Vivid Dreams cause of excessive sleepiness

[Ms.April]

For years I have been "suffering" from excessive dreaming. I have dreams that are extremely graphic, detailed and vivid. Most of the time I am aware that I am dreaming and cannot wake up. It does not occur every night, but several nights a week. I wake up feeling EXAUSTED. I nod off during the day, cannot keep my eyes open. Last night (for example) I got 8 hours of sleep and yet today I'm so tired I could cry! I should also mention that I fall asleep almost instantly and I dream as soon as I fall out. There are some days where I "fall asleep" here at work and begin to dream instantly, it's almost as if It's an instant hallucination. My husband says I'm lucky to fall asleep when I hit the pillow but I'm to the point where if sleeping makes me THIS tired I don't want to. The dreams are often traumatic and I'm tired anyway. What's the point of sleeping?!

I'm not suffering from depression and I have a regular schedule in terms of sleep (Usually get at least 6.5 - 8.5 hours a sleep). My diet is pretty good and I get an average amount of excersize. Everything I do is in moderation (no drugs either, btw).

Can someone PLEASE shed some light on this? Why am I dreaming so much and why do I feel exhausted after a "good" nights sleep?

Perplexed,
Ms.April

[Bluest]

Be careful with the Lyrica, I gained 60 pounds in three months. It slows down the metabolism a lot, and after you go off it, it's hard to recover.

[REMjunkie]

Hi all,

Quick update in case this helps....I tried the Lyrica, started at 50mg went all the way up to 200mg.....and strangely, for me it only enhanced my dreamscape. My sensory experience was more vivid!

I have been trying Sleep Aid - Doxylamine Succinate. Much more affordable as well. After about 2 weeks on it, I'm now starting to feel more rested upon waking....I still dream a fair amount and I don't mind it as I would miss my dreams but I think this pill is helping drive my sleep cycle through to a deeper state of sleep for my body to repair. Still not much regularity but I have more days of feeling rested upon waking so I can actually function.

I also intend to see a Jungian Analyst next to 'decipher' the dreams...looking forward to that!

Hope this helps.....I haven't done a sleep study as it is very expensive. Going by some of the comments and results from others it could be that our sleep cycle doesn't enter a deep state....

I think the dreams aren't the problem....the problem is not feeling rested upon waking, so must be that our dream factories are way too active and don't transition into a deep state of sleep.....my 2 cents worth.

[ssoonnyymm]

Hi. I just wanted to let you know that you can lower your brain activity by meditating. It can make up for loss of sleep. So if u want u can try that cus I figured if someone were to get into a meditation where they're in a state with less mental activity than when dreaming and fall asleep that way they'd start off in a dreamless sleep. Also it'll help keep u from having racing thoughts. So if willing to learn to do that then I think its worth trying. If u don't know how then I could tell u if u want

[ssoonnyymm]

Hi I just wanted to let you know that you can lower your mental activity by meditating. I do it when I can't stop thinking. It could help make up for loss of sleep and if u do start meditating u can get your brain into lower activivity than you have when your dreaming. Falling asleep after meditating sounds like it'd cause you to at least start off in a deeper dreamless sleep, especially if you fall asleep doing it. I just think its worth a try.

[Ricobord]

While there are many different triggers of vivid dreams, one that is not well known is low grade infections. Usually there are other symptoms, but they may not seem connected to the dreams.  

Bartonella is one example. It used to be thought of as a mild, self resolving infection from a cat scratch. But in the last ten years, it has become apparent that it can lie low without typical signs of infection (fever, malaise, etc.), but still cause mischief. Sometimes the only symptoms are neuropsychiatric ones.  It can also be transmitted by a couple dozen different insect bites, so no exposure to feral kittens is required to get it.

It frequently tests false negative as lab antibody tests only look for a couple genetic strains.

It might be worth researching for you, along with other possible infections that could cause vivid dreams.

[Bellas01]

I have the same problem as all the other visitors. I have had several glucose tests because of my weight. I am heavy but have always been in good medical shape(ie blood pressure, thyroid, glucose and cholesterol). I do not believe that this is correct in any way.