Nightmares?
Question:
(this was posted and e-mailed) Hello, Helen, and welcome to the newsgroup! I have narcolepsy, and among the symptoms of N are hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations (HH), which are dream-like happenings that occur in that twilight state as one is falling asleep or waking up. Some of these are very difficult if not impossible to distinguish from reality because they frequently blend in and incorporate the surroundings at the time they occur. The intruder hallucination is common enough that it is specifically noted. In fact that is one that I have been plagued with for a number of years. The first time intruder hallucinations caused me major difficulties was almost 20 years ago when I began travelling for business quite a bit. I would ‘wake up’ (in my dream, that is) and sense an intruder in the hotel/motel room. I did not fear for my physical safety – the intruder seemed to be a thief. I soon realized that I was dreaming these (at the time my narcolepsy was not diagnosed and I did not know about HH) but it was quite unsettling. I started keeping my wallet by my bed instead of across the room and eventually also left the light on in the bathroom so as to provide enough light to quickly verify whether or not anyone was there. Amusingly, if I ‘woke up’ and did not see the light, I realized that I was dreaming so did not worry! Talk about conditioning myself! Do you find that you can control your dreams? There are times when I am dreaming and know that I am dreaming, and I can direct what happens in the dream. I have read that this is called ‘lucid dreaming’, but I don’t know much about it. What I have read about lucid dreams seems as much fanciful as scientific. I still can recall very vividly such a dream that I had several years ago. In the dream I was riding in a car driven by my brother. I told my brother (in the dream, of course) that this was just a dream, but it was amazing how much computing power the brain had to have to generate the images of all of the people on the street. And further (I told him in the dream) I could regenerate all of the images such that all of the men would have beards and then did so within the dream! Within the dream I also expressed wonderment about how all of these random realistic images of people were created. I am even more amazed when I am awake! How do we create all of these images of people who don’t exist? Of course all of my rambling says nothing about how to deal with your nightmares. At best it may show that you are not unique. There is a sleep disorder called night terrors (NT), where people wake up terrified; however, with this disorder the person does not recall the dream, only the terror, so it doesn’t sound like what you have. Your symptoms sound more like HH than NT. I will e-mail and post a set of links about sleep disorders that you may wish to research. Section C is about narcolepsy; within some of the sites there may be info about HH. Section H is about night terrors. I hope this helps. Please feel free to post or e-mail any questions that you may have. I probably won’t have the answers but at least I share the experience. Kent Taylor (Mongo) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Helen Edith Stephenson wrote in message … >I’ve just subscribed to this group and taken a look at the posts for the >past fortnight, and wonder whether I ought to even bother you folks with >my problem, which is pretty trivial compared with some of yours. >I suffer from vivid nightmares. >When I was a young adult, I started dreaming about a spider landing on >my pillow. I would scream and wake up out of the bed. >Over the years, the dream mutated into a spider on the wall by the bed, >but my reaction was pretty similar. >I always thought that I had these dreams when I had something on my >mind. >Then a few years ago, possibly around the time I turned 40 or a bit >after, I started to dream of an intruder in my room. >These dreams have been becoming more and more frequent, and have almost >displaced the spider dreams, and on one occasion I "defended" myself >against my dream intruder and upended a clothing trolley I had in my >room. I have bought myself a night light, and have welcomed the >opportunity to do shift work so that I could sleep during the day, but >last time I was working night shift, I was surprised to have a >"daymare"! >Generally I live alone in a detached house (with an alarm system) so my >screaming the place down doesn’t disturb anybody else, but I went on >holiday recently and my holiday roommate said that I had screamed in the >middle of the night on about five out of seven nights, and one night I >screamed out on four separate occasions. >I think I have these nightmares just as I’m dropping off to sleep, and >they can be so vivid that I only have to close my eyes and the images >come back again, so I often read a book for a while before attempting to >go back to sleep. >I’ve reached the point where I’ve woken up shaking with terror enough >times, and I’ve visited my GP, who is going to get me an appointment for >some counselling with the practice counsellor. >Does anyone here have any suggestions to make? >Helen >– >Helen Edith Stephenson <he…@baronmoss.nomed.co.uk#> > (change "nomed" to "demon" and remove # to reply) > http://www.baronmoss.demon.co.uk
Response:
