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Question about dreams.

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Posted 6/4/2014 4:47 PM (GMT 0)
This might be an odd question but does anyone feel a sense of elation when they dream? No matter if I have a good dream or a nightmare, I always feel so good in the dream. It's a strange feeling because during my waking life, I do not feel this way. I used to battle depression for years and it wasn't until I started suffering with chronic pain that I began to feel relief from my depression. I know they usually go hand in hand but for me, my chronic pain made me appreciate life more although for years, I thought it was a chemical imbalance because at one point, I was healthy and didn't have a real reason to be depressed. Last year when my chronic pain issues began, I started taking vitamins and herbs and I noticed my depressive episodes had reduced drastically so maybe it was a chemical imbalance after all. However, I have yet to experience that same sense of elation from my dream while I'm awake. Sometimes when my pain gets so bad that I have to take painkillers (which isn't very often), I obviously feel elated from that but it doesn't compare to the sense of happiness I feel in my dreams. Does anyone know what's going on?
Posted 6/4/2014 5:19 PM (GMT 0)
I don't know why it is so, but I like my dream world too. I don't know if I feel elated, but I feel good. They say our dreams are usually our fears or our desires. Maybe yours is a desire to feel good.

I have chronic pain too so I know how it feels.

Hugs, Karen...
Posted 6/4/2014 10:51 PM (GMT 0)
We are all different in how were interp. our dreams. However, I can tell you that when we dream it is said that all characters in the dream represent you in once way or another.

There is a wonderful book that is not being published any longer, however you can find it on ebay or half.com. It is entitled WHEN WATER RUNS UP HILL AND PEOPLE FLY.

To me it sounds like you are processing a lot of stuff through your dreams. I would start keeping a dream journal and trying to write down what the detail in that dream mean to you. sometimes it takes a few days for the details to make some sense. That is why the journal is so important.

Peace and courage
Trina
Posted 6/12/2014 5:42 PM (GMT 0)
I don't know. I just don't understand why this is happening. I'm confused because during the years I suffered trough major depression in my late teens and early twenties, I also had really bad insomnia but when I did eventually sleep, I don't remember dreaming like this. When my depression was finally healed (only by the grace of God - because I never took medication or therapy for it), it was then that I started to have these vivid dreams where I would feel this strong sense of elation as well as inner strength. You'd think it would be the opposite. The only time I feel the same way in my waking life is when I remember details about the dream but it only lasts a few minutes.
Posted 6/12/2014 6:13 PM (GMT 0)
The best way I have found to understand my dreams is to write them down. Re read them, then question what sticks out to me.
Write about the emotions that come up while I am re reading it slowly. Paying attention to my feelings and bodily sensations.

Eventually you can draw valuable info from your dreams in this manner.

Peace
Trina
Posted 6/12/2014 6:57 PM (GMT 0)
Have you started any new medications at about the same time you started getting the dreams. Medications can cause you to dream more, and to remember them. If we eat before we go to bed, we dream more.

When I took Effexor I dreamed a lot. I still do, I just don't remember them.

Hugs, Karen...
Posted 6/12/2014 8:02 PM (GMT 0)
OMG, my dreams are trippy. a big old acid trip. they revolve around each other. mine are always more than one. i have multiple rapid-cycling dreams that roll into each other, it is chaotic in there. i awake more tired before i went to sleep.
Posted 6/13/2014 3:27 PM (GMT 0)
I've been dreaming like this for at least 2-3 years long before I started taking pain meds and herbs for my chronic pain. Maybe those just enhance the feeling but I just wish I could feel the same way while I'm awake. It's not really a desire to feel "high" all the time but more on the lines of wanting to feel at peace. I read somewhere that some people have this same ability to feel elation during dreams and that they are the lucky ones because most people's minds can't access that part of the brain during REM. While it does feel good (both during the dream as well as the times I remember the dreams while I'm awake), I sometimes feel like I'm being teased because I can't feel the same way or be the same person in real life.
Posted 6/13/2014 4:11 PM (GMT 0)
I guess I would say enjoy it. I feel my dream world is pretty important. I don't know why. I have had premonition dreams in the past. Now I take ambien and I don't remember the dreams. But I have had a lot of De Jevu' (sp).

