Intense dreams?

[katharath]

This is a topic that I've been curious about for many years. I've had intense dreams that feel incredibly real, and are extremely detailed, since I was very young.

I won't describe any of my dreams as I know reading about other peoples' dreams is often joked about as being incredibly boring, lol. But I'm curious about others' experiences in general. Do you dream often? Do you have any "control" in your dreams? Do your dreams "feel" so real that when you wake up, you can still vividly remember the feelings generated in the dream for hours and days later?

I would say yes to all of those questions. The thing that is most interesting to me is that these dreams can be so intense that they evoke feelings that seem completely real. So waking up from a dream can be either very sad (good dream) or very good (bad dream). I do tend to have (as I've read many people do) repetitive dreams, dreams based on the same premise, and I've had many of the "most common dreams" (i.e, being chased; being unable to fight an attacker/being "frozen"; teeth falling out; dreams of falling - those are very common among others).

I think it's a fascinating topic. My husband is the exact opposite of me - he rarely ever dreams, and when he does, his dreams are very lukewarm (as he describes them) and he usually can't remember them within moments of waking up.

This is my first time to start a thread over here so I hope the topic is ok

 

[GemFever]

Interesting topic!

One curious thing about my dreams (my DH noticed as I kept telling him about the dreams I've had over the years) -- I get angry in my dreams a lot. I hadn't realized it until DH pointed it out, but it's definitely true. I guess suppressed emotions? DH never gets angry in his dreams, but I have so many dreams of anger and frustration. In one dream I got mad at my brother and it felt so real... I guess I did carry that one over into the real world I laughed about it, but it was weird.

I'm not planning to do anything about my dream-anger issues, but just realizing the pattern felt kind of enlightening. Good to be aware of what's going on.

 

[usnwife]

I have very vivid/intense dreams. I am terrified of snakes and spiders, so of course, I often dream about them. In one dream, a snake bit my foot, and I seriously woke up with foot pain (it really felt like I got bit) that last 30 mins. I wish I could find meds that would keep me from dreaming.

 

[cygnet]

I used to have vivid dreams once every few weeks or so, and many of them would be fairly lucid. I recently started taking magnesium citrate right before bed, because I have always struggled with severe insomnia and recently identified magnesium deficiency as part of the problem. Ever since I started taking magnesium (I drink a small glass of warm water with it before bed), I've had hyper-realistic feeling but completely bizarre dreams. I usually remember them upon waking up and they're generally pleasant dreams, so I've really been enjoying the last month or so because I've been sleeping like a baby and having vivid dream adventures every night.

 

[Enerchi]

I have really vivid dreams as well. I can talk sing scream yell.... Or I can "see" so clearly, people I know are not present. And the dreams have me laughing or crying but man, are they intense! It can be both peasant or terrifying depending on what the dream is. I pass it off as a subconscious thing or bad food before bed. I'd love to know why some are far more disturbing than others....

 

[justginger]

I am generally a lukewarm/non-existent dreamer. But strangely (TMI alert!), I have very vivid dreams around the onset of my period. It's happened my whole life - realistic dreams that I feel and remember are always my first warning sign of the inevitable. Ovulation makes me dream?

I imagine experiencing that constantly can be both a joy and a major emotional hindrance.

 

[sphenequeen]

This thread really strikes a chord with me - I have INTENSE dreams almost every night (think 6 nights a week) about my ex-boyfriend. He was my first love and I was with him for 7 years, but we did not end up together and sadly, he passed away almost one year ago. I have been having these dreams for YEARS, to the point where the emotions sometime spills over into my wake-life. Now that he is passed, the sadness that I feel from these dreams is even more difficult to deal with. I am tormented by these dreams, actually. I have been considering getting therapy about it.

 

[sonnyjane]

I have vivid, lucid dreams every night. I also have many different ones each night. If I'm not enjoying a particular dream, I can "blink" and start a new one. If I'm having a bad dream I can just say "it's a dream" and end it. The only thing I can't control is if I'm having a good dream, let's say, making out with Brad Pitt lol, and wake up, I can't start back where I ended when I fall back asleep, as hard as I try, I can't get Brad back lol. My dreams are incredibly detailed... Things like times on the clock, names, addresses, etc. are remembered the next day. I also speak Spanish as a second language and many times I will dream exclusively in Spanish even though I haven't ha a Spanish class in 9 years.

