Dreaming about fainting

[Ernie]

I don't remember if it was discussed before but I often dream that I faint. When I wake up in the morning I am even more tired than the nights I don't dream I faint.

Do any of you have that problem?

Do you know what it means or what causes that type of dream (ie BP getting too low) etc.?

Thanks for your help

Ernie

[MomtoGiuliana]

Ernie

I don't have a generally problem with fainting, however, I think I know something of what you are talking about. I sometimes, still, even with vast symptom improvement, dream that I am very weak and unable to walk, and/or that I am having trouble breathing. I never used to have dreams of that nature. I don't notice feeling worse the mornings after such dreams, but I do wonder if something physiological isn't contributing to those dream sensations.

Katherine

[Guest GayleP]

I have never had fainting dreams but I have had dreams where I can't breath and I wake up feeling like I can't catch my breath. I know I don't have apnea so who knows.

I've also had dreams where I'm riding my bike for miles and miles but unfortunately that great feeling is gone when I wake up.

GayleP

[Meghan]

Ernie,

I also have dreams where I am fainting. When I actually faint (in real life) and am coming to, I start to shake uncontrolably, and this happens when I dream that I fainted. I wake up from the dream shaking... it's really strange. I have no idea why this happens. Anyone else have ideas as to why this happens?

Hope all is well with everyone!

~ Meghan

[DancingLight]

ernie,

i don't faint...but i am just like gayle and katherine in terms of the content of my dreams.

i was just thinking about the other day before you posted b/c the dreams are so disturbing. many years ago i was sexually assaulted and i used to have recurrent dreams about it...and couldn't find anything to get rid of them. i was given access to hypnosis (i didn't have to pay for it!) for my then undiagnosed POTS...and lo and behold, we worked on my nightmares about the sexual assault...and they literally disappeared! i have not had them again. i was very skeptical, but it sure did work...

the only problem is that now...i have the horrible illness dreams!!! good grief! so, i have the ones where i am gasping for breath, or am so weak i can't move, or can't scream out for help, or am in a situation where i am too weak to make it through. they are awful and so disturbing. i am wondering if hypnosis would help with this!

just wanted you to know that you are not alone in having such dreams...although, in mine i don't faint. i think mine echo my deepest fears about this illness, as well as memories of the times when i have been the sickest (when i was literally gasping for air from low bp)....in some ways...many of our experiences are very traumatic with doctors and feeling unsafe b/c no one knows what to do for us...does that make sense. so, i think my dreams are a reflection of that...

gayle...you are in psychology right??? what do you think??

anyway, that's the scoop for now...

later alligators!

emily

[blackwolf]

Dear Ernie,

This one must have gotten passed me.

Being sick in my dreams is almost a regular thing for me. Right now it is really bad as I have been getting worse. I seem to be at one extreme or the other, very sick or really healthy. I have dreams of being in a wheel chair (something I'm trying to avoid right now) and racing my old horses thru the pastures where I used to live (tough work as they were green broke and mostly stallions). The worst ones are fainting for me. I ususally wake up shaking. As to being more tired, that only happens sometimes.

Blackwolf

[hayley]

i often have dreams about fainting aswell.it would be nice to escape fainting when im asleep because i faint all day but i comes and haunts me in my sleep aswell.i just cant win.

[Ernie]

Hi,

Thanks everyone for sharing your "dreams". Makes me feel better to know that I am not the only one dreaming about being sick.

I think I have 3 kinds of fainting dreams: 1 - fear of fainting, 2 - trauma of being mistreated, 3 - physiological malfunctioning.

When I was fainting 10x per day every night I was dreaming that I was fainting. Now I dream about it a few times per week. I think that in my case it is because I am more symptomatic and it is my unconscious giving me the message. I noticed that I have to be more careful during the day after I dreamed about fainting. Usually I don' leave the house and if I do I am in trouble.

Emily

I have that kind of trauma dreams also. They happen when I am being mistreated by the medical personel. For example, I dream that I faint and that doctors don't believe me and they just leave me on the floor (that's what they use to do!).

Meaghan and Blackwolf

When I wake up from this fainting dream I am so weak and I have the same feeling that I have when I actually faint. Sometimes I wonder if I fainted in my sleep because it is so similar. I know that my BP goes very low when I sleep but I don't know how low it goes. I usually have those fainting dreams when it is very hot or when I am hungry. I think I wake up to protect myself by putting the A/C on or eating. Most of the time when I get up to get food or put the A/C on I actually faint. So now I am scared to stand when I have those dreams.

Ernie

[Guest GayleP]

Emily,

I really never really studied too much about dreams when I was in school but I think what you said makes a lot of sense. Illness in a sense is trauma and trauma can be reflected in dreams.

Ernie,

I suppose the only way to know for sure if you are fainting or not would be to wear an 24 hour BP monitor but you'd have to have that dream wearing the monitor. Beisdes, if you are lying down when you sleep the chance of actually fainting would be slim right? Although I have heard of some people who faint while lying down. I think I have come close to it.

GayleP