# You are getting sleeepy



## Andy (Dec 9, 2010)

With all the dream interpretation books and websites out there I was wondering, how much significance do dreams actually have on the psyche? 

I've heard/read that a dream doesn't necessarily mean the exact same thing but I don't see how books/sites suggest that any particular dream can signify the same type of thing for the majority. 

Wouldn't it depend on each person and their personality,life experiences, current situation, mood, etc.?

Sorry if this is a really inane question, I tend to ask them lol


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## tasha (Dec 9, 2010)

I tend to agree with you, STP... I think it depends on the person's circumstances.  

I used to have some pretty bizarre dreams... now they tend to be less bizarre, but just as thought-provoking.  I read somewhere that bizarre dreams can be linked to thyroid problems - how true it is, I have no clue.  I had a doctor once tell me that when I woke up from a bad dream to "finish" the dream with the outcome that I wanted... she said it was "taking control of my dreams".  I tried it a few times, but it never seemed to really work... maybe I didn't try hard enough, or maybe I was too busy trying to interpret the meaning of the dream... who knows?  

What DOES it mean when people come running out of a burning building and immediately turn into tin cans???  (Just one of my more bizarre ones ) 

The worst for me is when a bad dream "haunts" me for the rest of the day... often I can't even remember the dream, but it sets up a bad feeling at an unconscious level.  

I wonder how much a/d's and other meds affect one's dream state?  :thinking:


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## Andy (Dec 9, 2010)

A lot of different medications can cause a person to have vivid dreams. I rarely remember dreams but when I have started certain medications I have a few days to a week of dreams I remember. 

I wonder if that would actually work, to finish the dream. I think some dreams just aren't meant to be finished.


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## David Baxter PhD (Dec 9, 2010)

Dreams, for the most part, are just the brain processing information from short-term to long-term memory. To do that, it has to "tag" information semantically, much like a filing system or database. In dreams, your brain is sifting through old memories and stored information, and comparing them to new information to see if there's a match. That's why dreams often seem bizarre, because memories of unrelated events pop up together.

We all have them every night. Light sleepers, people with certain medical conditions, and people on certain kinds of medications tend to feel like they are dreaming more or having more weird dreams because we generally remember dreams we are having shortly before we wake up or when we are sleeping less soundly.

The content of dreams, in my opinion, is 99% of the time meaningless. The exceptions are recurring dreams, or dreams with recurring themes, or dreams centering around a specific problem the person is trying to solve or resolve.


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## Retired (Dec 9, 2010)

> A lot of different medications can cause a person to have vivid dreams



Two that come to mind immediately are SSRI/SNRI's and/or Beta Blockers (the latter usually prescribed for heart conditions and sometimes for certain types of anxiety)


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## tasha (Dec 9, 2010)

Steve said:


> Two that come to mind immediately are SSRI/SNRI's and/or Beta Blockers (the latter usually prescribed for heart conditions and sometimes for certain types of anxiety)



Yup, I'm on Effexor, but I've always had vivid and bizarre dreams as far back as I can remember... usually it involved being in imminent danger and being unable to move or scream.  I actually haven't had those nightmares in many, many years (thank heavens!!)


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## Andy (Dec 9, 2010)

tasha said:


> Yup, I'm on Effexor, but I've always had vivid and bizarre dreams as far back as I can remember...


 
You say you have always had vivid and bizarre dreams but do you think or did you notice if your dreams became more vivid then they normally would have been once you started the Effexor assuming you started the Effexor after you stopped remembering your nightmares? 
lol Does that make sense at all? 



David Baxter said:


> Dreams, for the most part, are just the brain processing information from short-term to long-term memory. To do that, it has to "tag" information semantically, much like a filing system or database. In dreams, your brain is sifting through old memories and stored information, and comparing them to new information to see if there's a match. That's why dreams often seem bizarre, because memories of unrelated events pop up together.


That's interesting, a really good explanation of why dreams can be all wonky. Thanks Dr. Baxter


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## tasha (Dec 9, 2010)

Yup... makes sense STP.  I think the best way to describe the diiference is this way:  

When I was a youngster I had "nightmares"... I don't think I remembered as much DETAIL in those nightmares - mainly just one or two strong, frightening elements.  As I got older, the nightmares lessened, but I'd still have the odd one every few months.

After I started Effexor they became more of a vivid  "dream", but with MUCH MORE detail... not necessarily nightmares.  I still have the occasional "nightmare", but not like I did as a kid.

Oh, something I just remembered... twice in the past 4 years I had dreams where I launched myself out of bed.  The first time I was trying to get out of a canoe without tipping it over and swamping the other person in the canoe... I remember putting my hands on the gunnels to hoist myself up and out... next thing I know, I'm laying on my bedroom floor with a big scrape on my elbow from hitting it on my night table.  It hurt like hell, but it was kind of funny!  :lol:

The second time I was actually diving down into a tunnel to grab my mother and again I dove out of bed... this time the "dive" was definitely a 9.8 because I ended up on the other side of the room.  Thank heavens for longgggg CPAP hoses!!  :rofl:

Hope all THIS makes sense.  :lol:


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## Andy (Dec 9, 2010)

LOL Funny. Well at least your getting good scores. Wouldn't really be worth it if you were getting 4's or 5's. 
I have done that before, well not launched myself out of bed (thankfully as my bed is propped up really high) but jolted myself up so that I was sitting up. I have no idea why. lol  I wish I remembered my dreams like that. lol 

Anyway, it's really weird how medications can do that. I'm glad you don't have many nightmares anymore.  

I watched a show on people who sleep walk really bad and people who have really bad night terrors. That's some scary stuff. This one family had to lock there front door with latches up high because their daughter/son was sleep walking out to the road and jogging or something like that in their sleep. I think there was a story about someones son who did something similar and was actually hit by a car and killed...I'm not sure about that one, could have been a dream. 

There was a guy that was choking his wife in his sleep too. I think I would be sleeping on the couch after the first time. I can't imagine the strength someone would have in that state either. Yikes!


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## David Baxter PhD (Dec 9, 2010)

> Well at least your getting good scores. Wouldn't really be worth it if you were getting 4's or 5's.


 
Not THAT is comedy!


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## Retired (Dec 9, 2010)

> After I started Effexor they became more of a vivid "dream", but with MUCH MORE detail... not necessarily nightmares.



Although Effexor is designed to specifically affect norepinephrine and serotonin, in some people there is some spillover affecting other neurotransmitters, causing unwanted side effects.  In the case of bizarre dreams, it is the adrenergic neurotransmitters that are being activated, but unless the bizarre dreams affect your quality of sleep, or if the dreams are accompanied by profuse sweating, there is usually no reason to report it to the doctor if the mood disorder symptom relief is otherwise satisfactory.

Many people choose to just put up with the bizarre dreams and enjoy the _extraordinary nocturnal entertainment_.


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## AmZ (Dec 9, 2010)

Steve said:


> Many people choose to just put up with the bizarre dreams and enjoy the _extraordinary nocturnal entertainment_.


 
How about _extraordinary diurnal entertainment_!? OK, I admit, I had to Google that one. But I learned something today 

I was having very vivid dreams during the first few weeks of taking Effexor but they stopped.
Now just bad 'regular' dreams but hoping those will go soon!


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