I seem to have developed a new symptom. I have had crappy sleep since around 2003 - didn't realize it was peri then. Now, I am awakening multiple times in the night after have VERY vivid and upseting dreams. Not really nightmares - just upsetting - like last night I dreamed that I shaved my dog too close and he was bleeding etc. So weird.

Interestingly, this comes as my bladder symptoms seem better, but I have had more hot flashes lately. Also interesting, I gave up coffee 10 days ago - shouldn't that sacrifice make sleep better!??? I am speculating that my progesterone is lower, coz I think the prog. aggravates my bladder, but I have read that prog is good for sleep issues. Can't win eh?

Anyone else have this going on?

Mary

Hi Mary!

While you were dreaming about shaving your dog last nite, I was dreaming I left my horse in a broom closet by mistake....

The past six months, I have been sleeping very lightly--wake up all the time, and as a result I remember all my dreams as I must be waking up in the middle of them. Its almost like watching a movie--I remember the whole narrative, not just snatches. Doesn't bother me too much anymore--they are usually more weird than scary....But of course I am jealous of my best friend (47) who says her head hits the pillow and she is out like a light till morning...

Hope you get some good responses....

Sissy

I have that stuff too. I do better if I take a sleep aide.

ive got this too recently and its not just a bad dream, its a dream that shakes your inner soul to the core, very hard to discrip but if you get one you will know what i mean, very distubing and shakes you to the core of your being....

I know what you mean.

had nasty dreams too seem to be lost in them not being able to find my way home

*phew* thought I was the only one dreaming all the time . Every night I dream and I cant really remember them to much but I wake so tired because I think I am either working or running in my dream.

I REMEMBER MY DREAMS VIVIDLY AND TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH THIS MIGHT SOUND WEIRD LIKE MY DREAMS SOMETIMES BETTER THEN MY REAL LIFE LOL. THEIR EXCITING ADVENTUROUS AND SO ON NOT TO MENTION MY BODY IS THIN AND I LOOK LIKE I AM IN MY 20;S. BUT NOT EVERYDREAM IS GOOD SOMETIMES A WEIRD ONE WILL POP IN LIKE WALKING IN A GRAVEYARD OR HAVING TO PEE IN A SMALL AREA WITH NO DOORS LOL.BUT WHAT DREAMS I ALWAYS GET IS WORKING IN THE NURSING HOME I WORKED IN FOR MANY YEARS IN THE 70'S AND 80;S I MUST OF REALLY HATED IT LIKED IT LOL

I MEANT TO SAY I LIKE MY DREAMS BETTER THEN MY REAL LIFE

The other night I dreamed that my husband left me for another woman. He was very cold and matter of fact about it.

Finally, I took an umbrella and started beating the H E double hockey sticks out of him.


I woke up in a cold sweat. It was the scariest and most disturbing dream I've had in a long, long time.

For the most part my dreams are fun, a couple nights ago Paris Hilton and I hung out, she was really nice and cool. We drove around in her awesome car, went to all the trendy places. I looked her age but I knew I really wasn't, we had all kinds of adventures. Don't ask me why I would dream of Paris Hilton for G-ds sakes, lol... the funny thing is if I wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom or whatever, it I remember the dream and it was good, I can close my eyes and go back into the dream and fall back asleep pretty easily if I don't remember the dream I am wide awake and have to resort to a sleep aide to get back to sleep.

I have also have recurring dreams about losing stuff, mostly my cars, every time I am excited about a car that I get, somehow it always get stolen or repossessed and I have to find a way home, so I try to call my husband but I can never dial his phone number right or I can't find him either. Last night my purse got stolen with all my stuff in it, when I turned my back on the shopping cart... just stuff like that in my dreams. Not really scary ones just puzzling. I used to having the flying dreams and still do on occasion.

So I woka up at 4 am from a dream and said to my self that was weird and was thinking do I want to go to the fair today and totally forgot what I was dreaming about and couldnt get back to sleep . Grrr makes me so mad . Now I will be tired all freaking day .

Oh, that is scary! I've dreamed the same thing a couple times, and my husband was also cold about it! (though I didn't beat him up, I wanted to, but woke up!) Just a few weeks ago, I woke up crying and angry and said to him, "I'm so mad at you." He was half asleep and replied, "Now, what did I do?" lol. (he is used to me getting mad at him in my dreams!)


Sweet dreams everyone!

jem

This is so crazy that this thread is here! I've been having VERY vivid dreams lately. Not scary ones for the most part, just memorable ones.

