Dream patterns

[LucyA]

Hi everyone,
My friends often ask me to tell them my craziest dream for amusement. I've always had bizarre dreams, and I often have no idea that my head could produce such things! (e.g. last night I dreamt my cat broke both his back legs and had full-length platform stilleto's attatched to help them heal. That's a relatively normal dream).

Also, every night I get at least one case where I am faced with having to crawl through a tiny doorway or hole and it's horrible. I was just wondering if any of you ever get this and whether you know if reccuring dreams are linked with anxiety?

xx

[Gryphoenix]

I've had tornado dreams on and off for years and a dream dictionary told me that it is representive of problems and real-life upheval. I noticed that whenever I'm feeling stressed or have a major problem: here comes the tornadoes! It's always funny looking back on it because I have a LOT of storm dreams and most of the time I don't realize I'm dreaming so it's scary in a way, but it's not as bad as a nightmare.

I also have lots of chasing dreams/running away dreams. It's usually something random chasing me, like agents from the matrix. However sometimes if it's on a postive notes I end up having fun running away like it's a game. I also have lots of 'getting lost' dreams set in places from my childhood and high school, like the place is all twisted and distored or surreal and I can't find my way or get back to my class, or I'm late for an assignment I didn't do. I chalk those up to anxiety too.

One of my recent dreams was when I was in an airport-ish mall place and I was with this guy from a TV show I like and we were jumping around trying not to get eaten by the escelators and moving walkways which were sucking up people left and right. Later on in the dream we realized that we were immune and couldn't get sucked up and it was all an elaborite exercise. Yes, it was random.

I have nutty dreams. And I love them. It's always an adventure and especially if I manage to lucid dream (acknowledge I'm dreaming) I can get myself go on some crazy adventures.

[flinty90]

i always have dreams where i am running but my legs for some reason dont work, and my main dream is trying to ring someoen on an old fashion dial phone but i can never put all number in correctly and have to keep starting again. it frustration and anxiety rolled into one. i hate those dreams..

[Dying_Swan]

Hello.

I often get weird dreams and can't always link them to anything rational. At other times, they are reasonably logical and it's easy to see where they came from.

There are times when I get a run of nasty dreams. My dad died when I was 19 (5 years ago) and for a long time after that, I had very distressing dreams - always taking on the same theme...that my dad was back, but dying of cancer all over again.

Then my step-mum died, and I had dreams about her too. I didn't get on with her, and those dreams were always that she'd come back, and I'd said all this awful stuff about her and she was back, from the dead almost.

But yes, I do often get really random dreams and I have no idea why. I personally have never linked them to anxiety, but I will have to keep a lookout now. I find that I have periods where I dream a lot, and then I don't dream at all for a while (I probably do but don't remember).

There are also times when my dreams are so real I find it hard to distinguish what I've dreamt and what really happened!

I totally understand what you said about having to climb through a small gap. I've had a lot of those and they are horrid. Also the ones where you have to run away and you can't run. I get a lot of deja-vu in dreams, if you know what I mean?

Bizarre things really xxx :flowers:

[LucyA]

Hey,
I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad and stepmum Swan, but try to consider that dreams are a way of your mind making sense of your thoughts by replaying you to them. Reccuring dreams of your Dad dying probably just means your mind is trying to help you accept what happened.
It's nice to know I'm not alone with dreams that seem closely linked to anxiety! It's interesting, I can also lucid dream but about 70% of the time a lucid dream will lead to sleep paralysis and this is apparently linked to anxiety as well. Gryphoenix do you get sleep paralysis too?
I actually had it today when I had a nap...that'll teach me to sleep in the day :P

xx

[PUGLETMUM]

:) okay guys,well i have lots of dreaming too,and the only recurring one i have is of falling? i can fall off bridges or from heights into water or just into the bed,and i get ones that involve stairs where they become high and tricky, like they start to fall away and im frightened? not sure wha tthis means if anything?

but recently ive read on uncommonknowledge (i dont know how to do th elink thing so youll just have to put itin to your search engine:blush: )that dreaming is a result of ruminating!!! and i beleive it as i only get this constant dreaming when im thinking too much about everything and nothing - you know when your just going over and over the same old stuff and not getting anywhere?

