Hello, I'm new here and looking for some insight on my dreams....

[KatMarie]

I have had several dreams where I have felt very dizzy/drunk and cannot catch my balance. This has happened for several years. It has happened in many different scenarios, normal dreams, and scary dreams. It's like no matter what I do I can't get my balance (almost like when you spin in circles then try to walk in a line) I stumble and run into things, try and catch myself but still fall. Like I said, it doesn't happen in just one kind of dream, they are different with different people and all. I don't wake up feeling like this though, I wake up more frustrated than anything because I don't know why this happens, and it has happened before. I haven't found much. Any thoughts? Thanks

[Darkmatters]

Hi KatMarie, you came to the right place! What you describe sounds like a couple of fairly common characteristics of being a little too awake or aware in your dream. A couple of questions - does this happen in all your dreams, or most, or half, or just occasionally? Are there any other symptoms, for instance how's your vision in those dreams? Do you ever seem to be paralyzed or very weak in them? Also, are you sometimes very passive in them, just laying or sitting there watching things happen without getting involved in them? Hear sounds like voices or music that seems to have no particular source? For me these elements all combined describe the dreams I often have when I take a dream supplement called Galantamine. It's made as an Alzheimer's treatment, and what it does is increase mental awareness - that helps with memory if taken in the day, but if taken after a few hours of sleep it helps you to become aware in your dreams (lucidity). From what I've read, these same symptoms are also very common among people who use a lucidity technique called WILD (wake initiated lucid dreaming), which involves falling asleep while remaining consciously aware the entire time. It's a tricky technique, you have to be really good to achieve it, and personally I haven't been able to do it yet, but the people who do report symptoms very similar to what I listed (and what I experience on Galantamine). Not always, only sometimes, and some people get it more than others do. One good thing about it - if you're interested in learning how to lucid dream, you might already be very close to it or have even done it at times (maybe without knowing). Do you ever realize that you're dreaming in these dreams, and can you control elements of them? Your own behavior for one - can you decide whaere you want to go or what you want to do, or can you make things happen the way you want them to? ** Edit: Here's a recent entry in my dream journal to demonstrate what I mean: http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/dark...21-2011-43113/ It was a Galantamine attempt and included lots of drunken-type effects. But I was able to stabilise the dream by the technique of running my hands over the textures of the walls and feeling them, plus (this is going to sound really weird.. ) eating some glass I broke out of the window. Heh I know, if you're new to the idea of lucid dreaming this all sounds really crazy, but this is how things work in the dream world.

[Matte87]

I actually had alot of those experiences when I was younger, I used to have trouble standing up right and was falling down all the time, I used to tumble and get back up on my feet right afterwards but then fall again and it repeated. I also had trouble seeing, a cap was always in the way. If this happens in a lucid dream it's a sign that the dream is becoming unstable and you should relax and stabilize it. Since it's happening in a non-lucid I suggest you use it to your advantage and make a Dream Sign out of it. Visualize yourself as you would dream about the scenario and incorporate a reality check in the situation. "Whenever I can't stand up properly I will check if I'm dreaming" or something similar. Good luck!

[KatMarie]

Thanks so much on the advice guys. Darkmatters, these drams only happen on occasion, my vision "seems" fine other than the spinning. There are times that when I can't get my footing that I will just stay on the ground where I fell and try and relax. Sometimes I feel like I know I'm dreaming during these, and there are times that I know where I want to go and go there. I am new to the term of lucid dreaming, and am now very interested in knowing more. I know that a time or two when I was younger I would dream and know i was dreaming...I found myself struggling to wake up, like I knew I was awake but couldn't open my eyes and was hard for me to breath. This has happened since but I woke up easier, I think because I am older and not as freaked out as I was when I was little. Matte87, what is the dream sign, and the check...Thanks again!!

[AdviceDoc]

Hey KatMarie! A dream sign is something that apears in your dreams a lot. People look for these and use them to become lucid. A reality check is something you'd do to check if you are dreaming. A few examples: trying to push your fingers through your palm, counting your fingers (often wrong number in dreams), or trying to breath through a pinched nose. Hope this was helpful!

