I haven't had vivid dreams and nightmares in a reaaaally long time. Last night I dreamt someone was trying to kill me and my mother! super scary.
Anyway, I've been under Lyme treatment for 2 weeks only. Is this a coincidence or does it have something to do with it. Amoxicillin 3,000 mg a day.
Posted by Florence1 (Member # 22960) on :
No I dont think its coincidence...I posted a question about this a few weeks ago....I started treatment for babs a month ago and have very vivid dreams/nightmares every night, they wake me up and are so vivid they keep going when I am awake.......I thought it was to do with Babs but it could be medication, herx, anything.......but you are not alone...search dreams and you will see others have it also......
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
I have this also-its not a coincidence in my opinion.
Lyme can mess with the brain quite a lot, that includes brain chemicals.
I had some VERY distressing dreams, bloody, violent, horrible ones.
Also though-whenever your system is stressed and fighting an infection, i think there is a potential for this kind of symptom.
Posted by LightAtTheEnd (Member # 24065) on :
I have had three bad nightmares and several unusually vivid dreams since I got Lyme last year.
I think they are a Lyme symptoms for me, but I don't know whether the disease provoked the dreams somehow directly, or whether it caused anxiety, which caused the dreams, or whether I got scared about having Lyme and then dreamed about it.
The vivid ones were not scary and were not about Lyme--they were just unusually detailed and real-seeming, and I remembered more than I usually do.
Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :
ha, i've been known to wake up screaming from bad dreams....
and hallucinations.
big time..
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
yeah-sleep paralysis too-thats a fun one lol.
A few weeks ago I 'woke up' and kept seeing people walking around in my living room in the dark (I could see through my bedroom door).
I kept trying to scream or wake up my fiance but since I was obviously not fully awake, I couldn't move or make any noise. Terrifying. When i finally snapped out of it we had to sleep with the lights on the rest of the night.
Posted by trigal2 (Member # 20578) on :
elley0531; You get sleep paralysis too? That is the scariest thing. I have had that since I was a little girl.
It is so common to have visual and auditory hallucinations when you are having an episdoe of s.p. It is so hard to snap yourself from it - like trying to wake yourself from a coma..
The only way I can make my self fully wake up is to focus all my energy on one small body part and try to move - which is tough when you feel paralyzed. Crazy stuff.
My LLMD said that alot of his patients report nightmares and/or vivid dreams, especially during tx.
When I am herxing or the lyme is having a party in my body I get nightmares and vivid dreams.
Seems pretty common... TG
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
Yes-the s.p. is nothign short of terrifying.
I can only get out of it in a similar way-I have to try to calm down and focus, and eventually I will move.
Its awful.
Posted by DeniseNM (Member # 11182) on :
I didn't know that s.p. was a real thing! It happens to me, usually when I'm waking up from a nap and I get ready to go back to work, only to discover I"m still asleep. I get out of it by telling myself, "He Self, you're still asleep, go back and try again!"
I also used to get horribly vivid nightmares, usually about someone trying to kill me, and have woken up kicking, screaming, hitting, etc. THe cats are usually not too pleased about that!
Haven't had either in awhile, though. Even with starting LDN, I'm just noticing more goofy dreams, nothign scary.
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
yes, sleep paralysis is kinda like your mind is awake-not fully, but partially, but your body is still asleep.
So not cool.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- First: are you watching any violent TV or movies? Even the ads for the crime shows can play out in our nightmares as our brain has to process all incoming messages received during the day and, believe me, it has to process all that TV violence, too.
I suggest killing your TV - or at least only watching PBS, Travel channels, etc. or videos of subjects safe for your brain.
In addition, consider: Toxin overload. We all know that poison can induce hallucinations - bad dreams are not so far from that.
Adrenal exhaustion can also destroy our ability for good sleep.
So be sure you have in place good Liver Support and good Adrenal support.
And, understand that nightmares are just a way our brain processes. I had horrible a series of repeating nightmares where snake-like gangsters were hunting me down, trying to kill me - all this right before the lyme dx.
I had drawn pictures of the snake-gangsters and, later, when I first saw a picture of a spirochete I was amazed. My snake-gangsters had a spirochete's head and long, slinky body. Coincidence? Who knows - but I knew my body was under attack from something I could not identify. Snake men in "Untouchable's" tuxedos was the visual my brain gave me. I do think there was a message that I needed to take some action.
I also learned how to fight back in my nightmares. Before bed, I played out how I wanted the scene to go, with me standing my ground. That actually worked to some degrees.
So, with bad dreams, ask your deep brain what message? Is it just processing your fears (we all have them)? Is is a message to be more proactive or treat yourself with more compassion?
But, again, liver support and adrenal support can be a ticket to more harmonious dreams. Magnesium, too, as that calms down the overexcited neurotoxicity that can be fuel for nightmares as brain activity unbecoming to sweet dreams. -
Posted by trigal2 (Member # 20578) on :
Yes, sleep paralysis is very real.