also then that is linked to depression because we dont get a proper nights sleep,we are having too much dream sleepand not enough sleep sleep, so we are waking tired and anxious. well this makes sense to me anyway:winks:

[joelhall]

just remember, simply put: dreams are not literal interpretations of events, rather they are alegories of feelings and emotions in response to things. as in parables, they are used to give a vivid representation which appeals more to the person having the dream, for example rather than thinking of falling asleep when we were younger, we would dream of actually falling, a dream which didnt end as it was metaphorical, and represented the transition between stages of sleep depth.

for instance i had a disturbing dream where we were moving and ange was moving out, but placed a weight on neil in his push-chair.matter how hard i tried i could not lift this off and i was all alone and panicking. and neil was struggling waving his arms under it but carrying on as normal.

this was a clear representation that i feel powerless to give help to him, and that he has been taken from me, and for all i try i cannot help my family when there is weight on them (not just neil).

as i say, its all alegory.

hope this helps though i doubt it haha

[Gryphoenix]

It's nice to know I'm not alone with dreams that seem closely linked to anxiety! It's interesting, I can also lucid dream but about 70% of the time a lucid dream will lead to sleep paralysis and this is apparently linked to anxiety as well. Gryphoenix do you get sleep paralysis too?
I actually had it today when I had a nap...that'll teach me to sleep in the day :P

xx

Hmm, I've never really had sleep paralysis at least that I can remember. Ah, I'm scared now, lol, knock on wood. :D My brother's had it though. I've fallen out of a dream before, if that's close to anything. I was dreaming slightly lucidly and wanted 'out' and I felt like I fell through the bottom of the dream like in a videogame once I accidentally glitched it and fell through the bottom of the game. And I literally felt like I fell into my bed and woke up with a start.

Sorry to hear about your loss Swan too. When my aunt's dog died I had the strangest reoccuring dreams about him (I was quite close to the pup) and in the dreams he would be fine and the I'd suddenly remember that he died and weird scary things would happen like the dog becoming a skeleton and walking around and stuff. But I too think it's more of a healing thing until I realized that he was really 'gone.' Now if he's in a dream I have I kind of just let it go and let the dog play around in the dream instead of balking, running away or getting scared, which kind of represents to me that I've accepted that he's gone. I know it's a tiny thing compared to what you've been through but I thought it interesting how dreams deal with this kind of thing.

[Bill]

I'm also very sorry to hear about your loss Swan. :hugs: I lost my father the same way exactly 2 years ago. I supported my mother through his illness so I can understand what you must have gone through.:hugs: I still miss him terribly and sometimes I have vivid dreams as if he's alive again then wake up in tears realising it was just a dream.

Dreams can be terrifying. I used to have being chased or falling dreams. The worst dreams I had were while I was on medication. I used to shout out in my sleep because I thought someone was about to harm me.

I think our dreams are always trying to tell us something about our state of mind. Sometimes it's just indigestion! Don't eat cheese before going to bed! The chasing, squeezing through gaps, are all to do with trapped feelings, trying to escape our stresses and fears. The falling I think is to do with a fear of losing control and everything crashing down around us. They're only my own personal thoughts on it because that's how I've interprested my own.

[Dying_Swan]

Oooh this thread is fascinating!

Gryphoenix - I was very interested (although sorry) to hear about your Aunt's Dog. I can relate to it so much....especially the bit about him turning into a skeleton etc. I've had dreams like that about my dad and they were very disturbing. Touch wood, I've not had one of those in a long while. I am sure you are right and it can be explained by your feelings regarding what has happened :hugs:

Bill - I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your dad too. It must have been very painful for you, but I am certain he would be very proud of you :hugs:I agree with what you say about Dreams telling us about how we are feeling - mostly. The 'trying to squeeze through gaps' types are most odd, and I am interested that you think it is related to trying to escape fears. I will bear that one in mind!

What I don't understand, at all, is the totally random, bizarre and illogical dreams....like Lucy's cat wearing stillettoes! Perhaps it's all just a mismatch of thoughts, emotions and nerve impulses. I have no idea!

xxx :flowers:

[Bill]

Hi Swan,
This is just a personal theory but I think when we have a troubled mind, when we're asleep, our subconscious will replay images we've observed which for whatever reason have imprinted on us and then link these random images together into a dream. The more troubled we feel, the more weird and intense the dreams.