I’ve just subscribed to this group and taken a look at the posts for the past fortnight, and wonder whether I ought to even bother you folks with my problem, which is pretty trivial compared with some of yours. I suffer from vivid nightmares. When I was a young adult, I started dreaming about a spider landing on my pillow. I would scream and wake up out of the bed. Over the years, the dream mutated into a spider on the wall by the bed, but my reaction was pretty similar. I always thought that I had these dreams when I had something on my mind. Then a few years ago, possibly around the time I turned 40 or a bit after, I started to dream of an intruder in my room. These dreams have been becoming more and more frequent, and have almost displaced the spider dreams, and on one occasion I "defended" myself against my dream intruder and upended a clothing trolley I had in my room. I have bought myself a night light, and have welcomed the opportunity to do shift work so that I could sleep during the day, but last time I was working night shift, I was surprised to have a "daymare"! Generally I live alone in a detached house (with an alarm system) so my screaming the place down doesn’t disturb anybody else, but I went on holiday recently and my holiday roommate said that I had screamed in the middle of the night on about five out of seven nights, and one night I screamed out on four separate occasions. I think I have these nightmares just as I’m dropping off to sleep, and they can be so vivid that I only have to close my eyes and the images come back again, so I often read a book for a while before attempting to go back to sleep. I’ve reached the point where I’ve woken up shaking with terror enough times, and I’ve visited my GP, who is going to get me an appointment for some counselling with the practice counsellor. Does anyone here have any suggestions to make? Helen — Helen Edith Stephenson <he…@baronmoss.nomed.co.uk#> (change "nomed" to "demon" and remove # to reply) http://www.baronmoss.demon.co.uk
Response:
Hello Kent. Thankyou for the welcome! In article <fEak3.309$u74.12…@newsr1.twcny.rr.com>, Mongo <email…@stny.rr.com> writes >Hello, Helen, and welcome to the newsgroup! >I have narcolepsy, and among the symptoms of N are hypnogogic and hypnopompic >hallucinations (HH), >which are dream-like happenings that occur in that twilight state as one is >falling asleep or waking >up. Some of these are very difficult if not impossible to distinguish from >reality because they >frequently blend in and incorporate the surroundings at the time they occur. >The intruder >hallucination is common enough that it is specifically noted.
My intruder dream is like this, as was the spider dream that it seems to have largely superseded. I think that it’s real until I wake up and realise that it’s not. The spider dream used to come back when I closed my eyes again, but the intruder dream generally doesn’t. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->In fact that is one that I have been plagued with for a number of years. The >first time intruder >hallucinations caused me major difficulties was almost 20 years ago when I began >travelling for >business quite a bit. I would ‘wake up’ (in my dream, that is) and sense an >intruder in the >hotel/motel room. I did not fear for my physical safety – the intruder seemed >to be a thief. I >soon realized that I was dreaming these (at the time my narcolepsy was not >diagnosed and I did not >know about HH) but it was quite unsettling. I started keeping my wallet by my >bed instead of across >the room and eventually also left the light on in the bathroom so as to provide >enough light to >quickly verify whether or not anyone was there. Amusingly, if I ‘woke up’ and >did not see the >light, I realized that I was dreaming so did not worry! Talk about conditioning >myself! >Do you find that you can control your dreams? There are times when I am >dreaming and know that I am >dreaming, and I can direct what happens in the dream. I have read that this is >called ‘lucid >dreaming’, but I don’t know much about it. What I have read about lucid dreams >seems as much >fanciful as scientific. I still can recall very vividly such a dream that I had >several years ago. >In the dream I was riding in a car driven by my brother. I told my brother (in >the dream, of >course) that this was just a dream, but it was amazing how much computing power >the brain had to >have to generate the images of all of the people on the street. And further (I >told him in the >dream) I could regenerate all of the images such that all of the men would have >beards and then did >so within the dream! Within the dream I also expressed wonderment about how all >of these random >realistic images of people were created. I am even more amazed when I am awake! >How do we create >all of these images of people who don’t exist?
No, I have never found that I can control my dreams, and unlike you, I do fear for my physical safety, and have gone so far as to lash out with my hands and feet at the dream intruder. I don’t know how often I do this, but I did upset a clothing trolley in my bedroom once while defending myself. >Of course all of my rambling says nothing about how to deal with your >nightmares. At best it may >show that you are not unique. >There is a sleep disorder called night terrors (NT), where people wake up >terrified; however, with >this disorder the person does not recall the dream, only the terror, so it >doesn’t sound like what >you have. Your symptoms sound more like HH than NT.
