Has chiari or surgery affected your dreaming?

[AmyFS]

Hi all,
This may sound wierd but I guess we're used to wierd questions here, right?
I recently noticed that I started dreaming (in my sleep) again after a very, very long time (a year or two?)of not recalling any dreams at all.  I used to always remember my dreams, and they for the most part were vivid, detailed dreams.  The funny thing is, I hadn't even paid attention to the fact that I had stopped dreaming until last week when it was like someone turned on a switch and now I dream like I used to.
Just curious, has anyone else noticed a change like this?  I am about a year & a half post-op.I am not/have not been on any meds.  Does anyone know what part of the brain controls dreaming, and is it possible that chiari or the surgery can affect it?
Thanks-Amy

[deadmemory]

I definitely have always had weird dreams.. Some were even "premonitions" One I remember very well was that of my deceased grandmother. She passed away 14 days before my daughter in 2006. This particular dream was in 2008. It was March I believe. She came to me in my dream in we were in a field of beautiful flowers (as she loved flowers) we were holding hands and walking through this field and she stopped and stepped in front of me. She had a troubled look on her face.. I asked her what was wrong.. She told me that grandpa (her husband of 50+ years) was tired and was very sick. He was going to be coming home to her soon. I got tears in my eyes and asked her, when? She said that on August 15th at around 5:30 he will have a massive heart attack in his sleep and he will die peacefully in his sleep.. But that my father (their son) will take it the hardest and to be there for him no matter what. I told my grandma that I didn't want him to go, but she said it was his time and he is tired and they needed to be together, that she wasn't complete. I understood and shook my head.. Then we hugged and she said goodbye and don't forget to comfort your dad.

Then I woke up. I was so troubled by this so I ended up telling my mom about it.. I did not dare tell my dad, I did NOT want to upset him.  

August 15th came around and at about 5:35 pm my Aunt Holli (dad's sister) called frantically saying that grandpa stopped breathing and was unresponsive.. I knew by the look on his face what had happened.. My dads face turned white as a ghost and he bolted out of the door.. My mom's jaw dropped and she burst into tears, she remembered my dream.

15 minutes later dad called my mom and I could hear him sobbing on the phone to my mom. The EMT had just left and were waiting for the mortuary to collect my grandfather's body. My dad was laying on the ground next to his father and was holding him saying that he was sorry and he loved him.. (my grandfather and dad weren't exactly on speaking terms..) Dad then asked to talk to me, and I don't remember exactly what I said, I do remember telling him that grandma and grandpa were together now and he didn't feel any pain. (he was due to have surgery 2 weeks after he died. Grandma was right about him being sick.. He had a tumor on his lung the size of a golf ball) He then calmed down and stayed with his father until the mortuary came..
My father was never really the same.. He is now in prison because he said he spiraled out of control after he lost his parents.

Anyways, I am writing a novel. Thank you for listening... This is only one example of my dreams.. I get these types of dreams quite a few times.. Sometimes I get weird wacky dreams that I wake up and am like.. what was that about!

Krystal

[thrice3]

at weeks at a time i can recall my dreams so well and then it will stop for a few weeks. been on and off since the surgery. but i have always been so interested in dreams also. i guess since i have them so vividly. they're so real that i frequently mistake a dream as a memory of something that really happened.
my family and friends probably get sick of hearing about my dreams lol but they're always amazed at how well i can remember them!

[jiggle93]

LMBO reading this!  It must be hard for them to not bust up laughing and wake you up.  My kids sleep walk and we always are cracking up with the stuff that comes out of the mouths. My DH actually did this about 2 weeks ago. He was telling me to hard him some helicopter part and what to do with it. I thought he was lucid, since he almost never dreams. Then he mumbled and turned over saying something in an aggervated tone and I realized he was working in his sleep.  Life is hilarious sometimes.
Jiggle

[Rylanesmom]

I have had crazy dreams since surgery and no I am not taking narcotics lol.  I also now talk in my sleep.  Ry told me the other night she was trying to turn the light off when I was sleeping and I would yell at here that the light had to stay on I was reading.  I also apparently guard the remote iPad whatever I am holding...if they try to get it I death grip my stuff lol.

[jiggle93]

I do the night to night thing too. What really freaks me out is when I am out in public and something I dreamed days or weeks before suddenly happen...or random person in my dream is all of a sudden in the same place that I am. I too have always wondered about the meaning behind dreams, as I feel like a nut job from most of my dreams. My DH almost never dreams, and then usually cant remember any of it if he actually does.  His favorite dreams of mine where always when I was pregnant. I dont know what the hormones do to you then, but I could come up with some dooseys.  We often joked about publishing them, but I told him I could never put my name on the writings...they would put me away for sure!  

[Rahe28]

I have always had the oddest, most vivid, realistic dreams, for as long as I can remember....about a year ago...I stopeed being able to recall dreaming at all, which was devistating for me, because I love the study of dreams, dreaming itself, etc. Then about 4 months ago, they returned even more vivid, more realistic, and continuing from noght to night, picking up where last nights dream left off...

It is so strange that you mentioned this tonight, I was going ot post a question about dreaming in the morning...lol. However, my question has been answered. Thank you both for asking, and answering !

[AmyFS]

Selma, you are a God send.  You always come through a great answer- thank you!

[selmaS]

  I never could remember dreams, but a yr ago I  had a few I remembered when I woke up and it was so strange for me.....

I found this info-The oldest part of the brain, shared by all vertebrates, is the brain stem. In 1977, Allan Hobson and R McCarley discovered that electrochemical pulses from the brain stem create the stage of sleep in which most dreams occur. Known as REM, which stands for rapid eye movement, this stage of sleep guides the paralysis of all voluntary muscle groups, except for the eyes. Scientists believe these brain pulses from the pons region of the brain stem may create the seemingly random shifts in dream scenery for which dreams are so well known.

So to me this would explain y we r all so tired if the brain stem is where REM is  created in....