BATHROOM DREAMS

[jackiegram]

I  recently read a question posed to you regarding a man with nocturia who recently began having "dreams" that he needed to urinate. I dont feel like you really addressed his concerns, since I have the same problem and feel like you totally ignored the problem.  Let me explain this in a different way.  I am 47 years old, female  and have no prior history of bedwetting.  About a year or so ago I began having dreams that I needed to urinate and in my dream I am sitting on the toilet urinating.  Obviously  since I am asleep and vividly dreaming that I am sitting on the commode I cannot make the concious distinction of dream vs reality so I end up urinating in bed while in my mind and in my dream I am urinating on the toilet.  I always wake up immediately afterwards and discover that I was only "dreaming" that I was sitting on the commode and i am laying in a puddle!!!!  I do not have a UTI and have no urinary problems while awake.   The problem is the dreaming!!!!  How do I stop myself from dreamming that I am sitting on a commode urinating??????


This discussion is related to Intermittent Adult Bedwetting.

[TruckerDJ]

I am glad to see that I am not the only one that has had this happen. And I have tried all the common sense things to try, like not drinking after a certain hour, limiting my caffeine etc.. And still the ONLY time I have a wetting incident is when that damn dream happens,

[2237]

Me too.  I've had these dreams since childhood and they only happen intermittently.  In the last year or so, probably from being so conscious about trying not to do this, I have been dreaming that I am on the toilet going to the bathroom and people are waiting for me.  But, in the dream,  I go and go and go and still feel like I have to go and the people are waiting for me.  I wake up and have gone a little bit, but the urge to go is so strong that I can't get up and walk to the bathroom without "dribbling," or worse, on the way.  

[graciously]

Interesting comments, Thanks everyone for sharing.

I too have dreams about being on toilet and spilling my bladder in bed while still asleep.  However I think the need to urinate during the night may be the cause of the dream instead of the dream causing the act of urinating....we may very well have very strong bladders but multitudes of other things may enter in on any given season. Things like cold weather, air borne allergy, food or drink, sub-conscious anger or rebellion, anxiety, or stress over serious family, money and business problems or even exhaustion so that we might even sleep through a fire that night!  

There could be so many factors adding up to release of urine during the night. My first episodes happened once a week for about two months several years after my divorce at age 35. Then again at age 42 during a summer of great changes and stress. Then again a few times while in my 50's.

In the dream I  believe I am on a toilet; I say to myself, "are you sure you are awake? Are you sure this isn't just a dream?" I touch the toilet bowl, it feels very cold. I touch the toilet paper, it feels very soft. I kick the floor, it feels very hard and sends shock through my foot and leg. I pinch myself and it hurts. So I decide it is safe to let go and pee. Then I feel soaked and then I realize I was dreaming so I dream that I am waking up and then I finish urinating, then I am really soaked and convinced that I  never really woke up after all! So I then wake myself up and walk to the bathroom and wash myself off with warm water and soap and I feel chilly, but then I realize that I didn't wake up yet, so then I truly wake up, and as we speak I have no assurance that I am even awake now.

My whole concept of reality is messed-up. Last night I had the same dream, different bathroom, different house. As I was peeing in the dream I questioned myself whether it was a dream and started to think what a dangerous thing it was to urinate because you never know whether you are awake or asleep!! My "psychic" friend says my astral body must be strongly connected to my physical body at night (whatever that means.) Maybe my whole waking life has been just another big long silly dream and that my night-time dream-life is no more or no less a dream than my daytime life?  Maybe there is no such thing as reality, maybe it's all just one big dream after another. This whole dream thing could really make me crazy!

[ThunderVoltz]

So have any of you gone to a doctor to get checked? What did they say?

[margo54]

OMG...i thought i was in the early stages of a mental disorder,i'm experiencing the same dreams where i am urinating,but actually in a dreamstate.. do i need to see a shrink?

[Lolly58]

I told my caregiver. She said "Oh? that is unusual."  End of discussion! I am 55, female with Type 2 Diabetes, elevated cholesterol and blood pressure. Never before have I had dreams that I was urinating until this year. It has happened 5 times. I void my bladder just before bed and usually waken to urinate at least once per night. No UTI, no leakage. So glad to know that I am not alone.