[Darkmatters]

To elaborate a bit on the cliff notes version AdviceDoc just gave - we keep dream journals, where we write down all the dreams we can remember when we wake up. As you do this it helps you to be able to remember more, and in better detail. Thinking (and writing) about dreams helps to focus your attention on them. After a while, looking through your journals you notice certain recurring elements that show up a lot in your dreams - some of them also show up in waking life, like your bedroom maybe or people you know. Some show up only in your dreams. Make a list of these dream signs and whenever you notice one of them do what's called a reality check. This is to determine if you're awake or dreaming - because the problem is that when you're dreaming you believe you're awake, even if you're floating through the air and a giant laughing Budha is juggling houses in front of you. If you establish a habit pattern in waking life of always doing a reality check (we just call them RC's) whenever you see one of your dream signs or when things feel a little weird, then sometimes, even when you could swear you're fully awake, you discover you're actually dreaming. Let's say for instance one of your dream signs is a dog you used to own who's no longer living, but sometimes shows up in your dreams. This happens to me a lot - in fact I see a lot of dogs period in my dreams, so dogs are one of my DS's. When I see one (if I think to) I'll do an RC. The best one is the nosepinch - pinch your nose shut and try to breathe. If you can, then you're dreaming (there's no way to stop yourself breathing in your sleep, so it almost always works). The second best one is to press your finger into the palm of your other hand - just press gently for a moment or two. In dreams it will usually go through after a moment of resistance. It's weird - nobody knows why it works, but it does. It doesn't hurt or bleed or anything - it's more like sticking your finger through some bologna or something, and sometimes you can kind of feel bones in there, but there's no pain. When you try an RC and it fails, then you know you're dreaming, and you can fly around or do whatever you want - it's an amazing feeling. If you want to learn all about lucidity, the best reference (besides Dreamviews of course!) is the book Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge. But of course there are also great tutorials here in the DV Academy (click on Forum at the top to find it) and it always helps to read threads or read people's dream journals.

[KatMarie]

Thank you so much again...I don't know why I never thought to look for a site like this. I have been interested in understanding my dreams for so long and have mainly talked with my older brother about them. I'm hooked on this site and have been doing a lot of reading up on what you just explained. So...sometimes when I dream I find myself at the lake where my family use to camp and I'm swimming, but when I swim underwater after a while when I feel I might run out of air I'll start breathing under water?! (almost anytime I dream of water I seem to be able to breath underwater, like I'm a mermaid or something lol) Is this a kind of RC and I just haven't realized that I was doing it?? You're awsome

[Lucidpotential]

Thank you so much again...I don't know why I never thought to look for a site like this. I have been interested in understanding my dreams for so long and have mainly talked with my older brother about them. I'm hooked on this site and have been doing a lot of reading up on what you just explained. So...sometimes when I dream I find myself at the lake where my family use to camp and I'm swimming, but when I swim underwater after a while when I feel I might run out of air I'll start breathing under water?! (almost anytime I dream of water I seem to be able to breath underwater, like I'm a mermaid or something lol) Is this a kind of RC and I just haven't realized that I was doing it?? You're awsome Hi KatMarie Breathing underwater is a good dream sign. You should be able to go Lucid anytime you breath underwater. I remember the first time I did it. What a cool experience. Cheers and welcome Gordon

[Darkmatters]

That's actually a very interesting thing, and one I don't understand. How come sometimes when we dream of being underwater we can't breathe for a while? It seems like I've had dreams where I was beginning to drown, and I wasn't breathing, until/unless I made some sudden convulsive effort and found I could breathe, If pinching your nose shut doesn't stop you from breathing in a dream, how can we feel ourselves drowning, even just for a moment? Maybe those are sleep apnea? (I think that's what it's called, when you stop breathing for a moment while sleeping). Or maybe like I surmised on another thread it's possible to close off your sinus passages (the handsfree nosepinch I brought up) - I can sure do it when I'm awake if I want to, and in sleep paralysis (or REM atonia to be more precise) we're only apparently paralyzed from the neck down, so maybe it is possible to close off the nasal passages in a dream? (hell, maybe that's what sleep apnea IS?! ~ either closing it off because we deam we're underwater, or maybe it just closes off involuntarily, like it can when nasal passages are swollen shut or like they do momentarily when we snore.) Ok sorry, went into pontification mode for a minute there!