 

[packrat]

I have wicked dreams, and always have, ever since I was little. In color, I can control them, I partake from different points of view, sometimes I'm not even "me", I'm a guy, or I'm tall and lithe, I can fly, I can "melt" into things when I'm being chased and need to hide.

Sometimes the coolness factor, the ability to all kinds of neat things, turns around and bites me in the behind tho, when I'm unable to grasp the dream and control it so it runs wild during something upsetting. The realness, the movie-feel to it, isn't as fun when it's a sad or scary dream.

I dreamt one night that London and I had been kidnapped by human traffickers. I could NOT wake up, so the dream turned into my dream-self imagining the things that were going to happen to my daughter, frantic for her safety, wondering why my husband wasn't coming for us, trying to suss out our kidnappers and figure out how we could escape. That was one of those nights where you wake up and you're scared to open your eyes b/c you're pretty sure that was a dream..but maybe it wasn't, and you're all tingly and your hair is about standing up.

Tho, I did have one kick ass dream where I was like a fricken secret agent or something, and I jumped back and forth between a few different people in the dream, in different places, it was so exciting and exhilarating.

Sometimes I'll tell JD my dreams and he just stares at me "What the hell is wrong w/you? How can you DO that?" But he rarely dreams, and when he does, they're rarely crazy like mine.

ETA sometimes I can wake up from a good dream and go to the bathroom and then go right back into the good dream. Or if it was a sad/scary dream, I can go back in and change it...kinda like one of those choose your own adventure books.

 

[katharath]

I really am enjoying reading all of your posts. This is something that I've thought about pretty frequently for many years, so I enjoy the discussion. Everyone's experiences differ at least somewhat, and I can identify with some of you more than others, but I like hearing what each of you has added. So interesting! I wish there was more factual info about dreams out there! I mean I wish we knew more about what caused certain aspects of dreaming...I actually kind of wish I could study it professionally.

Sphenequeen - I'm sorry about your ex, your dreaming "situation" sounds pretty intense. I definitely understand the feeling of intense dreams and how they sort of permeate your entire day...it feels so strange and honestly, I think it's hard to describe to those who don't experience dreams like that. It seems like most people probably understand it at least somewhat, but my DH, who as I said is the opposite type of me, really does NOT "get" it. Dreams can really affect your emotional state!

This isn't the same thing, but I can relate a little. I used to have very intense dreams about my ex, he was my first "serious" boyfriend I suppose (although I dated my husband before him - LONG story). But my ex was my "first", if you KWIM. Anyway things ended pretty badly and I never had much in the way of closure with him. We didn't have any contact for many years, and it was during this time that I had a ton of dreams about him, even after I was married. I used to feel guilty about it in fact, I've never even told my DH about those dreams. What eventually happened is that the ex contacted me via email, we became friends through social media, and now we have sporadic but friendly facebook contact. But when he initially emailed me, we talked about some issues from years before, and I felt like I was finally able to completely let it all go. After that the dreams pretty much stopped, they've tapered to maybe one a year. It was just very odd bc I completely adore my husband and in a million years, I'd never have chosen my ex to marry over my husband - I certainly didn't have those feelings for him and hadn't since I was probably 18 yrs old. So it was very annoying to be dreaming about him like that! It was something I couldn't control though. It's very strange to feel something so strongly in a dream that you don't actually feel IRL - it's hard to shake those feelings after you wake up!

If this keeps bothering you, I think therapy could be very helpful. I've been to therapy myself and found it to be a good experience.

 

[Dee*Jay]

My dreams are very vivid and "real." A couple of weeks ago I was kicking at a big bug in my dream that was trying to climb onto my foot and I started kicking for real and aggravated the herniated disk in my sleep. Yowch. I couldn't walk fully upright for over a week.

