DREAMS

You're the first person I have heard bring this topic up anywhere in regards to MLC, but I find it intriguing that you are tying it to MLC.

For me...I think (think because MLC has robbed me of my memory), dreams have always been "normal" in a sense and I have always been able to recall them, but the deeper I have gone into MLC the more vivid my dreams have become and somewhat intense and emotional.  Most of the time, at least 80-85% of the time my dreams deal with my hearts desire and my passions for life, which cause great anxiety within my dreams, because in reality I am unable to fullfill them, which is why I guess my dreams tend to lean toward intense and I wake up angry or contemplative on what I should do about it in reality.

I have never really understood why a person does not remember their dreams on a regular basis (my husband is like that), but at least you know when you have awaken that your dreams must have been pleasant or disturbing.  Maybe, in either case, but mostly during your MLC with your disturbing dreams you are working out life, working out the things we all battle (our individual issues, dreams, aspirations) or eventually must face one way or another.  The only thing is, by not remembering your dreams, how you can pin point what your innerself is trying to speak to you about (if that's what it is???), on the other hand, maybe, spiritually speaking, words aren't necessarily needed to do what is done internally through our dreams???

Whoa...getting a little philosophical here and maybe just a little off the deep end, so I'll stop for now.  Hopefully Shepherdess has read another insightful book or something on MLC and dreams and can enlighten us.

I realize only the women are supposed to post on this thread but I have to say thanks to both of you for your posts. Sometimes I can get my wife to read some of the posts on this site. Yesterday afternoon I read your posts and my wife was close by and I asked her to come over and read so she did. Over the past few months when she sleeps she seems to constantly be in turmoil or restless. When I would tell her this she would tell me I was crazy and would immediately close up and not talk about it. After she read your post she and I had an extensive conversation and her side mirrored much of what the two of you have posted. Can't remember what she dreamed but knows she dreamed and many times she wakes totally exhausted and angry. She claims that this hadn't been the case in the past.
I thank God each day for the ladies on this site. Without you I would not have made it this far on the journey with my wife and her MLC. Please continue to post your thoughts even if you think it is insignificant. Your posts could lead to the break through that someones relationship has been looking for.

matt73
Maybe - your wife would like to talk to some of the women on this site.  I have found it quite helpful while I experience the highs and lows of this MLC journey to read the thoughts of other women.  Sometimes it makes my situation seem clearer - sometimes it is just comforting to know that I am not alone in this.
PEACE

sbreeze1
I haven't experienced what you have with the dreams.  I agree with 40andnowwhat that your dreams can be a way of working out life or whatever we are battling.  Maybe this was what was happening and maybe you didn't remember them because they were too painful to remember.  Just a guess. 
My therapist told me to pay attention to or even write down my dreams because they can give you insight to things that are  in the subconscious. I find if I think about the dream for awhile when I first wake up I remember more than if I just go back to sleep. 
Anyway it seems like a good sign that your dreams are going back to normal. 

All of my life I have remembered dreaming - almost nightly - most often pleasant dreams - although I could not remember the content most of the time.  When my MLC hit last spring I stopped remembering whether I had dreamed the night before.  I found it strange. 
I knew I was still dreaming - because I would be emotionally exhausted when I awoke in the morning - sometimes filled with anger, fear, sadness and often dread.  I could not remember dreaming - but I knew I had. 

sbreeze1,  This is what has happened for me as well  I haven't remembered a dream for about 3 years now and for the previous 43 years to that, I had almost as vivid a dream nightlife as I did a real day life!  A few times I have woken in the middle of the night experiencing the most hellish sense of aloneness.  Complete isolation from everyone and everything.  I have never felt so frightened in my life and feel as though I'm actually fighting to hold onto my spirit as it's being sucked out.   

Guess what ladies?!!!!  You aren't dreaming...in fact, you aren't even going in to that stage of sleep where you do dream. 


I have had the very same feelings, loss of dreams, poor sleep...the waking with fear, dread, suddenly or abruptly...feeling like I was being held over the precipice of death...I actually felt like I was dying.  I told this to my son's Neurologist when he was being tested for sleep apnea...and he calmly said..."YOU are experiencing sleep apnea or sleep disturbances that could be caused by allergies or an obstruction...or it could simiply be menopause...BUT...you need a sleep study done so  we can figure this out for sure.  If you are not dreaming or you don't recall any dreams at all for over a week to a month, you aren't going in to that stage of sleep and you need it to replenish."  He told me to start keeping a dream journal next to my bed and to jot down every morning if I dreamed or not, the times that I woke up feeling dread, exhausted, how many times I woke up and went to the bathroom during the night...the time that I woke. etc.  If after two weeks...I didn' have a full night of sleep then a sleep study was definitely in order. 

I have been working on an article on this very subject.


I am being screened for allergies (Please see dotsmom thread for update on that one)...I will be having my sleep study done mid-August after my daughter's foot surgery.  Please consider doing the same...at least you will know one way or another...if you are in the USA...do it before we get Universal Healthcare...otherwise,  you will be lucky to get it done.

Shepherdess