It is too bad you aren't finding the capability to feel as good as you do in the dreams, but maybe it is just a place for you to go and visit when you sleep. I would practice meditation and mindfulness. It kind of gives you that euphoria that you desire.

I was walking with a friend today. She was talking and talking. This is hard to explain, but there are these seeds in the maple trees and when they fall they remind me of helicopters. Well they were all in the road. The wind came up and they were all going past us and making a cool sound. She didn't even notice. I did. I think it is because I am more in tune with things like nature and what is going on around me. And I think it was from being mindful. What I guess I am saying is it gives me the opportunity to notice all the cool things around me. Maybe it would help you too. I don't know, just kind of wanted to share. I think it would help you a lot. There is a site called mindful.org. It is in the resource thread at the top of the page. First thread on the forum. Check it out. There is a lot of good information and sites there.

I hope you find the happiness that you are looking for.

Hugs, Karen
Posted 6/14/2014 5:14 AM (GMT 0)
I was fearful of the prospect of dreaming when I was aware of my depression, and diagnosed as such to the point of using these psychotropic, mind-altering drugs. I am since off all medications, thank God. But, thankfully, almost through the entirety of my abysmal journey of about one year, I never experienced the nightmares that we were warned we might have. My dreams were detailed, articulate and made almost perfect sense. Most of the dreams of years before were fragmented, symbolic and didn't have a definable plot. Not so, with the drug dreams. Maybe that is why people like Edgar Allen Poe did his best work in response to chemically induced visions and dreams.

Why did we feel elated in our dreams? In my case, I don't think it was so much elation as it was just the opportunity to participate in an interesting story (plot) that was much more entertaining and focused than was my reality in the waking hours. Things and places, people and possessions that I had lost interest in were found and appreciated again in my dream state. When I awoke, the feeling of disconnection with life slowly began to seep into my consciousness again, and I was overwhelmed with the sadness and disappointment of my real world life. I looked forward to falling asleep every night and found it difficult to let it go and wake up the next day. At my worst, I was staying in bed, sleeping for 12 to 16 hrs. a day. I would wake up just before my wife got home from work and I would get up and get dressed, trying to make her believe I had been up for hours. I think she knew better.
Posted 6/14/2014 6:52 PM (GMT 0)
Whenever I take the muscle relaxer before bed I always end up having vivid dreams but they're not good ones, always some sort of stress situation and I wake up confused, try not to take the med now in the evening because of it.

Don't know too much about it but as we all know there are different phases of sleep, maybe when you are in such a deep, deep sleep you have those dreams?

I also think Dr. Tarr is on to something, in a dream you can participate in something interesting, more interesting than the waking hours.

Hope you are ok.
Posted 6/26/2014 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, I'm back. Been very busy but still have this question on my mind. I continue to have these dreams where I would feel so good in them. For example, last night I had a dream that I was at my grandma's house. I've dreamt about her house many times before and every single time, I felt so good in them. However, when I wake up, the feeling immediately goes away. Even when I think of her or visit her in real life, I do not feel the same way and I don't know why because I love her and I have wonderful memories at her home. However, when I think about the dream at her house, I feel good again but it only lasts a few seconds. The same goes for other places or people I dream about. It cannot be drug related because before I started taking herbs, I had these same experiences. Anyone have any idea what this means and how to experience the same feeling in my waking life?
Posted 6/26/2014 4:40 PM (GMT 0)
As I have heard, dreams are either fears or desires. You desire to feel better I think, and I think that is why you are having these dreams. It feels good, it feels safe. I could be wrong.

Maybe get a book on dream interpretation. Or keep a dream journal.

Best wishes,

Hugs, Karen...
Posted 6/26/2014 8:08 PM (GMT 0)
I'm right there with the gang on enjoying my dream state.

With anxiety, you feel out of control. In our dream state, we're free from judgment and can act, or react, in any way we choose. We get to test the waters, so to speak.

Dreams have always been a place I feel very alive,....and yes, even the bad ones.








M.
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