And my dreams are very "story like" in that they move along in a logical progression (as much as dreams tend to do anyway).

Lately I dream about find out in various ways that I've either passed or failed the CPA exam, depending on how I'm feeling at the moment about the studying.

 

[Autumnovember]

This thread really strikes a chord with me - I have INTENSE dreams almost every night (think 6 nights a week) about my ex-boyfriend. He was my first love and I was with him for 7 years, but we did not end up together and sadly, he passed away almost one year ago. I have been having these dreams for YEARS, to the point where the emotions sometime spills over into my wake-life. Now that he is passed, the sadness that I feel from these dreams is even more difficult to deal with. I am tormented by these dreams, actually. I have been considering getting therapy about it.

I was dealing with a very similar situation myself with the exception of ex-bf not having passed. I still do have very intense and vivid dreams from time to time but there was a point where it was weekly and it was really starting to torment me a lot. I also thought about therapy.

 

[Sky56]

I think it is very odd that the content of my dreams drastically changed with diet change. Since I have been a vegetarian for over 30 years, just about all my dreams entail travel... Being with people real or imagined with a pleasant feeling. Floating around somewhere, hanging out.

Before I was a vegetarian, just about all my dreams were violent, scary - People chasing me, trying to kill me. I prayed that I would not dream.

Currently, most of the time, I don't remember dreams, I sleep with the feeling that there are no dreams. I used to love to sleep, but now I view it as kind of a waste of time, like a chore that needs to be done.

 

[AprilBaby]

I dream every night and usually remember what it was. Usually about the past and family that has died. Or my kids but they are still little. If I take melatonin to fall asleep I get nightmares. Bad stuff.

 

[Sky56]

I like it when I dream about deceased family members. They always are friendly and a joy to see in my dreams and I wake up feeling very happy. Unfortunately, these dreams occur very rarely.

 

[Circe]

Huh, fascinating thread. Compared to what most people are describing, I'm all over the map.

- I've had a series of lucid dreams, much more intense during years when I was out of the city but still omnipresent, that I would classify as "lucid" dreams: they map a dream version of my city, and in them I almost always realize I'm in DNYC as opposed to actual NYC and, say, fly, or visit that bookstore full of books by my favorite authors that they never wrote, or duck into the place with All the Feather Boas, or whatever. Many involve dinosaurs, aliens, and really enormous apartments with secret passages. Oddly, the narratives almost always actually hang together.

- In a different vein, I think my subconscious is, um, active: I have an unfortunate series of dreams involving one ex that I have negative associations with, and another involving another whom I'm generally pretty happy to see. First set, I feel dreadfully guilty: second set, wistful but happy. As First Ex is somebody I feel like I didn't do enough for, who may still be hung up on me, and as Second Ex is somebody who I think did me wrong but tend to excuse as just being kind of ... immature, but fundamentally nice and wish well ... yeah, there's NO subtlety here. I really do wish the first one would get over me and move on, though I think we'd have little to talk to one another at this point, so I always worry about having to explain my feelings, my life, etc. to him ... and with the second dude, I wish him well and actually think we could have an okay friendship, except for the reality of knowing, well, *that* ain't happening!

- I have an awful lot of violent dreams wherein I wake up upset. Given that many of these occur on nights when I have to reach for my inhaler ... I can only conclude there's an interesting feedback cycle between the physical self and the unconscious. I think when my body can't breath, it reaches for explanations. Maybe I'm running and out of breath? Maybe somebody is trying to choke me? Whatever it is, it's usually much more disturbing than the reality that I'm allergic to dust and need to change my pillow-case. Still no fun, though ....

P.S. - A quick note from my favorite cartoonist over at XKCD ....

 

[Sky56]

When I dream of cities, the city is always a huge one, a dream version of New York City, I am always lost in streets with skyscrapers and tunnels and I am the size of an ant and the point of the dream is a frantic attempt to stop being lost and reconnect with the people I am separated from. I rarely have that reoccurring dream anymore. I think the reason I have that dream is that I used to live in New York City.