I hate to say it but I think medication can also cause weird dreams as one of the side-effects. I'm sure I've seen it listed on leaflets.

Having said that, I always seem to dream and it happens most when I'm troubled.

[Bill]

Sorry, I forgot to thank you Swan for your kind message.:hugs: His funeral was 2 years ago today. Although I have brothers and a sister, they all left home by the time I was 12 and from then I felt more like an only child. By father and I had a very strong bond and I feel he was the only person who has really understood me because we were so much alike. Losing him was the most painfull experience I've ever had to face and those memories still trouble me.

I honestly don't know how doctors and especially nurses cope with losing patients they care for. It's something I just couldn't cope with which is why I admire people in the caring profession so much. They have So much to cope with.

Sorry. I diverse from dreams but I needed to say.

I know I'm a big boy now but I still get bad dreams because I miss my father so much. I try to think of my mother and my wife's illness rather than how I feel without him but when I'm alone, like in bed, that's when I feel it most so that's why I think I sometimes get bad dreams.:weep:

[Dying_Swan]

Oh Bill I really am so sorry.

My Dad was also my best friend, and I really do understand how awful it is. Cancer is a vicious illness and it doesn't make it any easier to cope with.

I'm a nurse, and have been fortunate that not many of my patients have died. It is hard when they do, but of course it doesn't compare to losing someone you love.

That said, none of the patients I've known has ever died when I've been there. I work with babies now...If one of the long-term patients died, whose family I'd got to know well, I would certainly be devastated. I just keep on keeping my fingers crossed. But, the nicest thing in the world, is when you've looked after a baby who's been very close to death, many times usually, and you watch them go home with their parents. That always brings a tear to my eye.

Anyway, I'm going off the point.

Yes you are a big boy, but that never means you can't grieve for your father. 2 years really is nothing, and you are going to feel it deeply. For a long time after my dad died, all I could really remember was the horrible images of various stages of his illness. That does ease, and now I remember the many happy times I shared with him. I still miss him deeply, and I always will. He was also an anxious and sensitive person, and he understood me more than anyone. Do you find you are haunted by some of the things that happened? Personally, I struggled with a few small 'sections' of memories, that I felt no-one else would ever understand. I had CBT a few years later, and she felt that I'd never really dealt with it. She made me write it all out...so the poor woman got a thesis-length, jumbled list of memories. I think it helped me to get it out like that, and the dreams definitely began to subside. It was painful to write, but it might be worth trying sometime. If you've no-one to show it to, well, I'm pretty good at reading :blush:

I expect you will have dreams for a while. It was always night time with me too, when I'd start to re-live the feelings. I started to sleep with the TV on to distract my thoughts. I now use a relaxation CD - maybe you could give that a go?

Take care xxx :flowers:

[Bill]

Hello swan,
I can see why you're a nurse! Thank you for thinking of me Swan xxx:hugs:

My father died on the ward I was working on so for a time I found it very difficult to go in to complete the work I had been assigned to because his bed was in direct line to my work but I got through it. I don't want to get too morbid on here because I don't want to upset others but yes, I have some really upsetting memories of when he was ill. I felt helpless. The last time I touched him, I just said I'm sorry and my legs gave way. It also happened when I went back to thank the nurses who looked after him. I just felt so alone wanting comfort when there was none especially because of my wifes illness. Losing patients would just hurt too much which is why I admire you and nurses in general for the job you do.:hugs:

I dreamt about my father again last night. I pictured the house that's since been sold and in the dream saw new people living in it. I felt myself crying in the dream.

I've used relaxation cd's and they have helped. Often they have someone speaking and I've memorised the words for anxious moments to keep me relaxed.

There are other things I could say about when I lost my father but I won't on here because they might upset others and that wouldn't be fair. I did see a counsellor for a while afterwards at the hospital where I work and to a point she helped but there is still this empty void which I try not to think about.

I'm sorry. This is bad of me diverging from the dream thread but thank you swan. You're So kind! :hugs: Hope you're feeling better soon.:hugs: