I'm still in the position you described prior to medication. As much as dreams can be wonderful, if I could find meds that would work to help me sleep in a healthy fashion, it's hard to not feel like I'd give them up instantly in spite of any regret I can imagine I'd have.
i experienced something super similar when i first started my meds. once i found a stable dose, however, and was on it for a couple years, my dreams came back. now, i've gotten really good at lucid dreaming, so it's easier to have the nice dreams where i'm flying than the intense dreams where i'm running.
I lost a lot of years of dreaming, until I went to a sleep clinic and uncovered my sleep apnea. Starting on a CPAP brought the dreams back. And my wife is pleased to not hear me snoring, too...
Ahhh noooooo the shadow man! I saw one and I *wasn't* sleeping. Always scared of shadowy corners. Finally got myself a night light (I'm 38! Why didn't I do this for myself sooner??!) and now it's better. But sometimes being awake until 2 or 3 AM is still frightening.
The way you describe blackness of no dreams really hits. About 10 years ago, I had to be on anti-depressants briefly after a car accident that caused some ptsd and I HATED the feeling of black nothing dreams. It was better than the ptsd nightmares but also worse at the same time.
When I finally started taking meds in my late 20's, I learned what I had been missing out on for so long-good sleep. Not being able to sleep can be pure hell; the second time I tried to go off my meds, the insomnia got so scary that even after doing a 100-mile bike race, I still had trouble. I have accepted the fact that meds will probably be a part of my life for the rest of my life, and I'm okay with that : )
This really hits home for me. Growing up, I used to dream very vividly as well, even to the point of lucidly being able to control and end my dreams at will. That later skill was a product of necessity because my nightmares were extremely vivid as well, to the point that I would half-pray to whatever force watched over me to prevent such awful dreams from visiting me each night. Whether that worked, I can't say. But I know that as I got older, the lucidity dissipated. I stopped being able to manipulate my dreams first, and then, the dreams themselves started becoming rarer and rarer in general. Anymore, I'll wake up and know that I've dreamed, but the details will almost immediately be foggy. It's a trade-off, I suppose - I sleep far better now than I did as a child or a teen. But there really is something to be missed there and I sometimes wonder if I could have kept one without giving up the other.
Wow, this was really moving. I have a hard time sleeping as well because I have so many racing thoughts and I'm too excited to sleep or too deep in thought to sleep. My dreams are weird and nightmarish. I have not gone on meds for sleep, but your experience that you've shared was relatable in other ways for me. Thank you for another great comic
I'm still in the position you described prior to medication. As much as dreams can be wonderful, if I could find meds that would work to help me sleep in a healthy fashion, it's hard to not feel like I'd give them up instantly in spite of any regret I can imagine I'd have.
Yeah. The dreams I get aren't always good, but it's nice to be somewhere else for a while
i experienced something super similar when i first started my meds. once i found a stable dose, however, and was on it for a couple years, my dreams came back. now, i've gotten really good at lucid dreaming, so it's easier to have the nice dreams where i'm flying than the intense dreams where i'm running.
I lost a lot of years of dreaming, until I went to a sleep clinic and uncovered my sleep apnea. Starting on a CPAP brought the dreams back. And my wife is pleased to not hear me snoring, too...
Yup I don’t dream. Only have nap dreams. The nap dreams are scary af so I don’t take naps. #napsAreSoScary
Ahhh noooooo the shadow man! I saw one and I *wasn't* sleeping. Always scared of shadowy corners. Finally got myself a night light (I'm 38! Why didn't I do this for myself sooner??!) and now it's better. But sometimes being awake until 2 or 3 AM is still frightening.
The way you describe blackness of no dreams really hits. About 10 years ago, I had to be on anti-depressants briefly after a car accident that caused some ptsd and I HATED the feeling of black nothing dreams. It was better than the ptsd nightmares but also worse at the same time.
*hugs*
When I finally started taking meds in my late 20's, I learned what I had been missing out on for so long-good sleep. Not being able to sleep can be pure hell; the second time I tried to go off my meds, the insomnia got so scary that even after doing a 100-mile bike race, I still had trouble. I have accepted the fact that meds will probably be a part of my life for the rest of my life, and I'm okay with that : )
❤️ I love the flying dreams. I'm sorry you've lost them.
This really hits home for me. Growing up, I used to dream very vividly as well, even to the point of lucidly being able to control and end my dreams at will. That later skill was a product of necessity because my nightmares were extremely vivid as well, to the point that I would half-pray to whatever force watched over me to prevent such awful dreams from visiting me each night. Whether that worked, I can't say. But I know that as I got older, the lucidity dissipated. I stopped being able to manipulate my dreams first, and then, the dreams themselves started becoming rarer and rarer in general. Anymore, I'll wake up and know that I've dreamed, but the details will almost immediately be foggy. It's a trade-off, I suppose - I sleep far better now than I did as a child or a teen. But there really is something to be missed there and I sometimes wonder if I could have kept one without giving up the other.
Wow, this was really moving. I have a hard time sleeping as well because I have so many racing thoughts and I'm too excited to sleep or too deep in thought to sleep. My dreams are weird and nightmarish. I have not gone on meds for sleep, but your experience that you've shared was relatable in other ways for me. Thank you for another great comic