[BedWetter26]

Ok...I've read the discussions on this and although the certified Med Help people say that this is cause for alarm, I don't necessarily think there is anything wrong with many of us. The "pee dream" has happened to me a handful of times (and just now). It's never the same dream, but it's always a dream in which the act of peeing is calm and deliberate. The first time I had a pee dream, I was a Roman, standing next to a man in a bathhouse, peeing in a fountain, talking politics. Another time I was a race car driver and tried to hold it until the 200th lap, couldn't hold it, and just decided to go. Just now, I simply dreamt that I walked into a stall, whipped it out and started going. It's kinda hard to explain, but since that first dream, I learned what that stirring sensation feels like, and force myself to wake up. I always start peeing in the dream before I actually start peeing. There's this feeling you get *just* before you actually pee, which usually in the dream is this "omg" feeling, if you don't wake up by then...You're going to wet the bed. I only ever wet the bed during those dreams and I never have any of the other issues they're describing. I really think it's our body's way of saying "hmmm there's pee on deck, but the tank is full. I've got to get rid of some, but the bodies in rest. Peeing while sleeping is immature, so let's send a signal up to brain, and have him push it up on the priority list." Brain goes "oh man bladder, you should've taken care of this before - we re scrubbing the connectors right now! Ok fine, I'll do it. Start the engines.. [name] wake up! we need you to find one of these and do this, then you go back to sleep...." It's very simple, really. Nothing to be very alarmed about...unless it hurts and there's blood. Unfortunately, I think this dream I just had was so dang real, I thought I was awake and was too late. :/

[Walwyn]

I peed in my bed this morning. I dreamed about being in the mall with my wife and friends and then I said that I needed to go to the restroom... I went to the toilet and felt like I was peeing in my legs no matter how much I spread my legs and aimed. I eventually woke up X_X in a puddle with my wife in it too.
Nice to read that I'm not alone. I feel so embarrassed.

[Mattresspadder73]

It's great to see i'm not alone with this problem. But i'm sad to see no solutions.  So i'm going to offer one to those here, and those seeking. This isn't a foolproof solution, but it has greatly reduced these occurrences for me over the years.

Lets start, by saying i have been having these dreams and wetting the bed for LIFE. and i'm a 40 year old male now.
Only one thing has greatly reduced these occurrences to a few times a year or less. is Reading.
  
Here is what i have done to help.  I keep a note, in my bathroom, inside a magazine. Just a sticky note. with a poem on it. I also have this note inside my wallet.
It's a poem about peeing. I never use the bathroom until i read one of these notes.

As many of you know, you cannot read while dreaming. So if you make a habit of never using the bathroom until you read this note (in your daily wake hours). Over time, the ability to "Dream Pee" is reduced or gone. Occasionally the mind plays tricks, and you will dream you read the note, and go. but this is extremely rare. Using this method, i went from wetting the bed every other night to a few times a month, to now a few times a year. All the other methods such as limiting beverages, setting alarms, going prior to and waking to go midnight, didn't work for me. as i would "Dream Pee" between these actions. Only understanding the limitations of dreams (not being able to read) has helped. and i hope this helps you and anyone reading this.
good-luck.

[avokaty]

I am relieved that I am not alone.  I have had this problem all of my life - it usually happens about one or twice a year.   In my dream, I am peeing in a toilet and finish.  I keep dreaming and I feel the urge to urinate again and so I go to the toilet again and the same thing happens ... the third time is the "charm" - that's when I start urinating in my bed.   I always forget to tell my doctor because it does not happen very often.  

[embarrassed_man]

