Thread: I've had natural lucid dreams since I was four and want to stop. Can anyone help?

Wow, I never expected so much support... thank you.

Thanks for your questions - you're all right, I haven't been very clear.
Without using any terms then, I'll explain what happens and maybe you could clarify what it is I'm doing?
My dream can start any time of the night but rarely in the last couple of hours before I get up.
When the dream starts I normally get out of bed. There's a moment when I stop to assess whether I'm 'dreaming' or the situation's real. I do reality checks and confirm that I'm dreaming and that I'm not really in a swimming pool or having to carry heavy furniture etc. This normally wakes my husband up and we've tried relaxation techniques to help me get back to 'sleep' but recently I've started telling him that I'm not dreaming, that I'm awake and just going to the bathroom. I don't 'choose' to do this - like I don't choose to be in a dream. I can't stop the dream but I can fully engage in it - acting out what ever it is that's going on. (This is what concerns me as sometimes I've 'carried' my daughter back to her room and even tried to put her back into her cot, even though I can see she's already there.)
Then there's a point of 'realisation' when I wake up and the dream stops.

A couple of notes that might help:
There have been two occasions where I've stopped dreaming altogether which were pregnancy and the Atkins diet but my doctor doesn't think they're related.

I really don't want to embrace this - I just want to stop dreaming and sleep well. I'm exhausted.

Thanks for your help everyone.

Pip.

Originally Posted by pippy

Wow, I never expected so much support... thank you.

Thanks for your questions - you're all right, I haven't been very clear.
Without using any terms then, I'll explain what happens and maybe you could clarify what it is I'm doing?
My dream can start any time of the night but rarely in the last couple of hours before I get up.
When the dream starts I normally get out of bed. There's a moment when I stop to assess whether I'm 'dreaming' or the situation's real. I do reality checks and confirm that I'm dreaming and that I'm not really in a swimming pool or having to carry heavy furniture etc. This normally wakes my husband up and we've tried relaxation techniques to help me get back to 'sleep' but recently I've started telling him that I'm not dreaming, that I'm awake and just going to the bathroom. I don't 'choose' to do this - like I don't choose to be in a dream. I can't stop the dream but I can fully engage in it - acting out what ever it is that's going on. (This is what concerns me as sometimes I've 'carried' my daughter back to her room and even tried to put her back into her cot, even though I can see she's already there.)
Then there's a point of 'realisation' when I wake up and the dream stops.

A couple of notes that might help:
There have been two occasions where I've stopped dreaming altogether which were pregnancy and the Atkins diet but my doctor doesn't think they're related.

I really don't want to embrace this - I just want to stop dreaming and sleep well. I'm exhausted.

Thanks for your help everyone.

Pip.

hi Pip i could see how that could cause problems as you do not want to be walking around dreaming, however if they are lucid from the start then you should essentially be conscious enough to be in control. there are many ways to wake yourself up, or go into deeper sleep. however the mind needs to dream and repressing dreaming can only create more problems in the long run. are their recurring themes to the dreams that you could share with us in order to help resolve them?

i do think carbohydrates have some kind of connection to mind states and i have seen studies where low carb diets have been proven to help cure things like scizophrenia, not that i think that is what you are suffering with. this is a video series about the nature of the brain while asleep. it may help get an overview of the things that may be happening to you. the little girl with narcolepsy is a bit of a heartbreaker though.. most docs will probably give you something which could repress the dreams and give you temporary relief at least, however as the vid shows, repressing dreams can just mean that the mind needs to catch up on the rem sleep that you have missed. regular docs may not be alot of help, although it seems stopping the sleep walking is the most important step and they may help with that, but a sleep specialist or someone a bit more leftfield trained in dreaming could be of great assistance. good luck

LiveLeak.com - (documentary) "The Secrets of Sleep" (Part 1/2)