The most recent one (night before last) I was invited to go to the moon -- yep, the moon -- in a spaceship with a couple of astronauts. I got into the "capsule" (which actually looked like a big blue Christmas tree ball) and sat down. I didn't have any equipment or spacesuit or anything while the astronauts were all decked out in their gear. I had to go to the bathroom, and while I was there I found I had started my period. I went back to the astronauts and told them I couldn't go on the trip, and they said that was OK because the mission had been scrapped anyway. Then I was just wandering around the capsule and got to the kitchen area. I was looking at the various stuff they had and came across some food I didn't recognize. I asked one of the astronauts what it was and he said "Bengali". How I conjured that up I'll never know.

That's the caliber of stuff I've been dreaming about. I've been having lots of dreams with crowds of people in them as well. I read that means that I need some time to myself. Sounds good to me.

Enough already!What happened to sweat dreams and waking refreshed?My dreams have been crazy frustrating dreams.You know the kind were you can't find your classroom and when you do you are late and are having a test you didn't study for.I haven't been to school in 28 years!No wonder I wake up feeling beat up,your brains spending all night trying to figure it all out.

Oh, I am right there with you. I was having really bad dreams there for a while...then they subsided and been 'quiet' for about a yr. Now they're starting back up again. I'm either lost in them, or I'm trying to yell and can't, or trying to scream. I thought I was past this part!!

Woo HOO No dreams last night ,woke up the same position I fell asleep in . Lets hope I have another one ....

I thought I was the only one that dreams about school. Either I lost my schedule, can't find my classroom, or forget the locker combination. I graduated HS in 1981, so what's up with that dream???

Wow, if anyone ever does find out why we have these school dreams...PLEASE post. Those are the worse kind!!

Ok, you asked for it!

I study dreams and interpret dreams for others. Let me start by stating that I went through a dream progression. In the first part of peri I had many dreams of my husband being unfaithful. Usually his dad or parents covered for him. Sometimes he just admitted he found somebody else. Other times he just was sneaking around and got caught.

I have had school dreams for many years, so many I cannot remember. Maybe like twenty years or about ten years post high school. Those dreams went through a progression from middle school to high school to college and then suddenly, I knew I was going to graduate. It was taking FOREVER! I would never find my schedule, get lost, take an elevator to the wrong floor, miss the bus, get stuck at school after school and could not get a ride home. Always trying to find my way around school. get the schedule down and FIND MY BUS. The nightmare was always missing it...coming just as they pulled away.

Then as peri progressed into this stage which is like, about to hit real meno, I began having dreams of flying away to a foreign country. Usually England. I have these dreams periodically and usually family members go with me. Last night I dream I KNEW I HAD TO GO (don't know why) and my daughter decided to go with me. It was like last minute decision. But then as we got on the plane, she was my sister instead. My sister who is going through meno like me. She still was my daughter but it was my sister I was looking at. She suddenly decided she could NOT go, she forgot to tell hubby. She was turning bright red and sweating. I felt her forehead, she was feverish. I asked the stewardess if we could stop the plane and she replied yes but then did nothing. Suddenly we were in England. It looked alot like the place I live in now and grew up in. I wondered how we got there so fast, especially since it was an ALL NIGHT FLIGHT. Everybody else on the plane was a WOMAN passenger and they all said they slept through it...but there I was wide awake.

What do these dreams mean? I think they are hormonally triggered but they represent genuine emotional transition. There is a major brain rearrangement during meno and hormones do this rearranging. Hopefully, we help them rather than resist. Ok, we RESIST for the most part but they go on and do what they gotta do anyway. The initial dreams of the unfaithful husband. Somebody who takes care of you....could it be representing the major hormone shift where you once felt safe and protected? Suddenly, you have these "unfaithful" hormones and no longer feel safe, protected, strong, maternal, invincible...you know what I mean. Focused. You used to be able to focus on the business of life instead of the emotional landscape of it. Sometimes you are aware of this security being ripped out from under you and other times its a sort of sneaky transition. Is your body unfaithful or your hormones on this effort? Has it turned against you? No. But maybe it feels that way...alot.