I do sometimes have upsetting dreams which I can’t remember the next day, only that I had an upsetting dream. I do remember my frightening dreams, though. Last night I woke up twice shouting "no" over the intruder dream, which was frightening. In the course of the night, I also dreamed about some people from work, but this was neither frightening nor upsetting, and I only mention it to make the point that I have dreams that aren’t a problem as well as the ones that are. >I will e-mail and post a set of links about sleep disorders that you may wish to >research. Section >C is about narcolepsy; within some of the sites there may be info about HH. >Section H is about >night terrors. I hope this helps. Please feel free to post or e-mail any >questions that you may >have. I probably won’t have the answers but at least I share the experience. >Kent Taylor (Mongo)
Thankyou, I have received the emails. A dig around on the websites you have listed seems like a good idea. When my GP’s resident counsellor gets around to contacting me, I might have a clue what I’m talking about when I see him/her. A session with the counsellor might be quite productive if it can sort out some of the stress areas in my life, if they’re triggering my nightmares, and it’s probably a useful starting point with a professional who has more time than the doctor even if it doesn’t sort anything out. (Some years ago, I found a talk with the practice dietician beneficial when dealing with food intolerance.) Helen – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->Helen Edith Stephenson wrote in message … >>I’ve just subscribed to this group and taken a look at the posts for the >>past fortnight, and wonder whether I ought to even bother you folks with >>my problem, which is pretty trivial compared with some of yours. >>I suffer from vivid nightmares. >>When I was a young adult, I started dreaming about a spider landing on >>my pillow. I would scream and wake up out of the bed. >>Over the years, the dream mutated into a spider on the wall by the bed, >>but my reaction was pretty similar. >>I always thought that I had these dreams when I had something on my >>mind. >>Then a few years ago, possibly around the time I turned 40 or a bit >>after, I started to dream of an intruder in my room. >>These dreams have been becoming more and more frequent, and have almost >>displaced the spider dreams, and on one occasion I "defended" myself >>against my dream intruder and upended a clothing trolley I had in my >>room. I have bought myself a night light, and have welcomed the >>opportunity to do shift work so that I could sleep during the day, but >>last time I was working night shift, I was surprised to have a >>"daymare"! >>Generally I live alone in a detached house (with an alarm system) so my >>screaming the place down doesn’t disturb anybody else, but I went on >>holiday recently and my holiday roommate said that I had screamed in the >>middle of the night on about five out of seven nights, and one night I >>screamed out on four separate occasions. >>I think I have these nightmares just as I’m dropping off to sleep, and >>they can be so vivid that I only have to close my eyes and the images >>come back again, so I often read a book for a while before attempting to >>go back to sleep. >>I’ve reached the point where I’ve woken up shaking with terror enough >>times, and I’ve visited my GP, who is going to get me an appointment for >>some counselling with the practice counsellor. >>Does anyone here have any suggestions to make? >>Helen
– Helen Edith Stephenson <he…@baronmoss.nomed.co.uk#> (change "nomed" to "demon" and remove # to reply) http://www.baronmoss.demon.co.uk
Response:
I am not a doctor and can only explain my personal experiences. I have had nightmares also but usually it is only when I am under personal stress. I end up fighting zombis I cant kill. They follow me everywhere and everytime I knock them down or kick the stuffing out of them they get back up. The counseling might help if you have issues or stress to work out. Someone else also mentioned Lucid Dreaming. This is something I have studied over the years and it is a great way to overcome nightmares IF you can learn how to do it. This technique of controlling your dreams is not something new. Monks in tibet have done it for eons, some tribes in malaysia taught their children how to do it and there are others that hvae mastered it. Lucid dreaming is a way to take control of your dreams and change them. You relax before bedtime. Get into a regimen of regular activities before bed….shower, read, glass of warm milk and then sleep is an example. Tell yourself you are going to control your dreams…repeat this before bedtime several times every night. When you dream tell yourself "I am dreaming" then we you realize it you can take over and change your dream. I have done this and flew away from my attackers in my dreams. When you wake up write down what you experienced. I taught my 3 year old son this when he was having nightmares of killer robots 
. The next morning he ran downstairs and tells me…"the robots broke down the door and came to get me…I asked them if they wanted to play and we played checkers together. He is 10 now and has not complained of nightmares since. Well I have gone on for too long now. But if you try this and it works that is all that matters. Good Luck. I am sure you can find the solution to this one way or another…keep at it. = = = = = For information and humor re: A Tracheostomy and the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea please visit http://members.aol.com/citylinc/osa/index.htm = = = = = A great sleep forum http://www.sleepedu.net/forums/apnea/apneainf.html