   I hope someone can laugh at this today. Been writing this for the past three and a half hours since 7am. I am a 48 yr old male. (You will question that by the time you finish reading to the bottom) Currently 6'0" 235lbs, probably 45-50 pounds overweight. Been sleeping on the couch for about 80% of the time for the past year, 100% of the time since the beginning of April 2014 because the wife wants separation and divorce. Well, technically, she wanted to be separated last August 26th. That's what her email said on our 25th wedding anniversary. She didn't say anything about divorce until April 7th.
   But I digress. Got fired in February. Gained about ten pounds since then.
   (Dream guy, right ladies? But wait, there's more!)
   In the past year I woke up about 4-5 times and caught myself just after starting to wet my Big Boy pants. It was The Dreaded Pee Dream; 'Dude. It's Ok, you're in the bathroom, go ahead...' It's like my brain is playing a practical joke on itself, and it works! Certainly more effective than the ol' Hand-In-The-Bowl-Of-Warm-Water trick.
   Changed underwear, go to the bathroom, go back to sleep.
   Last week it was really cold because a window was opened and a ceiling fan was running. My daughter fell asleep watching TV on another part of the couch. I gave her the blanket I normally use. I wasn't cold, so I went to sleep. Couple hours later I emptied my whole freakin' bladder! The whole THING! Woke up shivering. Clothes soaking wet. Take off my clothes and toss them into some corner of the garage until they dry out, flip the couch cushions over.
   The couch smelled like pee for two days. Everyone just assumed the dog pee'd on the carpet somewhere. Only the dog and I know the Truth, and she ain't talkin'.
   This morning woke up at 5:58 am. Pee'd on the Hanes Boxer Briefs with Comfort Flex® Waistband again. Use the bathroom, remove underwear, empty bladder. The Pee Dream strikes again. The Brain has a chuckle at it's own expense. All the clean clothes are up stairs in the bedroom and my wife closed the door because apparently I snore like a dying wildebeest. She's a light sleeper so I don't dare open the door and go in.
   Fine. Go back and lay down on the couch wearing just my pants. Brand new pants I just got for job interviews.
Two hours later it happened again!!
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!
What is wrong with me?!?!? As if I didn't already feel like a total Flippin' loser!!!!
   My brain is laughing at itself because it was stupid enough to fall for that one again.
   wow. Proof reading this post is really sad. It reads like the opening scene from a screen play for a sad movie.
   Or a comedy...Like Cheech and Chong "Up in Smoke" when Cheech wakes up and realizes he's peeing into the dirty clothes hamper while the toilet had shirts and pants spilling out.
   Remember how teenagers used to mill about like zombies in front of liquor stores to try and talk some grown up into buying beer for them? I think today I'm going to hangout in front of Albertson's and convince really old people to buy a package of Depends for me.
   YEAH!!! Come an' get it ladies! WOOT!

[lifeprobz]

Hung on to every word in the last paragraph haha, all makes sense to me. i had the same issue. I'm 24 and havnt wet the bed since a child. Even then I would think I'm actually in a bathroom in my dream. I have such vivid dreams that like someone said.. I can't distinguish dream from reality. It's not like I just wake up and I peed myself... like I legitimately believed I was using the restroom. I have a "psychic" friend as well and she would say the same thing. Can't discount it just yet...

[cjamesc]

55 yr old male, just had dream, but awoke in time.  Had it in my youth & it stopped prior to teen years.  Had a controlling mom (dad died early on) - could talk about nerves, but will go another direction.
I wonder if it could indicate a "power" to control, of dreaming being more of a muscle to use (not a physical-world act, as in bladder control), but an act of someone with a high aptitude to imagine.   Einstein used to imagine great things about light-energy, then aim to work it out mathematically, and led him to exclaim that imagination was more powerful than intellect (or words to that effect).
In my adolescence, I fantasized about having sexual encounters, instead of actually approaching women to have them in reality.  Once when I was at a meditation retreat, at age 48, I chose to masturbate about being with a lady in the group, just before bed.   Then IT happened - I awoke in a puddle - and had had a dream that I was urinating.

So I think it/the dream was telling me I had a power - a gift? - in being able to imagine getting my needs met in another realm than the physical.  In tribal cultures, being able to dream could be a sign of having shamanistic talents - being able to commune with the spirit-world (the non-physical reality).   What if all people having dreams of urinating were being shown that they have powers of imagination to use for good?   -    What if we could ask for dreams, as a way to commune with ancestors or angels (if one is open to having these beliefs)?

This is cutting edge ideology, but it is possible the pee-dream is an reflection of a shaman or medicine man - one who can dream or be a channel for spirit.  Much more to say, but, oops - gotta get to work now.
Ohio

[Twan60]

I have been having these dreams too, last night I got up twice and then 1/2hour after the last time I feel back to sleep and jumped up cause I felt it coming out.   3 nights ago I wasn't so lucky.  WHY is this happening? I'm so embarrassed for my husband, how sexy to worry about this now.