The school dreams. School is typically the MOST challenging thing we do in the very impressionable youth era of our lives. Trying to find our way around in a new school is alot like trying to face a major challenge...it could be menopause, it could be a new job or a life without someone you depended upon. School dreams usually bring forth the way we see ourselves handling challenges from our inner viewpoint. Buses represent the transportation home...its the way back to where we came from or the way to where we are going. Schedules are new routines we must adjust to. How are we adjusting? Were you able to find, read and follow your schedule in the dream? Probably not. Getting to classes on time and new teachers....again, we are learning things and facing new authorities we may not feel comfortable with or whom we do not yet trust to lead us in the right direction for our lives. Flying in school and passing everyone up, you are doing better than you expected. Crawling, falling behind everyone, stuck in mud - you feel overwhelmed as if everyone else is doing better than you. Anticipating being out of school? You are weary of learning this process and WANT OUT.

For me, the flying away dreams. Sometimes they were just flying to new places within the US or places I was fairly familiar with. Not too scary so the flight itself was the most interesting or challenging part of the dream. What happened on the flight or ride...revealing how I feel about my journey in this part of life. Going to England, I think represents going as far away as I can actually imagine going right now. It's another world to me and I think menopause and the emotional landscape I have been facing has been like going as far away as I can imagine from my "normal" self. I am going with people I know so they are trying to assist me on this journey. Maybe the cannot go but I am somehow dragging them with through verbal interraction, describing my symptoms, feelings, etc. My sister is the one who really is on this physical journey with me but emotionally she is NOT with me, my daughter IS. Thus, the two people in one.

I think the interesting part of this dream is that I KNEW I had to go, was determined though very cautious about it but got there suddenly. Like in four hours instead of eight and I never went to sleep and it never became night in my dream. Everyone else SLEPT through the journey but I remained AWAKE. What part of me was awake? When I saw the new landscape of England, it was very much like I had just been...even to the point it reminded me of a place I was when I went through PUBERTY (emotionally.) That was a word I don't allow myself to think or contemplate and a state I refuse to BE: depressed. I think I am reaching the END of the emotional changes in my menopausal journey. At least, the ones that reminded me of being puberty because the landscape is familiar and no longer frightens me. I have gone as far away as I can imagine going and simply returned to a place I once had been.

Dreams are always telling us about ourselves, if we are willing to look past what shamed, frightened or embarrassed us and LEARN from them. They are the inner voice revealing our most inward landscape. Dreams reveal transitions in our lives from our inner perspective. I think they are one of the most interesting and telling factors of our lives.

THANKS for sharing them!

yes, i do take a sleep aid also, i refuse to toss and turn, wake up in the middle of a vivid dream, then lay there terrified and my next day is totalled!
sleep equallys sanity to me...i used to feel so guilty for sleeping in......then it hit me, hey! sleep another 2 hours, don't let anyone bother you, including phone calls, (ONE THEIR TIME, NOT MINE), or anything else,,,,,,i had to teach myself how to sleep-in without guilt! It has been a long journey even with a sleep aid............now i will.........put on a high end eye mask.........those things ya buy at the local store, and look like a jerk........as soon as the morning sun comes up, i am wide awake, dead.........i followed my own instructions.........i will not, even if i am awake...........will not jump out of bed until 9 a.m.
i am like a dog training myself. so far it is working!

my son studies this stuff, and weird things do happen, that does not me ,,,,,you ,,,or personally, yet, he is sooooooooooooo infORMED, on wierd arss things that people are talking about, and he's not paranoid, just very curious! i forget the channel, but you can find it on utube, i could not believe what i saw, i wish i new how to upload some of this stuff that is going on that we are not allowed to know! it does not scare me, it is just something i would turn my head away and go grocery shopping instead!
and why on earth did we have to put a man on the moon? did it change the way the world went! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ heck no

Hey Mich,
I wish I could have some dreams that were fun for a change. If you have any ideas on how to do that I'd be interested in hearing them! I used to have basically dreamless sleep and even when I did dream they were fleeting and just sort of comical. But I've been having a lot of dreams over the past several months and most of them fall into the "very wierd" to "painful" category. I've had recurring dreams picturing my husband with "the Wh**e" and it's pretty tough to function after those let alone go back to sleep. Sometimes I just picture them together holding hands but other times it's much more intimate and I feel myself standing in the room watching them. Not good. Thank God for xanax though as it does help somewhat to get me over the emotional upheaval of the moment. I suppose when my anxiety and pain really begin to resolve these dreams will go away...hopefully that will be soon. How about sending me some of your fun dreams??? I could use one!

What has your relationship with your hubby been like over the long haul? Was there a stretch where you had a rocky road with him and had a hard time trusting him? Had you ever completely forgiven him?

frozentundra, I've PMd you so as not to hijack the thread.