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        Supporter's Corner >> Supporter's Corner >> Strange Dreams
        
(Message started by: Becca on Jul 14^th, 2002, 9:40pm)

Title: Strange Dreams
Post by Becca on Jul 14^th, 2002, 9:40pm

I'm curious to know if others have noticed any changes in the frequency or types of dreams that occur in and out of the CH attack cycle?

My husband (Bill) has these really wild and vivid dreams quite often. I don't know if it has anything to do with his CH, or maybe just sleep deprivation. It isn't related to any medication in his case, since he dosen't take anything. He can remember lots of dreams, whereas I rarely ever recall one.....

Title: Re: Strange Dreams
Post by Ree on Aug 10^th, 2002, 2:02am

I was going to post an answer to this but you said your hubby isnt on meds... I will ask my cluster buds if they have bad dreams... and get back to you... sorry it is taking so long..

Title: Re: Strange Dreams
Post by Margi on Aug 10^th, 2002, 12:20pm

Hi Becca

It could be the sleep deprivation. Dreaming occurs during REM sleep and if he's sleep deprived, REM sleep occurs quite quickly after falling asleep. He COULD try dramamine or gravol - it prevents REM sleep, but it's also a double edged sword because we all NEED REM in order to feel rested.

I've heard other sufferers talk of vivid dreams and also rocking their heads from side to side while in REM sleep. Maybe it IS a cluster thing?

Title: Re: Strange Dreams
Post by Ree on Aug 13^th, 2002, 11:45am

Dave says he doesnt have any dreams that he can remember when he has CH and that is due to the fact that he gets so little sleep... hope that helps
ps are you on amytriptaline a side effect of that is bad dreams... Ree

Title: Re: Strange Dreams
Post by Becca on Aug 18^th, 2002, 6:03am

Humm - Thanks for your replys. I guess its a little mystery. At least we can be thankful he sometimes gets enough sleep to have these crazy dreams! Not looking for a "cure" as the dreams are the very least of his troubles, even somewhat entertaining. Just curious about why he has so many. Apparently it isn't a "CH trait" especially.

Title: Re: Strange Dreams
Post by Georgia on Aug 20^th, 2002, 12:05am

I asked my neuro awhile back about the same thing...my dreams have always been very vivid and detailed...but after I started getting ch, they were just obnoxiously vivid...the kind of dreams that stay with you all day...anyway, he called them "pain dreams"...he said when my head was starting to bother me in my sleep, which usually happens during REM, or when I was just sore from a bad day of ch...my body was expressing the pain through my dreams...like when the alarm goes off in the morning and you incorporate into your dream...or when your cat is doing that kneeding thing on your chest and you dream of being cut up or something...know what I mean, Vern?

Yer right though...if he's dreamin..he's sleepin...very sweet indeed.

Title: Re: Strange Dreams
Post by Ree on Aug 20^th, 2002, 2:22am

Wow Georgia that is very interesting to learn... kind of a fun thing for a supporter to do next time our Suportee is in a cycle ask him about his dreams NOT!!! LOL he would kill me... seriously that is amazing that you remember your dreams so vividly during a cycle... and it all makes sense. Finally the answer Becca was looking for too... hey I love the smurfs.... Hope you are well Love Ree

Title: Re: Strange Dreams
Post by debbie4278 on Aug 25^th, 2002, 11:20am

I've had very vivid and wild dreams for a long time. Never sure why. Very bizarre. Indescribable really.
CH's for 24 years. And alot of dysfunction over the years, deaths, grief, depression, always figured it was that. Sometimes I have the same dream over, one in particular I have had for years.

Amitryptiline????? Antidepressant???/?
Deb

Title: Re: Strange Dreams
Post by Becca on Aug 25^th, 2002, 9:36pm

Quote:

I'm curious to know if others have noticed any changes in the frequency or types of dreams that occur in and out of the CH attack cycle?

Silly me - who would ever remember a dream they might have been having when a cluster hits?!

Bill is sitting at the other computer here drinking strong coffee and using his O2 concentrator now. We are prodromal. This aura stuff has been dragging on since last Spring. Must be why I keep checking in here from time to time - just want to be ready when it ever gets here, and hope it doesn't, but expect it will............sometime. soon? maybe. maybe not. hope not.

Since CH attacks that come during sleep most often come during REM sleep, which is also the time of dreaming, I posit that a CH sufferer becomes conditioned to awakening during REM sleep. Then they might also wake up during REM when out of the CH cycle as well, and "catch" themselves dreaming more often than we slugs who sleep right through our most fascinating dreams and never remember them at all!

Dreams interest me. An 84 year old female patient told me this dream which she had last night. I showed up at her bedside early in the AM, she said "Oh, I thought you were Tom Brokaw"./ "Why would you think that?"/ "Well, I was just dreaming that he got in here in disguise as a woman and was going around interviewing for his next book about female hospital patients". (I was relieved to know this was her dreaming, and not her hallucinating!) She had just read The Greatest Generation, by Brokaw, and upon awakening earlier, had seen a doctor's shoes and pant legs pass by beneath the curtain around her bed. Then she fell asleep again and had this dream. That's an example of how things you do and reflect on while awake can influence dreaming.

There are a lot of other types of dreams. I would love to know which types of dreams CH sufferers have most often. Bill's are unlike any I have ever experienced, as are his head pains.

Antidepressants and some other medications do seem to cause a lot of people to have unusual dreams. I conducted a smoking cessation class for several years where people could take Zyban (an antidepressant that curbs desire for nicotine) and those who took it frequently reported having really vivid dreams.

Gee - that was quite a ramble - any extra star points awarded for word count? How about for learning how to get a quote in a little box thing?