[Katzarr]

I feel this is due to stress, and drinking "anything" less than a couple of hours before getting into bed to sleep ; do not drink anything at least 2 hours before retiring to sleep. This might help. If this keeps happening, I suggest going to see a doctor. Regards, wish you the best <3

[geo615]

I am a 55 year old male and these dreams also happen to me.  I sometimes search and search for a bathroom but everyone I find is broken and when I finally find the one that works I wake up wet.  This usually twice a couple of days apart then not again for months.  I was a bed wetter until ten years of age and it was the same dreams then.

[Womanofthefire80]

I am glad I am not alone.  I am a 35 year old and only like 3 times when I was a child after potty training did I pee the bed ( per my mom).  Up untill now I have not had a problem with waking up and going to the bathroom if I needed to go. This year has been different.  

Last night I feel asleep without having to watch tv or listen to a book.  I woke up around 3am to pee and do a breathing treatment. ( walking Pnemonia) I went back to bed and just now was having a dream that I was at a store and had to pee.  I ran into the bathroom and went. Didn't wet bed.  Later in the dream I had to go again and someone was in the bathroom so I had to wait.   When I got in there it was like the feel good type pee.   I woke up in the middle of it and I had peed the bed.  I didn't void the whole bladder though.  Just enough to get on my clothes.  

The first time this happened I was in tears.  How can a 35 year old have problems like this.  I sleep walk bad.  LIke getting fully dressed and walk down the street bad.  A doctor told me it was due to PTSD and that if I calmed myself before trying to sleep it will help.  My thing is, is that why can't I sleep walk to the bathroom if I had to go so bad and could not wake up.  I mean I have woken up in the bathroom before.  I don't get it and very embarrised by it.  I am single and what if I stay at a boyfriend's house and pee his bed?  I wish someone really would come on here and tell me what this is caused by.

[Ethanchicago]

To all my Friends I HAVE A SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM.

I'm 38 years old male, and I've had this problem for a VERY VERY long time...until now. That's because I know HOW TO STOP IT, I FOUND A WAY TO TRICK MY MIND, so that I will not let my bladder loose again in my bed. Yes folks.......Eureka!!!  Eureka!!! Eureka!! and it worked for me!!!

I've had this problem since I was a kid, so everyone thought I wasn't normal. The other kids made big fun of me, and it was very embarrassing, and very uncomfortable, not camping trips, no relatives house, no friends place, basically I had to force myself to be an introvert when I'm actually not.
Now I feel really happy that I'm not alone and there are other human beings going through this same medical problem in their lives.

Basically I come from a place (a very ****** place) where the awareness of this problem is very less, so the humiliation and embarrassing comments are unbelievable high. It's worst than apartheid. I write this with tears in my eyes, even though I'm a grown up man now, I'm not at all ashamed ,that's cos the moments were very painful, hurting and like a deep scar. It's pretty tough and embarrassing when you are a teenage kid (13-15 years old), and  bet wetting, and not knowing what the F just happened, and have no control over it. What is even more embarrassing is when all your cousins (especially gals) get to know about that...The cynical smiles, grins, laughs....etc...nobody understands that it's a medical problem. I've been through all of that **** in my youth life (consider it a dreadful phase), Thought of even killing myself thrice, cos of this stupid problem (although now i feel it's stupid to even think like that, but that was what was going on a kids mind). Now it's over and done. Just a nightmare.


Now to the TRICK.

There are 2 reasons behind this

1. Psychological Reason

Have you guys seen the movie "Inception", it's all about dreams, you must have come across something called "Totems". It's a small, personal objects that enables a person to differentiate between dreams and reality. Leo's totem is his top, which topples over in the real world and keeps spinning in his dreams (last scene).

Well my friends, The truth is I discovered this secret almost 15 years back to save me from further humiliation and embarrassing moments and it worked.

I was having the same type of dreams like you guys, I was in the toilet very much standing there unzipping my pants and peeing, but it is a dream,and I wet my bed again. What the heck, my mind was playing tricks, so I wanted to TRICK my mind, which was tricking me in DREAMS.