[Alyzarin]

Eep, this actually happens to me a lot (the drunken thing). It's really annoying. Another bad one that happens from time to time is feeling like my mouth is full of gunk, and no matter how much I get out it never gets any less. It's very distinctive and incredibly aggravating. Just weird little dream world bugs.... That's actually a very interesting thing, and one I don't understand. How come sometimes when we dream of being underwater we can't breathe for a while? It seems like I've had dreams where I was beginning to drown, and I wasn't breathing, until/unless I made some sudden convulsive effort and found I could breathe, If pinching your nose shut doesn't stop you from breathing in a dream, how can we feel ourselves drowning, even just for a moment? Maybe those are sleep apnea? (I think that's what it's called, when you stop breathing for a moment while sleeping). Or maybe like I surmised on another thread it's possible to close off your sinus passages (the handsfree nosepinch I brought up) - I can sure do it when I'm awake if I want to, and in sleep paralysis (or REM atonia to be more precise) we're only apparently paralyzed from the neck down, so maybe it is possible to close off the nasal passages in a dream? (hell, maybe that's what sleep apnea IS?! ~ either closing it off because we deam we're underwater, or maybe it just closes off involuntarily, like it can when nasal passages are swollen shut or like they do momentarily when we snore.) Ok sorry, went into pontification mode for a minute there! In those underwater/drowning dreams, how lucid or non-lucid were you? Are you sure you actually checked whether or not you could breath prior to the convulsive effort or did you just believe that you were drowning based on circumstantial evidence?

[KatMarie]

Ahh I'm really starting to love this site Thanks for all you're replies and advice guys, at least I don't feel as nuts now lol

[Alyzarin]

Welcome to the forum, by the way.

[Darkmatters]

They were non-lucids from when I was younger, probably late teens or early 20's. But I definitely had the sensation of not being able to breathe - not sure if I actually was breathing or not though. But since the nosepinch is almost universally accurate, it seems like there's no way to fake that sensation, unless your breathing is actually closed off somehow. Another possibility - having your head cocked @ some weird angle could close off your throat for a moment, and maybe you shift your body unconsciously without waking up so you can breathe again? Google can probably shed some light on this - now I'm getting obsessed with it! ** EDIT: Just realized, I might have gone lucid as soon as I started breathing underwater - in fact I think I did. But it must have been before I really knew what lucidity was. It was just a really weird feeling of awesomeness.

[KatMarie]

Thanks Alyzarin! Dark, that's what I am kind of confused about, when it was said earlier that I might be close to being able to LD. Is it possible even though I have never really tried? Or possible that I may have even already done it? When I dream most of the time I can remember my dreams, all of them from the night. When I've dreamed of the underwater thing and being able to breath I just thought that is was because it was just a weird dream...hmmm

[Darkmatters]

Oh yeah, you can definitely be lucid without understanding what it means or knowing techniques for it. A lot of people become lucid frequently as children due to nightmares - they force themselves awake to escape the nightmare, which takes a certain conscious effort. That in itself isn't quite lucidity, but it's very close, and if you can do that, then you could also choose to take over control to some extent in the dream rather than wake yourself up. The really cool thing about a situation like this - if you do manage to become lucid in a nightmare or when you see a creature that's about to start chasing/attacking you, you can either ask it what it wants or approach it in a loving compassionate way and it will turn into something nonthreatening and can become an ally rather than an enemy. I managed to do this once in This Dream. (click for link) I suspect anybody who's found themselves breathing underwater either became lucid from it or very close. But if they don't know about lucidity then they usually don't realize the kinds of things they can do. Same applies to falling off a building or something - you'll usually end up flying or make some kind of miraculous soft landing that's not possible except in a dream. At those times you probably were lucid too (if that's ever happened to you).

