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+--- Thread: Where did my dreams go ? (/Thread-Where-did-my-dreams-go)
Where did my dreams go ? - DaveCar - 09-08-2022
I cant recall dreaming since I started xpap. (3yr)
Presumably, Im having dreams during rem but theyre getting flushed out before I wake ?
Generally, I wake to an alarm.. so Im not sure the odds on that.. surely at some point I would have been mid-dream.
RE: Where did my dreams go ? - Brazen - 09-08-2022
I wonder the same thing.
I used to have incredibly vivid dreams that I really enjoyed - it was just fun to wake up to a new story that my mind had pieced together!
Gone.
But, I'm only 115 nights into cpap life so I just keep hoping they will return.
Hearing yours have been gone so long is disheartening.
RE: Where did my dreams go ? - fishfinderG - 09-09-2022
My understanding is that you are more likely to remember dreams if you wake up at certain points in your sleep cycle. If you were waking up during the night from apneas it would make it more likely that you remember a dream. They are still happening as long as you are completing sleep cycles.
RE: Where did my dreams go ? - Doubleb - 09-09-2022
I lost my dreams long ago when my apnea got worse, and now that I'm on treatment, I'm just starting to occasionally remember a dream or 2...
RE: Where did my dreams go ? - Brazen - 09-09-2022
@ fishfinderG -- that makes sense and what I have been taught as well.
But, I only wake up to an alarm (not during the night) with and without the cpap so I don't know why the cpap eliminated my memory of dreams.
Personally, I feel it's wrecked my REM but have no data to support or disprove that.
RE: Where did my dreams go ? - DaveCar - 09-09-2022
Brazen, Fitbits and others can guesstimate your sleep cycles based on movements (g-sensor) and heart rate cycles.
I know Im getting good sleep from multiple indicators.
-No more getting up at 3am for a piddle every night
-No more eyes rolling up demonically when I try to wake up for work
-No more nearly narcoleptic naps. Way better focus, driving, energy during the day
I did start with a pretty severe case (the sleep tech said I was in the 80's (or maybe it was 60s, i forget)), so I was happy that the cpap pretty much flipped a switch. It was a only a few days and I could feel massive improvements.
RE: Where did my dreams go ? - fishfinderG - 09-09-2022
REM looks different in your flow graph if you want to go looking for it. I’ve heard it explained as looking like irregularly shaped footballs or eggs lined up one of the other. If you are well treated on APAP then you should be having REM. Should see some every 60-90 minutes you are asleep. Zoom in to look at 10 minute segments of flow.
Waking up at the same time every day isn’t the same thing as getting in more complete sleep cycles because of APAP.
RE: Where did my dreams go ? - Brazen - 09-10-2022
@Davecar... that is a good point, fitbit type things guesstimate a bunch of different things.
At this point I'm not really up for that expense or wearing another device at night.
Unfortunately, my cpap experience is much different than what you described and I don't have any of those indicators of good sleep.
@FishfinderG - getting REM information from my flow limit graph is definitely something I will look into, search the wiki, and see if I can pinpoint. Thank you for pointing that out.
Yes, I know waking at the same time is different than complete sleep cycles. What I meant was that I don't have other things wake me during the night (eg: need to pee or severe breathing troubles) that could be interrupting a REM cycle and contributing to remembering dreams pre-cpap.
I don't wake at the same time everyday nor do I go to bed at the same time. (Due to my work schedule) Seems to me that at least every now and then, just randomly, I could be awoken by my alarm at a point in my sleep cycle to remember my dreams - just as I did pre-cpap.
It's bothersome that it doesn't happen with the cpap.