 

[dragonfly411]

I have very intense, realistic and vivid dreams nearly every night. And there are some that I remember for very long periods of time. I had a dream years ago (yes years ago) where I was in a department store, and I was being chased. Whoever, or whatever was chasing me was just a shadowed black image with gleaming eyes. The store had a lot of white sheets over things like the counters, and tons of dark shadows. I remember trying to run up the escalator and not being able to, and the image just watching me try.

Another was a week or so ago, I dreamed that myself, my SO and our dogs had been kidnapped by droids of some kind, as had a huge group of children, and they were using us for labor. SO and I were trying to figure out how to get the kids out as well as our dogs, and we had to choose. We chose our dogs, but went back for the kids. I remember the droids were red, the grass outside when we escaped was such a bright green, with a huge brown cliff like mound over the place we were kept, and greenhouses all over. So strange.

My dreams vary in happiness and sadness. I used to dream about my ex, horrible nightmares. Sometimes I dream about my mother's step grandfather Big Daddy. He haunted her, and we believe has transitioned to me.

Another recent one was one where I was with my sister and her SO, and while we were outside it got very dark, and I heard a noise like a train and we ran into this house we were at. The house is one I've never been in but I had very distinctly designed it in my mind. The first room was a sitting room, with another room to the front, so each room was to the left or to the right of where we ran. We ran through to the next set, another sitting room and a blank room, but both without windows. The third set was a kitchen and then a sort of entryway with a sliding door. In my dream I looked out of the sliding door and there was a tornado very far away, but I blinked and then there were seven, and one came straight for us. We went into the windowless rooms until it passed. No shattered glass. When we walked back out, there was a boy outside in the grass. My sister wanted to help him, but when I looked he was glowing. I felt it was very wrong but she let him in anyways. She and her SO took him to find help, and I stayed, and POOF my mom was there! I needed clothes besides pajamas, so she took me to baby GAP. Yep. Felt entirely too real too.

I don't know what to make of my dreams, whether they are figments of my imagination, or they are my brain/subconscious trying to express something to me.

 

[Kelli]

I used to get sleep paralysis quite often, which can be absolutely TERRIFYING if you don't know what it is. Apparently your body has some sort of "switch" it flips in parts of your sleep cycle to paralyze you so you can't do yourself or others physical harm while dreaming. Most people's "switches" flip before they're awake. In sleep paralysis your brain is waking up but your body cannot move or make a sound- it often feels like some invisible force is pushing on you or even suffocating you, depending on the dream. When I was a kid I would dream about ghosts and/or aliens in my room, or a weird duplicate of myself, like I wasn't really in my body or something... Yikes. I discovered my dad had these too, and since this was before the days when you could "google it," we both thought it could be something weird and kinda supernatural (lol). Lucky for him though, his dreams were never threatening. Finally I saw a TV special on it. Once I learned what it was I was never really terrified by it again. I had the dreams and they could be frightening, but I guess I was at least conscious enough to know I wasn't in danger.

One weird thing, though, is that when I moved out of my parents' house (which even skeptical folks would say was haunted), my dreams and sleep paralysis tapered off and have all but gone away. I experienced it a few times at the duplex I lived in before my current house, and only once here.

I've also had foretelling sorts of dreams that have actually come true. Like my grandfather coming to me in my dreams with my already-deceased father (who didn't seem to know he was deceased in the dream), telling me it was time for him to go and that he would be ok. Less than a week later he was diagnosed with leukemia and only lived a few more months.

My sister and mom have experienced weird stuff like that too. Shortly after my dad had passed away (unexpectedly at 53), my mother was "talking to him" before she went to sleep one night. She told him that I seemed to be grieving normally but that she was worried about my sister who didn't seem to be dealing with it at all. She asked him to make sure she was ok. The next morning, my sister stopped in at the building where both she and my mom run their businesses. She said that she had dreamt that she came in and my dad was sitting in the lobby waiting for her. When she asked him what he was doing there, he said "Mom sent me to check on you." Of course, she didn't know about my mom's "prayers" or whatever you want to call them. Kinda weird. But I really appreciate stuff like that happening. Real or crazy coincidence, it makes it seem like we haven't really lost all touch.