[Alyzarin]

They were non-lucids from when I was younger, probably late teens or early 20's. But I definitely had the sensation of not being able to breathe - not sure if I actually was breathing or not though. But since the nosepinch is almost universally accurate, it seems like there's no way to fake that sensation, unless your breathing is actually closed off somehow. Another possibility - having your head cocked @ some weird angle could close off your throat for a moment, and maybe you shift your body unconsciously without waking up so you can breathe again? Google can probably shed some light on this - now I'm getting obsessed with it! ** EDIT: Just realized, I might have gone lucid as soon as I started breathing underwater - in fact I think I did. But it must have been before I really knew what lucidity was. It was just a really weird feeling of awesomeness. Well, for what it's worth, I've had a nosepinch RC fail before. And I've only done it a few times. Ironically, it made me lucid. >.> It's true that most people can easily breath in dreams all the time, but I think it's important to remember that almost every lucid dreamer knows this as well. Just like with electricity not working in dreams, and I've had that happen correctly before too. And ultimately, that sensation of being able to breath or not breath is coming from the same place whether you're awake or dreaming... and not your nose, your mind. Your nose does stay active when you're asleep, but this doesn't change the fact that people can have dream smells overlapping the real ones, too. I think it all just depends on how vivid and powerful the dream is, and the more fear you experience the more you give power to your delusions/the dream. But you might want to get yourself checked for sleep apnea just in case. Thanks Alyzarin! Dark, that's what I am kind of confused about, when it was said earlier that I might be close to being able to LD. Is it possible even though I have never really tried? Or possible that I may have even already done it? When I dream most of the time I can remember my dreams, all of them from the night. When I've dreamed of the underwater thing and being able to breath I just thought that is was because it was just a weird dream...hmmm I didn't even know that lucids were possible when I had my first one, I just realized that the house design I was in was too stupid to actually exist. You just have to be in the right situation!

[Darkmatters]

How did it fail? You weren't able to breathe? I wonder if you might have had some momentary blockage and that's what sparked the thought to do an RC? Pretty good analogy with smells - smell and hearing are passive, so the sensations are going to get through even while dreaming. And while it's true your dreaming mind can overlay them with dream smells or dream sounds, it can't block them, can it? If there's a radio or TV on while I'm asleep then I hear it in my dreams, though I might not be able to really understand what's being said or what it really means. I remember once sleeping over at a friend's with the radio on and while hearing an Oxy-10 commercial (remember the guy with the really deep voice? Or before your time maybe?) I wove it into the dream. Even though he was talking about zits and breakouts I dreamed he was an administrator sitting behind a desk telling me about a spy network I had to break, and then I was climbing in the rafters over the audience at a theater where a play was going on, still hearing the guy talk! And I mean, the words he was saying had nothing to do with spys, but my ind interpreted them that way - weird! I suspect it's the same with breathing - I don't think you can dream of holding your breath unless you actually are, or maybe you can sort of dream of doing it while having a weird overlay of feeling yourself breathe at the same time (that would be pretty freaky!) * * * I'm diggin' my new sig pic (It's from the stopmotion film I'm working on now) but that avatar has got to go. My photography skillz have improved drastically since I took that one (a Buster Keaton puppet I made years ago). Time for something new!

[Alyzarin]

