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Posted by pauliD on September 19, 2005 at 02:23:20:In Reply to: Hallucinations putting me to sleep. posted by jclx3 on September 16, 2005 at 15:51:16:
Your post brings back fond memories of my days before medication. I was diagnosed with N over twenty-five years ago, and fearing the stigma of daily medication, for as long as I could I dealt with the N principally by taking naps. I was self-employed carpenter and I would take a nap at lunch, which usually was enough to get me through the day. If not, I was working alone, so I could find a corner someplace and grab a quick nap.
Lunchtime was a tight schedule sometimes: twenty minutes to drive to the beach, 20 min to eat, and 20 min to nap. Sometimes less. I think my record was about seven minutes. To be considered a nap, there had to be a dream. Once I entered the dream state I felt my body could recharge at a faster rate than just sleeping. Sometimes I felt a buzzing in my temples that I could encourage and make more intense and that seemed to help the recharging. (Though I recall the first time I experienced that was quite frightening.)
During these “power-naps” I developed the same techniques you describe. Watching the light behind your eyelids coalesce into patterns, then pictures and finally what seems to be real time video of my surroundings. I thought I was having an out of body experience and actually looking down at myself sitting in the car. I had many enjoyable flying dreams and tried many times to fly to somewhere I knew and bring back a piece of information that would demonstrate that I was having an OBE or remote viewing or something of the sort but I was never successful. Controlling flying was very difficult and, as often as not, I would fly straight up, through the clouds and off planet. At that point I would lose lucidity and have a normal dream or just wake up.
I don’t think these types of dreams are necessarily indicative of narcolepsy. Narcs pass quickly to the REM state of dreaming, which I think accounted for my dreams. I used to frequent a newsgroup alt.dreams.lucid where the posters were trying to achieve lucid dreams. They had a machine that encouraged these dreams, and there was even Lucidity Institute devoted to dream study. I used to feel quite special that what so many posters were trying to achieve, I could do at the drop of a hat.Employment changes in my life required a lengthier commute and I had to start taking medication to manage my narcolepsy. I don’t take the naps and the dreams have stopped. I don’t know if it’s the meds of maybe my advanced age (pushing 60) or what, but they are gone.
It is curious, narcolepsy or not, how similar our dreams are. I would love to see a brain wave analysis of these dreams. When I had my first sleep test I tried to examine the print out but the doctors would not allow it. Perhaps they were afraid it would affect the results. I had another sleep test just recently but as I said I no longer have those dreams and the sleep lab seemed more interested is selling me a c-pap machine than treating my complaint, which was cataplexy, but that’s for another post.
Sweet dreams…pauliD
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