Thursday, June 17, 2010

Sick of dreaming!

This has all started as I have many times come on the computer after waking up from yet another night of dream after dream. My family, including husband of seven years, knows all too well what my nights are like. Dreams full of strange houses, that once your in the attic you can't move to close to the edge of the house or it will topple over because it is sitting on a mountain peak, or dreams that seem to glide into one another like the six tornadoes that are coming at you and suddenly it doesn't matter because your in another state with different people (people you know but do not look like themselves) and then you are all walking through your highschool hallways on horseback, and then your back to the tornadoes and your yelling at people as they are about to hit, then your back somewhere else in another house with many rooms playing tag. Did that sentence seem to go on and on? Well, so do my dreams. So much so that as all people who "suffer" like I do know exactly what I mean when I say I could write MANY movies based only on my dreams. (And they would probably be better than a lot of movies currently out!)

I have had this "problem" since I can remember. In highschool I would go back to sleep after my morning shower and enjoy a half hour mind movie, and fall asleep in class for only five minutes but be startled upon waking because I was dreaming at my desk. I can take a ten minute nap on the couch and tell you some wild dreams, or even take what is on the TV (because I can still hear it in my sleep) and suddenly I am dreaming what I am hearing. (Makes for some funny dreams if there are cartoons on!)

I have had three sleep studies done in the last ten years, and no one can explain why I do not feel rested. The last one had me hoping I had narcolepsy since at least then I would understand why I was always dreaming upon falling asleep, but unfortunatly I was not in REM sleep upon falling asleep and therefore not narcoleptic. UGGG! If I could just stop dreaming!

What people who do not dream like this do not understand is that when your busy dreaming ALL NIGHT, you feel so un-rested when waking. I have yet to find doctors or answers to this, but I can wake up crying, or heart pounding because I was scared, or very excited from whatever was going on in my dream. The chemicals that are released during this emotions are released during my dreaming, so even though I may not have actually physically ran two miles to get away from the pack of wolves that were stocking me, my body feels like I did. There is no break, no rest from the mind. I just want my brain to sleep for the night!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am starting this blog because of those who have night after night like this along with me. I hear your fustration, because I am there too. No one else understands, and no one is willing to research what is going on with us. Together I am hoping we can find some answers to how to get a good night sleep. A rested, peaceful, recharging nights sleep. Sounds simple enough, yet night after night, decade after decade I still can't get rested.

Oh, and btw it is not due to apnea, or anything like that. Although my last sleep study test showed I did have some upper airway resistance, these problems have been with me since I was a kid, and the first two sleep studies did not indicate this problem. So the sleep doctor who doesn't care to listen to me or take the time to investigate something other than his textbook answers can kiss my you know what!

6 comments:

  1. I understand exactly what you are saying I have been searching for an answer or solution for years normal sleeping pills dont seem to work on me either i am currently testing out an anticonvulsant used for epilepsy and hoping it works

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  2. Thank you very much for starting this blog, you have no idea how much it has helped me realize that I am a normal human being with a sleep disorder. I've been called lazy, I have been known to invent excuses for waking up late every morning(dreams, fatigue, etc...), my family members have done all sorts of embarrassing things to get me out of my state of sleep dreaming. Lots of times I have woken up, cleaned my home, cooked breakfast(i was dreaming i was doing this) then someone comes and wakes me up from a dream. I've always thought of myself as lazy and prayed and hoped so many times to finally have proper sleep. I never look forward to bed time as many people do basically I'm really happy to know i am not alone in this. I wish you all the best in your search for an answer and hope something good comes out of it. Unfortunately I live in Uganda and I don't think this matter has come to the light back here but just in case, I will post any findings I get.

    Cheers

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  3. I'm sorry but I did laugh at so many things in this post...but only because I can relate to every little thing! Especially the dogs chasing you..and you wake up exhausted even though you never moved. Oh...one and only good thing...I dream lucid sometimes too so I put a tree that the dogs can't climb in my way. Now I rarely have those dreams...

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  4. Is there really nothing that can be done about this problem? I have had exactly the same problem since the age of about 12. Im so exhausted from being exhausted. Everything is a struggle and when I am tired it makes me emotional and want to cry (like right now). My head hurts, eyes and body hurt. I have also had cases of sleep paralysis and suffer from anxiety. I have never been to the doctors or anything and I don't feel like they would have any knowledge on this. Does anyone have any advice on what can be done?

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  5. Me too. I dream non-stop while sleeping or napping. Very vivid, full color dreams. I too have had a string of five tornados and/or waterspouts fill the sky and head toward me. I wish there was a way to turn them off and just sleep.

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  6. The above blog describes my experiences with sleep and non-rem dreaming, down to a very disturbing "T".
    Is there any recent (2022) comment/info on this?

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