So what I did was in reality whenever I wanted to pee, before peeing I pinched myself soo hard until it was really hurting, especially in my arms(biceps) or stomach, or somewhere i could feel the pain which is recorded very well in my brain at the subconscious level, so this became an habit and was strongly getting registered in my mind at the subconscious level. So when I dreamed about peeing,I could not pinch myself like how I did in my real life, cos that impossible, cos it is a voluntary muscle action, so my brain could very well differentiate that it's a dream and raised a hold the bladder RED ALERT..."IT"S a DREAM :Hold the Pee ALERT, which prevented me from bet wetting anymore ...It's my sensory Totems (not an object) to differentiate between dream world  from reality.SIMPLE but very effective...I'm serious guys, it might sound silly, its worked flawlessly for me  and there is also a medical explanation behind this....

2: Physical reason :

When we sleep our brain goes to sleep as well, so the overall control goes to our spinal cord, which is second in command, which is not as smart as our Brain. And more over spinal cord is like a back up generator, not a full function system like our brain, so it cannot control all the muscular function, especially in this case the pelvic floor muscle.

When we are awake and Peeing, we can hold the pee, if we are not in a right place (such as driving a car, or away from washroom, etc), this is only possible cos of a particular muscle called Pelvic floor muscle, this is an involuntary muscle (meaning you cannot control it like any other voluntary muscles such as arms or legs). Pelvic floor muscles are smooth weak muscles in our body and found in both men and women, and also useful for sexual intercourse. The stronger the muscle the more you can hold it, the weaker muscles are indications of Men ED. In other words if you can shoot like a bullet, then you have a strong muscle, if it spills on your thighs, then unfortunately you are on the weaker side.  Some humans are born with stronger pelvic floor muscles cos of genetics and others are not. Some claim, that there are techniques, exercises to make ones pelvic floor muscle stronger, but i'm not sure how authentic these claims are, and I haven't tried it.

These pelvic muscles are another reason behind this whole bed wetting thing. The stronger the muscle (more fibers) the stronger the bladder walls are, and can hold any amount of pressure, the weaker muscle will only cause accidents.

If you want to know how your pelvic floor muscle feel like , here it is how it id, have you ever tried to hold your pee half way through (without help of your hands), if not try it next time. You can do it only with the help of pelvic floor muscle, you will feel it then, but it's little hard when you do it for the 1st time.. The muscle that you use to hold and release your pee is the pelvic floor muscle.

I hope this was of some sort help to you folks. But for sure give the sensory totem a try, it worked well for me, and did the magic....


Good luck folks!!!
Arun

[Bird17]

So glad I found this thread. Thought I was losing my mind with these dreams.  My question...has anyone found that this happens when there is a lot of stress I your life?

[peepeedream]

I am so glad to see that I am not the only one who has this issue.  I am turning 47 tomorrow and I have been having it for a few years now.  Normally it is only once every 3 or 4 months.  But, It has happened 3 times the in the last week or two.  The worse part is, is I am visiting my boyfriend and it is his bed I end up wetting.  After the first time, he bought one of those protective mattress cover things.  It happened again early this morning, around 4 or 5am.  It is so embarrassing and humiliating.  I feel so damn guilty.  I wouldn't blame him at all if he were to kick me out of his bed for good.  I suggested I start wearing depends to bed, he declined the idea.

I just wish I knew why it happens and how to stop it.

[Mr_Slim]

I, too, have a lifetime resume of bed wetting.  Now, I'm a 55 year old contractor with a very understanding wife.  My life is good, my health is great.  My stress level is not any worse than the average contractors is...and seems to be managed ok.

I wet my bed nearly nightly right through most of Highschool, and have been terrified every night since.  Deep sleep is my greatest enemy. I've been called all the names.  I even had a brother that shared my room...he never wet his bed...there's always a "good kid"...

My folks had me to every goofy doctor they could find.  "He's lazy", "He's defective", "Punish him", "Don't punish him", "Ignore it", "Set an alarm", "Make him wear rubber pants".  Done it all.  None of them listened to me so I quit trying.