It is when the mind awakens from REM sleep too suddenly but your body is still in a sleep state.
As noted by Keebler dream content can be quite telling.
Dreams are our unconscious selves attempt to resolve what our conscious minds cannot or will not during a fully awakened state. Thought by our buddy Freud to be latent thoughts, desires and conflicts played out while we are out. Dream on! TG
Posted by bncrump (Member # 20374) on :
I too had terrible nightmares while taking Biaxin, Mino and Plaquenil.
One of my biggest fears is being home alone at night and several nights, I dreamed someone was in my house and it was pitch black. The worst one was a dream where I actually thought about hurting myself (only in my dream) and I had to have my husband come home from work because I didn't trust myself.
After that, I started taking Ativan every night before bed and I didn't have another nightmare/dream again.
Since stopping all meds about a month ago due to yeast, I have NOT had to take the Ativan and have not had any other problems.
I do not think your nightmares are a coincidence. Just my opinion and thought I would share.
Posted by lymebytes (Member # 11830) on :
Nightmares always indicated herxing for me. They'd come like clock work once per month and last a couple of days.
B6 supplementation can also cause nightmares and vivid dreams. (In fact the way to determine if you are B6 deficient is if you cannot remember your dreams).
Posted by TxLymie (Member # 20847) on :
I have very vivid dreams and/or nightmares right before a Lyme flare.
The first few times it happened I didn't think much of it, but since I have been keeping a journal now for 9 months I can see a pattern. Very strange.
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
I get the violent nightmares and vivid dreams, and it normally corresponds with babesia herxing from starting or stopping babesia meds.
We are talking grusomely violent...blood and guts, people killing me and family members. I pulse my babesia meds, and this normally only happens when I first start the med or when I withdraw a med for babs.
My LLMD claims in a presentation he gave that vivid dreams/nightmares are usually babesia.
Sometimes treating one infection can cause the others that are not being treated to come out and play.
Headaches are a hallmark of babesia, though they can be other things too.
Can you remember pretty much the exact day you got sick? Was your illness sudden onset? That is another babesia hallmark, though it doesn't always mean babs, so keep that in mind.
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
Also, are you sure you aren't sweating too? Sometimes I get this with the sweats, sometimes I don't get the sweats with it.
See if your sheets or PJ's are smelly-er than usual (sometimes the sweat is dry by the time I get up and I'm just left with the smell).
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
Seeing people would be a hallucination. That is normally Lyme from what I gather. Amy Tan, the author that got Lyme, described seeing people.
I used to have auditory hallucinations at night, where I would hear music playing.
Hallucinating can be due to sleep meds too I have heard.
Posted by daniel (Member # 22201) on :
2-3 weeks after i startet taking bactrim.. there started vivid dreams in my head.. they are not violent, but vivid. since 3 monaths i dream EVERY FUC**IN night... before lyme, i dreamt maybe 2-3 times in a month. i think that something is happen in the brain when something like this starts.. but i dont know if its good or bad.. :/
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
I wasn't sweating or anything.
I've had sp my whole life on and off, even when not sick and I take no sleep meds.
For me I think any kind of real stress triggers it, whether sickness, relationship problems, work problems, etc. Thats always when I get it.
Posted by nurse lymy (Member # 24184) on :
Do any of you having flashing lights in front of your eyes when you wake up from a vivid nightmare?
I discovered that i have the same"seizure type" neurologic episodes in my sleep as I do when I am awake. they happen daily, weekly,or monthly. It depends how run down my body is.
Do any of you who have the vivid nightmares also have "seizure like episodes" when you are awake?
Posted by canefan17 (Member # 22149) on :
Did you recently add b6 or a b-complex to your regime?
Zinc too?
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
the seizure like things have happened to me at night time, but that was when I was in complete adrenal failure.
Cane-I am supplementing zinc and b6 as P5P and a B complex, but thats not the trigger for me. I have taken those before without incident. I have heard it could be for some though-but mine is always hand in hand with exhaustion and stress.
I've actually had normal dreams for the past two weeks which has been nice lol.
Posted by canefan17 (Member # 22149) on :
Sleep paralysis happened to me this past month.
Scary as shyt!!!
I was treating a tapeworm. What could possibly be the connection?
Only thing i can think is that the parasites have some sort of control on neurotransmitters and everything in my brain (during the killing of tapeworm) was mis-firing, creating sleep paralysis.
Really wanna figure this one out.
Posted by nefferdun (Member # 20157) on :
I have been having vivid disturbing dreams and nightmares since I started Babesia treatment. I also wake up with the beginnings of a headache almost every night now.
Strange dreams! Being hunted down in a war. . . wolf and mountain lion fighting and me breaking it up!!
If it is not the herxing or the medication, my subconscious is trying to tell me something!!