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Vivid weird dreams every night which I find unsettling

(62 Posts)
Outcast52 Mon 26-Aug-24 12:23:23

Hello wise ladies...looking for some insight into this topic, please.

I have periods when I wake up, almost always around 4am (I know this is the time one's BP starts to rise in preparation for waking) from a very vivid, detailed and often chronological dream. Sometimes, I can go back to sleep fairly easily but often have another dream or continue the one I woke from. This can happen several times a night. Sometimes I can't get back to sleep and can be wakeful for over an hour.

It's not generally the content of the dreams which disturbs me, but rather what the frequency of them suggests about my mental health - should I be worried? Of course I've googled it and the general consensus seems to be that dreaming is good for us, clearing our minds of the daily debris, although there is some evidence that they may be linked to degenerative brain diseases shock

Do other GNs recognise this? What do others think?

Thanks

Diggingdoris Tue 27-Aug-24 16:34:47

I used to have an occasional dream, maybe once a week, but from the first day of taking my blood pressure tablets I have several vivid dreams every night. They are not nightmares, just very detailed stories. I wake 3or4 times a night and each time I could write down the dream I've been having. I've just come to accept them now as the pills make me feel better.

Grannyjacq1 Tue 27-Aug-24 14:35:30

I started having very vivid - not necessarily disturbing - dreams once I started taking statins a few months ago. Could this be causing your dreams?

Cambia Tue 27-Aug-24 14:26:59

I’m on heart medication and never stop dreaming. Sometimes wake up exhausted! I have always dreamed but I have definitely experienced more weird dreams since I started the meds!

dalrymple23 Tue 27-Aug-24 14:17:46

Flipping Bisopralol (beta blocker) is the main culprit. I have the vivid dreams/nightmares between 0300 (pit stop) and 0700 (getting up). They always involve my major fears - heights, fire and anything happening to the dogs.

MissAdventure Tue 27-Aug-24 14:07:24

Be thankful you wake up. grin

Janiepops Tue 27-Aug-24 14:02:50

I quite often dream I’m in a large hotel or university building racing down corridors looking for a ‘Ladies’, only to find it locked, or a long queue…. Then I always wake up bursting to pee 🫢😂

MissAdventure Tue 27-Aug-24 13:48:19

I don't know which meds are causing my dreams, but they're exhausting - so complicated and frustrating.

Step4gran Tue 27-Aug-24 13:45:57

My OH is the same - his meds give him really weird dreams - he once woke me to tell me that ducks have really sharp beaks....

LizH13 Tue 27-Aug-24 13:32:34

I too have very vivid dreams that waken me or leave me reliving them throughout the day, not sure if medication is the problem but I’m aware that anxiety plays a big part.
The most embarrassing episode was when we were on holiday, our room had a double layer interconnecting door which was locked from each side. In the other room we’re 2 young men probably in their late twenties. I never sleep well on holiday initially and was conscious that the men kept later hours than we did. One night my husband woke me as I was shouting and screaming, the next thing I heard the men laughing and imitating me, they obviously thought we’d had a good night. I was so embarrassed I avoided them for the rest of the holiday. Can laugh about it now but still feel the shameblush

Maria59 Tue 27-Aug-24 13:31:46

My cardiology meds give me very vivid dreams

Ellylanes1 Tue 27-Aug-24 12:47:08

Does anyone recognise being able to talk to yourself during a frightening dream, telling yourself to wake up, if that makes sense?
I have lots of disturbing dreams and can remember quite a bit of them for the rest of the day.
I know they are anxiety based but awful when it's a bad one!

Luap Tue 27-Aug-24 12:34:44

Hello. Sorry to hear your having this problem . I have dreams that mostly i can t remember but leave me feeling disturbed when i wake up . I look on google at dream interptritations and often what they say would apply to me and is nt as worrying as i thought .

Nelli123 Tue 27-Aug-24 12:29:56

My partner began to have really vivid and sometimes slightly disturbing dreams after he started taking statins.

madeleine45 Tue 27-Aug-24 06:49:01

I have patches of horrible dreams and can wake up sweating with my heart going full pelt. One time I woke convinced there was someone in the house and it took me all my time to put the light on and not phone the police but go round and check that there was no one there. When my husband was alive he was the greatest help, firstly by just being there, which helped me to realise what had gone before was a dream and also if I was screaming or crying or whatever he would put his arms round me and help me to wake up to real life. Wish he was still here . After various efforts to work out why and what to do etc I finally came to the conclusion that I could not do anything to stop them, and the less I thought about them the better and just dealt with them as they occurred. I think that thinking about them a lot tends to encourage them to repeat. So I usually put the light on, just try and breathe more slowly and accept that it was just a dream. Then I often read for a little to calm down and put my mind on something else. Depending on the time I then try to go back to sleep but more often accept that I have an early start and get up and make a drink and start the day.

