I am reading and looking up on the relationship between CH, REM sleep and dreams relating to REM and I have found quite a few interesting facts. I am still trying to gather more information and putting them all together and I will post what I find here a bit later.

However, I would like to ask the good people of the Board please about your dreams, and whether they change during the cycle. 95% of dreams occuring in REM and CH tends to happen in REM. Do you know that REM occur during waking hours too ? Yes they do.

During REM sleep, quite a few vascular and neurological events occur which enable dreams. When these events go wrong, the ability to dream is affected. These same abnormalities can also trigger CH. Therefore by noting the frequency of dreams, the quality of the dreams and any changes to the dreams in CH cycle ... one get an indication of how abnormal REMs are which will show how Ch is affected.

I hope to get as many answers as possible and will post the results with my other findings here later. It will make very interesting read indeed.

So please if you can, answer these questions below :

1- Do you normally dream ?
2- Do you dream more or less or not at all during cycle?
3- Do you get more or less vivid dreams during cycle ?
4- If you are chronic, have your dreams changed ?
5- Do you dream more or less when you go out of cycle ?
6- Do you ever sleep walk during cycle ?

Thank you very much everyone 

Annette

it is funny you ask because i cant remember dreams in cycle, but i dream often when not in cycle. funny huh. coach bill

Here you go:

1- Do you normally dream ?

Yes

2- Do you dream more or less or not at all during cycle?

The same in or out of cycle

3- Do you get more or less vivid dreams during cycle ?

Not that I've noticed

4- If you are chronic, have your dreams changed ?

I'm episodic

5- Do you dream more or less when you go out of cycle ? 

The same

6- Do you ever sleep walk during cycle ?

No

Good luck with the data Annette.

-Dennis-

Thank you to everyone who has answered, please keep the answers coming 

So far, what has been posted here seems to agree with what I have observed in my husband and in a few CHers I have talked to.

1- CHers may not dream at all and have been so all of their lives ( which is unusual )
2- CHers tend to dream less during cycles.
3- The characteristics of the dream change during cycle compared to when out of cycle.
4- CHers may sleep walk during cycle.

Which are all indication of abnormality in REM.

Please keep the answers coming, if you dont want to post it publically you can PM or email me.

Thank you very much.

Annette

Annette, Peter May did a fascinationg series of articles on this very subject. They're in the OUCH newsletters, starting in 2006, I think.

1- Do you normally dream ? 
2- Do you dream more or less or not at all during cycle?
3- Do you get more or less vivid dreams during cycle ?
4- If you are chronic, have your dreams changed ?
5- Do you dream more or less when you go out of cycle ?
6- Do you ever sleep walk during cycle ?

i wake up with nightmares, and a bad headache, there vary vivid , when i have my headache, but i can't remember them after i get some more sleep

1- Do you normally dream ?  Yes
2- Do you dream more or less or not at all during cycle? Less
3- Do you get more or less vivid dreams during cycle ? I don't think I actually dream during a cycle, because I just don't let myself go to sleep.
4- If you are chronic, have your dreams changed ? n/a
5- Do you dream more or less when you go out of cycle ?  For the first few weeks out of cycle, it seems like I dream more and they are more vivid.  But I'm not positive.  Maybe it is because I have missed so much sleep.
6- Do you ever sleep walk during cycle ? Nope

Qazpur wrote on Jun 9^th, 2008 at 10:49am:


There is a difference between the inability to recall dreams and to be able to dreams.
Even if you cant recall the dreams, in general people are aware whether or not they dream or have had dreams in the past. My husband and 2 other CHers I talked to have NEVER recalled having any dreams at all.

Yes, serotonin, DHEA and melatonin play a crucial role in whether or not we dream in our sleep and they also play a crucial role in those night hits in CHers. I will explain later.

Qazpur wrote on Jun 9^th, 2008 at 10:49am:


It is well known at CH hits occur mostly at nights during those REM and I will explain why. Day hits can happen during the awake REMs too. The disturbed sleep you experience may be more linked to the disturbed REMs than you think.

Qazpur wrote on Jun 9^th, 2008 at 12:28pm:


No, the question seems to lie with any abnormality of REM which can affect dreams. Inability to dream, lower frequency of dreams, less vivid or more vivid dreams ... are all just different abnormalities, and all indicate underlying pathology in REMs.

I can say with certainty that my own husband gets much less REM sleep at night during a cycle compared to out of cycle. Yes I stayed up all night several nights to watch him and to make records.

Qazpur wrote on Jun 9^th, 2008 at 12:28pm:


Yes, that is possible. Daytime REM are different to night time REM. The activation of the autonomic nervous system is different and the levels of neurotransmitter are different too.

Annette,

I have always remembered my dreams every night way more than most people (according to what others have told me).  Basically every night I remember several dreams in detail.  I could have written several books about the dreams I have had (not that anyone would want to read them )  Point being I would say I dream excessively.
My Dream are normally quite vivid.  During cycle, here is the thing, I have said this on here before--yes I will be dreaming when the CH hits.  The catch is that I have noted that I will also be thinking (you know that internal train of thought we have while awake) yes, thinking about the dream while actively having the dream (THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN TO ME OUT OF CYCLE AND IS ABNORMAL) and then AT THAT point the pain hits.  To me, this is a symptom of confusion in sleep cycles.  The mind is arguing with itself saying I am dreaming.  The other part is saying, no I am awake and thinking.  But yet they are happening simultaneously.  I don't know if I am the only one who has observed this--if so it may be because I normally do remember dreams or whatnot.  I am sorry if this sounds confusing.  I think yes CH could very well be a kind of sleep disorder (I've said that on here before).  Good luck with your research!!!

Layla328 wrote on Jun 9^th, 2008 at 8:30pm:



I believe what you are describing is lucid dreaming, a real phenomenon that some people experience and its not at all abnormal.

Lucid dreaming is the ability to be awake and alert enough during a dream to become aware that one is dreaming. Its a normal natural phenomenon in some people. The fact that you do that in cycle and not out of cycle is further proof that some fairly profound changes occur in the persons REM while in cycle.

Google lucid dreaming and read up on it if you wish, and thanks for the contribution to the thread.

I just googled it under Wikipedia--yep that kind of thing used to happen to me frequently.  Still does but not as frequently since I hit my 30's.  

Edited to say that one interesting thing they said on Wikipedia about lucid dreaming is a "battle between reason and emotion"--I could see how that could, potentially, at least, hypothetically, give a person a headache.  OK not I will shut my trap.  Interesting to hear what others will say.