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SharonSS

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Epilepsy and dreams

Hello,

I happened to come across some examples of dreams that people with epilepsy were sharing online and am fascinated.
I am very interested in dream analysis and have been keeping dream diaries for many years. I am very interested in how physiological processes may be reflected in dreams. I would appreciate it greatly if anyone with epilepsy who is not on medication would be willing to share their dreams with me. I know it's a personal issue and a difficult thing to do, especially like this over the Internet. If you would prefer, you can PM me.
The dreams which I happened to read seemed to suggest some kind of physiological disturbance within the body itself (not the brain)... some kind of disturbance in the functioning of the body, a metabolic disturbance, which resulted in an excess of energy resulting in seizures. It could be why diet can be used to control the occurrence of seizures. I do not know exactly.
I do know for certain that there are links between the body and the mind, and things which manifest themselves in the mind can be due to a disturbance in the functioning of the body - the brain receives and processes the information and reflects it... in the wakeful state, in the semi-dream states and in dreams. It is truly fascinating.
Thank you in advance for sharing any of your dream experiences.

SharonSS
 
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Okay I'm not on medication but I have a strange dream story, so I hope this helps.

Durring feburary vacation when I had a week off of school every night I would have this dream where I was sitting in my geometry, or history class (both located on the top floor) or in what we call the connector hallway which is insanely long, and connects one of my high school's buildings to the other. (Yes our high school has two buildings, two floors). So I'd be in one of these places and then the fire alarm with strobe lights would go off. (I'm photosensitive). Sometimes I'd try and run, which mostly ended in falling down the stairs, and having people just walk by and me like nothing was going on. No one would stop, or I'd just be walking throught he connecter hallway, and once again, strobe lights from fire drills go off, and I fall over and don't get out of the building, and people trample over me because there are always way to many people walking through that hallway. I didn't know why this was happening I was just terrified that something would happen, all week, which was completely irational, because the odds of someone pulling the fire alarm in february are not great, and I have friends and people who help me so I wouldn't be left alone while having a seizure.

THE CREEPY PART

I walk into school the next monday, right after vacation. Everyone was waiting in the cafeteria because they keep us there when the buses come before 7:40, which is when passing time starts. 7:38am, I'm standing in the cafeteria, and the fire alarm goes off. At first I thought I was dreaming, because everyone, friends, boyfriend, everyone, all just stood there. But then I realized I could actually FEEL it, so I dropped everything and ran, to the door which I know ur not suppose to do but I was freaking out turning purple and trying to deal with my body "slowly" being taken over one by one in tremurs, It's a very good thing that I normally fall over LAST. (PArtial seizures),.

Apparently one of the boilers blew up, so the alarm went off. So I had dreams of fire alarm going off, and everyone I know doing nothing, then I came back to school after post-ical stuff was mostly over and everyone acted like NOTHING happened, it was the first time I had a seizure in like 2 months which is really good for me, and all and all it really really hurt. It hurt, Because for the first time in a long time I was alone.

And that's my creppy weird dream story that came true.....
 
Interesting.
I'm not sure exactly what kind of dreams you're looking for but before I started taking medication I would have a lot of dreams about drowning, driving a car but not being able to see clearly, attics (still do) and a strange one where I would be pulling out a parasite out of my intestines (yuck). I remember dreams about being lost at amusement parks quite a few times. A strange one was about a sheep being trapped in a wall. Huh.
I remember A LOT of my dreams. Even clearly from my childhood. I've heard you remember your dreams better when you are not sleeping very well.
I find dreams fascinating too.
 
Thank you, Starfish and LJ-Bain, for your posts.
Starfish, it may seem creepy that you dream something and then something happens. But wakefulness and dream states are intimately connected. It's magical.
LJ-Bain, do you keep dream diaries? That's amazing, I don't remember any dreams from childhood.
 
Alas, no. I do not keep dream diaries. But I am constantly being reminded of my dreams in real life but not in a deja vu aura kind of way...although sometimes that happens too.
I am one of those people who knows they are dreaming. I can wake myself out of a nightmare by gently talking to myself in my head...wake up, wake up, this is just a dream...it's not really happening...you don't have to be scared.
Because I can usually remember 1 or 2 dreams from each night I sure would have one huge kick butt dream diary! I'm different people in my dreams but I know it's still me.
I can have control in them and can alter their outcome but mostly I like to kick back and see what happens.
I never thought of this as being unusual though.
Maybe it is?
 
I have dream diaries from my college years and some from afterwards. But I didn't develop epilepsy until my mid-30s, so those diaris are not so relevant to your particular interest Sharon. And I've been mostly medicated since diagnosis. While one of the medications briefly made my dreams very vivid, on the whole the meds have made it difficult to remember my dreams the way I once did.
 
I keep dream diaries sporadically. Usually when I start notice I am dreaming more, or the dreams are different.

I do not take any medications, So if you want to PM me an email address I can send you a few entries.
 
LJ-Bain said:
I, driving a car but not being able to see clearly,
Click to expand...

I used to have dreams like that ALL THE TIME!! I haven't had one of those in a while, though.

I dream a lot, but I don't always remember my dreams. I remember dreams I had years ago, but in the past couple of years I know I've been dreaming a lot, but I forget what I was dreaming about almost as soon as I wake up.
I start dreaming immediately when I fall asleep. Sometimes before I'm even completely asleep I start dreaming. I recently read that this is a major indicator of Narcolepsy. I also get sleep paralysis from time to time and I'm tired all the time, which are two other main indicators of Narcolepsy.
It makes me wonder if there's a link between Epilepsy and Narcolepsy, but from what I've read online, there isn't.
 
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