Marydoll Tue 27-Aug-24 00:37:53

Outcast, I have been on three different biologics and have to keep changing every so often, when I can no longer tolerate them.

It was another Gransnetter, who warned me about them, when I first started them.

Outcast52 Mon 26-Aug-24 23:46:25

Marydoll

It biologics for RA, which cause mine.
DH gets such a fright, when I start screaming /thinking I am being murdered!
It is so real, it leaves me upset fro the rest of the day.

Hi Mary doll, I am also on a biological for RA but have been for several years so I didn't think they were causing my excessive dreaming. But thinking about it maybe they are responsible. Thankfully, I don't have a partner to disturb but I'm sorry yours are so bad that you wake up screaming shock

Oldbat1 - I'm not on heart medication as such, just hypertension meds.

Pinkprincess - I do recall some vivid dreams when pregnant but they didn't bother me then. When I went back on hrt last year, my sleep vastly improved.

Bigbopper - I think we would all respond the same way to a dream about spiders in the bed!! Yikes!

pinkprincess Mon 26-Aug-24 19:37:16

I used to get very vivid and startling dreams during both my pregnancies
When I was stopping smoking years ago the nicotine patches gave me very frightening dreams.I changed to the ones you took of t night and that stopped them

BigBopper Mon 26-Aug-24 19:18:50

I always remember my dreams and they are mostly about my late husband, but he is always young in them and I can remember every detail of them. I also have some weird dreams and think I have woken up screaming as I was screaming in my dreams but I would not know as I have no-one to tell me if I was really screaming. I have dreamed that there were spiders in my bed and jumped out of bed and stripped it before I realised it was a dream. I think I have a very active mind and watch far too many movies.

Marydoll Mon 26-Aug-24 19:13:35

It biologics for RA, which cause mine.
DH gets such a fright, when I start screaming /thinking I am being murdered!
It is so real, it leaves me upset fro the rest of the day.

Oldbat1 Mon 26-Aug-24 18:58:04

My friend has dreadful nightmares due to heart medication. Her cardiologist said it is quite common. She says it is exhausting.

Outcast52 Mon 26-Aug-24 18:54:55

Calendargirl

Are you on statins? They can trigger vivid dreams.

Hi. No. I've refused statins several times so they're not the culprit!

Calendargirl Mon 26-Aug-24 18:43:38

Are you on statins? They can trigger vivid dreams.

Outcast52 Mon 26-Aug-24 17:59:35

Esmay

I suffer from nightmares .
My mother had them .My son had night terrors .
I wonder if they are caused by genetics .
I get them when I'm worried about something or feel pressurised in some way .
I take magnesium tablets .
I also find taking a little walk or doing some yoga late at night a help .
A warm milky drink sweetened with honey is another good idea .
Good luck .

Interesting Esmay. I do take magnesium, nominally for leg cramps - haven't noticed any benefit to sleep though. My son had night terrors from about age 3 but none of my 3 daughters suffered. We are very complex creatures...

Esmay Mon 26-Aug-24 17:17:39

I suffer from nightmares .
My mother had them .My son had night terrors .
I wonder if they are caused by genetics .
I get them when I'm worried about something or feel pressurised in some way .
I take magnesium tablets .
I also find taking a little walk or doing some yoga late at night a help .
A warm milky drink sweetened with honey is another good idea .
Good luck .

Outcast52 Mon 26-Aug-24 17:07:05

Thanks, all for the advice and suggestions. I am on medication but none of them specify effects on dreaming in their information, and they seem to list everything under the sun as sfx! I know I sometimes eat too late and that can disrupt sleep but what's puzzling is that these episodes come in clusters - on consecutive nights for several weeks, then disappear altogether for a while. Same with disrupted sleep: I can sleep undisturbed for a considerable while then the broken sleep starts again. Maybe I'm just getting old! At least there hasn't been a flood of replies telling me to seek psychiatric help! grin grin