Weird Recurring Dreams

[nailit]

Ive asked/posted before about weird and recurring dreams. I used to (and still do occasionally) have dreams of been shot in the back. However, Ive started to have dreams of being bitten by snakes and more recently dreams of having to drink deadly poisons (usually as a result of a death sentence passed upon me).

Sleep should be a time of rest and recuperation, so why are we plagued by nightmares?
What is the purpose of nightmares like these? Getting anxious to go asleep nowadays.

Not bothered about dream interpretation (pseudoscience at best) but why the hell are we plagued by these visions when our bodies should be resting?

Any ideas appreciated?
(or stories shared) …
:-)

[rowanwitch]

For weeks after procedures under sedation I have bonkers dreams and when on steroids I am usually an assassin or similar. I am not nice on steroids.

[Cloverjo]

I have the wee dream too. There's usually a wall or door missing, the loo is in the middle of an open-plan office, or I just can't find the loo in a huge complex building. I didn't know it was so common.

Another recurring one is being at university on my final day and realising I forgot to make any friends. I'm wandering through restaurants and cafes I never knew existed trying to join people, but they won't let me in.

[Patsy33]

Perhaps as your life has been going somewhat better for you lately, (that's what I've gleaned from some of your chats lately) maybe at the back of your mind, things might go wrong and this is disturbing your quality of sleep.

[Cloverjo]

I have a packing dream too. I'm getting ready to leave somewhere, putting all my stuff away, and whenever I think I'm done I move a door or curtain and find loads more things that need to be packed. I can never get out of the place.

[Jackdaw33]

My university one is that I am about to enter the examination hall for a subject for which I have never done any work. Also that I have to begin researching and writing a dissertation due to be handed in the following morning.It is a relief to wake up and realise that I have my degrees after all.

[Bazile]

Crikey, i didn't realise that my loo dream ( or various versions ) was so ' popular '

Another variant is going into a cubicle where the partion between the loos - and the doors - don't go all the way down to the floor , so you can be seen inside

[Old_Geezer]

It's all random brain activity/noise that it then interprets as best it can. Try to have lucid dreams because then you direct the experience.

[Cloverjo]

Yes bazile. Very common apparently. I heard on a radio show someone saying they know it's a wee dream if the string pull for the light in the bathroom is still, whereas if it's swaying it's real.
[Or the other way round] Then they know whether to get up or not.

Very clever way of our brains to stop us weeing in our beds I think.

[Cloverjo]

O_G, I do like lucid dreams. I had one where I was stuck in an attic with no way out. In my dream I thought 'this is only a dream, I can just be out of this attic.' So I was then on the roof and everything carried on.

[maggiebee]

Was going to say just what ladybirder said. When I was on anti-depressants I had the weirdest, vivid dreams, some of which were very scary and woke me up. Could this be one explanation for your dream pattern nailit?

[dunnitall]

I have actually learnt from 'active dreams' I have is that when my body overheats when asleep I have dreams. I've no idea why but definitely know it's when it happens. I also have precognitive dreams which a little while later come true and they are definitely not in the same vein as the other ones. Strange old life isn't it....if only we had all the answers ;-)

[hereIam]

Very interested in this thread because of the toilet dreams. I frequently dream about toilets that are filthy and I have to go no matter what and I can never find a clean one. The difference with me is that I don't wake up needing the toilet, I just dream about dirty toilets !! I looked it up once to see what it meant, but I can't remember now. It is however, quite a common dream.

[Flonska]

Maybe have a look at this?

https://www.auntyflo.com/dream-dictionary/a

[nailit]

Sorry, couldn't get back to this thread last night but enjoyed reading all the replies.
Rowan...
//1. Why do you feel you deserve to be punished
2. Why are you having trust issues //
Not sure that I do feel that I need to be punished, a few trust issues maybe but who hasnt?

Maggie...Im not on any psych meds at the moment but when I WAS on them my dreams were even weirder. I used to wake up screaming at times on certain meds.

hereiam...I used to have the 'dirty toilet' dream a lot at one time, not so much now.

[nailit]

Thanks Flonska, I will :-)

[hereIam]

It's explained quite well in Flonska's link.

[jazzyjen]

My "wee" dreams are a bit different.
I have a dilemma whereby I am sitting on a toilet having already done a wee. There is a part roll of paper out of reach on the back of the cubicle door and a brand new, still wrapped one on the floor beside me. Whilst I am mentally debating which to go for, I wake up bursting, or on a couple of occasions actually starting to urinate!

[pastafreak]

My toilet dream is a bit like hereiam's. Back when I was young, I went to art school in Manhattan. I lived in the outer suburbs, so a long train ride was necessary. I used to use the ladies loo in Penn station...it was filthy but was less than sparkling clean. I started having dreams that I'd walk in and be faced with a long corridor to the loos...the floor would be ankle deep in water( or...?). Of course there was no way I could use it, but I seemed to think maybe, just maybe I could get through on tiptoes.
My other water dream involved ghouls, huge stepping stones, and more water...and darkness. I could feel myself trying to navigate from one stone to another...without falling in.
I have real issues with water...maybe because I never learned to swim. There were "classes" in HS...all us non swimmers left to our own devices at one end of a poorly lit pool. I couldn't wear my glasses...and felt totally disoriented.
And the flat I live in has been a nightmare of leaking taps...even after they've been replaced/fixed.

[pastafreak]

"It *wasn't* filthy...".

[Bazile]

Where is Daniel ?