How did it fail? You weren't able to breathe? I wonder if you might have had some momentary blockage and that's what sparked the thought to do an RC? Pretty good analogy with smells - smell and hearing are passive, so the sensations are going to get through even while dreaming. And while it's true your dreaming mind can overlay them with dream smells or dream sounds, it can't block them, can it? If there's a radio or TV on while I'm asleep then I hear it in my dreams, though I might not be able to really understand what's being said or what it really means. I remember once sleeping over at a friend's with the radio on and while hearing an Oxy-10 commercial (remember the guy with the really deep voice? Or before your time maybe?) I wove it into the dream. Even though he was talking about zits and breakouts I dreamed he was an administrator sitting behind a desk telling me about a spy network I had to break, and then I was climbing in the rafters over the audience at a theater where a play was going on, still hearing the guy talk! And I mean, the words he was saying had nothing to do with spys, but my ind interpreted them that way - weird! I suspect it's the same with breathing - I don't think you can dream of holding your breath unless you actually are, or maybe you can sort of dream of doing it while having a weird overlay of feeling yourself breathe at the same time (that would be pretty freaky!) Actually, I became suspicious that I was dreaming after I realized my parents were saying very strange things to me (I can't remember what it was now). I think I asked them if I was dreaming and they said no, and then I did the RC. I wasn't able to breath through it, just like as if I'd been awake, and I was like "Hey what the hell, this is supposed to work right now!" Hehe, that reminds me of a time I smoked salvia. I was at a friend's apartment and I took my hit while he had Transformers 2 playing. I was staring at the wall and the whole apartment was replaced by half sky and half this orange walkway that slowly came into focus. I (though I don't think it was really me) was with my friend (and I don't think it was him, either) walking around a zoo, and all the dialogue and sounds from the movie were being interpreted by my mind to be the conversation we were having about the animals we were seeing. Strange stuff! After about five or ten minutes everything collapsed back into the apartment and I was so confused; I sat up and looked my friend dead in the eye, and he was watching me quite intently, and I said "Wait...... are we not at the zoo!?" And he started cracking up lol. But just like when you wake up from a dream like that, I could immediately recognize the actual sound that I'd been hearing while I was hallucinating. Also, I don't think I'm familiar with that commercial. I'm inclined to think that it's possible to dream of not breathing, but maybe not incredibly likely. I only say this because I know for a fact that it's possible to lose the sensation of breathing without actually doing it while you're on hallucinogens. I would imagine that an intense or dissociative enough dream would have the potential for it too, because I do think that the hallucinations of the dream world can become powerful enough to replace those kinds of sensations. Maybe that's just wishful thinking, though. I'm diggin' my new sig pic (It's from the stopmotion film I'm working on now) but that avatar has got to go. My photography skillz have improved drastically since I took that one (a Buster Keaton puppet I made years ago). Time for something new! It's going to take me some time to get used to the idea of you having a new avatar lol. But the sig pic is pretty sweet.

[KatMarie]

Yea, sometimes while dreaming and my alarm goes off I seem to just fit the music into my dream...or I can be dreaming (about anything) and out of nowhere I can here my phone ringing. It goes on for awhile and then finally I answer it just to stop it from ringing! I wake up to find that I've had at least 2 missed calls or texts. It's so weird how this happens. lol

[Darkmatters]

I did the RC. I wasn't able to breath through it, just like as if I'd been awake, and I was like "Hey what the hell, this is supposed to work right now!" See, that right there - makes me wonder if you didn't deliberately close off a nasal sphincter (heh heh... I said Nasal Sphincter! )

[Alyzarin]

See, that right there - makes me wonder if you didn't deliberately close off a nasal sphincter (heh heh... I said Nasal Sphincter! ) Classy. I suppose it's possible lol. But it does make me suspicious when it comes to actually trying to breath then... because that should've happened to, and I can close my nasal sphincter all I want but it still opens up involuntarily when I try to inhale.

[Darkmatters]

Oh man - dontcha just hate those invountary sphincter openings!!??! See, this is the point where I Just shrug and say Oh Well - guess we'll never know. There might be medical research or something that could tell us, but I'm not gonna go looking for it. Fun theory to conjecture about though. Yea, sometimes while dreaming and my alarm goes off I seem to just fit the music into my dream...or I can be dreaming (about anything) and out of nowhere I can here my phone ringing. It goes on for awhile and then finally I answer it just to stop it from ringing! I wake up to find that I've had at least 2 missed calls or texts. It's so weird how this happens. lol Yeah, or how about those dreams where the radio is playing real loud and you're trying to shut it off - you can switch it off, unplug it, break it to pieces, and it still keeps on playing!!

[KatMarie]

All the time! Or hearing loud noises from outside and it doesn't matter if I go inside, close the window or anything lol