...then I woke up.

I mean WTH right?!?

In the middle of the night, at least 2-3 times a week, my 19-month old daughter will stir and cry out a bit in her crib for 10-15 minute increments, but never wake up. I am curious, if she is already experiencing the night-time issues like my father and I have experienced all of our lives. Sometimes she will wake up from a nap in a panic, almost like she is scared and doesn't know where she is--but until she is older and can explain it, we will never know.

I am sure there is some psychologist that could explain the meanings or give ideas, but, without lying on a leather couch staring at the ceiling, I am curious if anyone else here has ever experienced such craziness and detail when they close their eyes at night?

cksurfdude · October 26

Wow. That is something. Work I could relate something meaningful, but sorry cannot.

My sleep problem is age related and waking to go to the bathroom every two hours. Sometimes only 1 - 1½...

Rob Person · October 26

Yes. I remember stuff vividly from as far back when I was an infant, and to this day still have recurring dreams, and memories in the dreams, in full detail. Then there are dreams I've only had once, yet they are now like memories to me, and still recall the details.

I have had moments of recall while out somewhere, where I will nearly freeze because I swear I've dreamt that particular moment or scenario years before.

I don't ever recall.havimg nightmares or terrors, never woke up sweating or shaken up though.

The mind is a bizarre thing.

Tom the Golf Nut · October 26

I have crazy dreams as well and in the same detail you described. Each dream will wake me up and if I fall back to sleep I will forget. However, if the last dream is close to my wake time I will remember everything. Sometimes a dream entailed a fall. When I wake the bed is still bouncing as if I levitated and dropped onto the bed. That one usually scares the crap out of me. So I purchased a temperpedic memory foam mattress so it wouldn't happen.

Sometimes my dreams are pretty awesome and gives me ideas on things. Sometimes they are just rounds of golf with friends I haven't seen in years. Sometimes just down right crazy stuff that makes no sense.

Fear not you are not alone. Looking forward to tonight's.

Edited October 26 by Tom the Golf Nut

Josh Parker · October 26

I have had too many to count. My daughter has them and we call them night terrors. They actually aren't awake at all and you are supposed to just let them get through it on their own. It's hard as hell not to pick them up but from what we were told by the doc, its better to leave them be. If you pick them up and move them, it can be more stress on them because they wake up in a different location. She still has them from time to time and generally will cry for a min or two and then its done.

tony@CIC · October 26

21 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

I have had too many to count. My daughter has them and we call them night terrors. They actually aren't awake at all and you are supposed to just let them get through it on their own. It's hard as hell not to pick them up but from what we were told by the doc, its better to leave them be. If you pick them up and move them, it can be more stress on them because they wake up in a different location. She still has them from time to time and generally will cry for a min or two and then its done.

Our daughter, as a toddler, had night terrors. It took a year or so before she grew out of them, and you are correct - you're not supposed to wake them.

Edited October 26 by tony@CIC