I have always dreamed vividly.  Maybe the guys here will understand...I have always been very self aware of my genitals.  I've talked to other guys who never give theirs much thought...but not me.  I am very aware of it all the time...not in a painful way...just aware.  This also got me into trouble with the folks...

When I went to college, the inevitable happened...in a dorm room with five other guys.  Only, I was lucky that only one of them "caught" me...a kindred "dreamer"!  So, we agreed to watch for eachother, and if one of us woke to go...we woke the other as well.  We roomed together for five years and this little agreement got us through.

So, when I dream the dream, I am trying desperately to go to the bathroom, usually in an awkward position, or an awkward place, and I keep getting wet, so I stop and start until I wake up...wet.  On good nights, I catch myself having the dream and recognize it for what it is and wake up.  On the nights when I sleep hard...bad news.

Avoiding water in the evening helps...but now I'm trying to avoid chronic dehydration.  Stress and anxiety is definitely a factor from time to time but not always.  Over tired and deep sleep is the worst.  We use essential oils for basic home health care, and I've discovered that some oils, like lavendar, that usually promote good sleep, actually put my dreams into overdrive...the vivid goes right to terrifying or exhausting it is so real.  I suspect that these same oils may have to go off my night time list because they work too well.

Oddly, having sex at bedtime seems to help.  Maybe because my sleep cycle is different after sex, or because of some unknown physiological mechanism I don't understand.

Really good to know I'm not alone.

[every_now_and_then]

This is crazy. I wonder what causes it. When I am dreaming, I dream so deep that my Body reacts to my brain. Then, when the dream is over, you "feel" your dream and have to wash everything.

I just want to live a normal life. Wish someone did have a cure. I'm all ears.

[medicinebag]

Its unpredictable when the pee dream will occur.  I just learned to be ready for it. When it happens, I'm usually dreaming that I'm in a public place like a restaurant, fair or some festive event  Then as some other posters describe, there is a sense of urgency as someone is waiting for you outside.  Then the struggle begins between my brain telling me to go ahead and pee its safe hurry because people are waiting on you and your conscious telling me that I am not really sitting on the toilet and don't fall for the trick again. But physically I am paralized because I can't move or feel anything while sitting their in that tiny stall.  I finally used the paralysis as a way to measure if the dream is real or not.  Often while peeing in the dream it is very hard for the pee to come out as I feel this terrible strain. I figure its my bladder fighting to help me hold it in as to not be tricked again. Then I decide I will pinch myself as hard as I can and If I can't feel that pinch, I convince myself not to keep peeing no matter what even though the dream seems so real. It then becomes a battle because I pee a little and even though it hurts something tells me to keep going its safe to pee. Then I pinch myself hard again. If I can't feel it the I don't pee no matter if it hurts or not. Then the discomfort, which is real, usually wakes me up in time.  Then I am awake and go to the real toilet.  I then pinch myself and it hurts, so I know I'm not dreaming, The trick is to pinch yourself hard in the dream and if you don't feel anything don't give in no matter what.

[medicinebag]

Its unpredictable when the pee dream will occur.  I just learned to be ready for it. When it happens, I'm usually dreaming that I'm in a public place like a restaurant, fair or some festive event  Then as some other posters describe, there is a sense of urgency as someone is waiting for you outside.  Then the struggle begins between my brain telling me to go ahead and pee its safe hurry because people are waiting on you and your conscious telling me that I am not really sitting on the toilet and don't fall for the trick again. But physically I am paralized because I can't move or feel anything while sitting their in that tiny stall.  I finally used the paralysis as a way to measure if the dream is real or not.  Often while peeing in the dream it is very hard for the pee to come out as I feel this terrible strain. I figure its my bladder fighting to help me hold it in as to not be tricked again. Then I decide I will pinch myself as hard as I can and If I can't feel that pinch, I convince myself not to keep peeing no matter what even though the dream seems so real. It then becomes a battle because I pee a little and even though it hurts something tells me to keep going its safe to pee. Then I pinch myself hard again. If I can't feel it the I don't pee no matter if it hurts or not. Then the discomfort, which is real, usually wakes me up in time.  Then I am awake and go to the real toilet.  I then pinch myself and it hurts, so I know I'm not dreaming, The trick is to pinch yourself hard in the dream and if you don't feel anything don't give in no matter what.