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The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

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Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#21

Post by zamalek »

mhalle wrote: post #4

The article ends with: > Only now I can wake up any time I want. The author talks about dreams, but dreams are just one aspect of the ICU mental experience. The line between dreams, hallucinations, and memories can collapse. Delirium in intensive care units is extremely common, affecting up to 80% of some patient populations. It is the result of a combination of highly vulnerable patients, extremely stressful situati…

> Delirium in intensive care units is extremely common

For some people a fever is enough. Somewhere in the region of 39C I start having what I can best describe "emotional hallucinations" or "hallucinations of the mind's eye." There is nothing sensory (auditory, visual, physical) in the classical sense, but I know that something is there and it is terrifying (even though I have always been aware that it's a hallucination).

I had an unknown parasite, distantly related to Malaria, for two weeks as a child. This was just enough to push me into delirium. I "hallucinated" a black hole in my room, not one the size of my room, but real stellar proportions and gravity. I also hallucinated a radio chasing me around. I never saw, heard or felt either of them, I just knew that they were there, and were not there.

I've had wildly vivid dreams ever since. They are blandly authentic. Some of them would probably make great movies. Every night I hope I have one of those dreams, but they are becoming less and less frequent.

Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#22

Post by bemmu »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #5
bfrydl wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to remember your dreams you can train yourself to do so. Keep a journal on your nightstand. The moment you wake up, write down all the details you can remember. After doing this for a while, you will remember more and more and the memories won't fade so easily. You can also cheat a bit in my experience by waking up maybe 45-90 mins before you normally would, then going back to sleep. The dreams you have i…

How do you ever remember to write in it after waking? I'm lucky if I remember deodorant first thing in the morning. I'm usually good 5-10 minutes after waking, but before then I rarely do things like shower and sometimes won't even make coffee. I guess I can talk to folks and be really mean at first - I don't remember these outbursts, though. It gets worse with bad sleep hygiene.

Have the notebook next to you in bed with a pen ready. If you need to get up to do it, you'll often forget all or most of your dream by the time you get to the notebook.

Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#23

Post by tzamora »

mhalle wrote: post #4

The article ends with: > Only now I can wake up any time I want. The author talks about dreams, but dreams are just one aspect of the ICU mental experience. The line between dreams, hallucinations, and memories can collapse. Delirium in intensive care units is extremely common, affecting up to 80% of some patient populations. It is the result of a combination of highly vulnerable patients, extremely stressful situati…

Sorry to ask? What did you do to recover? Diet? Lactuloce?

Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#24

Post by scoutt »

I rarely read articles that long, but I found this one fascinating.

I can believe it, since I (both unfortunately and fortunately) have the most vivid, realistic, extremely detailed (and sometimes weird and frightening) dreams. Dreams that I can remember after years. Sometimes they change the course of days decisions, even life decisions.

I can remember almost every detail, except for one: every time that I wake up in the middle of the night after dreaming the solution to a big (mine or global) problem, or an idea for "the next big thing". I recall saying "Yes! Of course! How could I not think about it before?!". The answer is there, at the tip of my fingers, then I wake up and, frustrated, can't remember what it was. I can remember though that feeling of having the click in my mind about the idea or solution being so rational and possible.

Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#25

Post by HaydukeLives »

mhalle wrote: post #4

The article ends with: > Only now I can wake up any time I want. The author talks about dreams, but dreams are just one aspect of the ICU mental experience. The line between dreams, hallucinations, and memories can collapse. Delirium in intensive care units is extremely common, affecting up to 80% of some patient populations. It is the result of a combination of highly vulnerable patients, extremely stressful situati…

Thank you for posting this. I have been hospitalized a few times for acute pancreatitis, for 5-7 days at a time. No food or liquids allowed, with just a saline drip and an IV of dilaudid every 4 hours and hydrocodone every 2 hours.

>Delirium in intensive care units is extremely common

The first time after 48 hours the auditory hallucinations started, but I thought it was music traveling through the HVAC from the wing of the hospital that was being remodeled so I said nothing of it. The second time after 48 hours the auditory hallucinations came again and the nurses had uncomfortable looks on their faces when I explained it to them. Basically it was constant hip-hop, metal, or psychedelic music, droning constantly.

>extremely stressful situations, abnormal biochemistry, and powerful pharmaceuticals.

The constant clicks and beeps of the IV machine, the little lights that never turn off, and all the other interruptions of a hospital stay make for a very stressful situation. The last time that I was in the hospital for it a couple years ago (and surely hope it is the last time, for my daughter's sake) they had implemented alarms on the beds for those under heavy pain medications that went off anytime you attempted to get out of bed, leading to the feeling of being imprisoned.

By the end of each time that I was in the hospital it was constant auditory and intermittent visual hallucinations, and it was horrible. Typing all of this has brought all the vividness back (and the feelings of being trapped in a nonsensical world), which makes me think maybe I as well should write about my experiences.

Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#26

Post by Broken_Hippo »

bemmu wrote: post #22
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you ever remember to write in it after waking? I'm lucky if I remember deodorant first thing in the morning. I'm usually good 5-10 minutes after waking, but before then I rarely do things like shower and sometimes won't even make coffee. I guess I can talk to folks and be really mean at first - I don't remember these outbursts, though. It gets worse with bad sleep hygiene.

Have the notebook next to you in bed with a pen ready. If you need to get up to do it, you'll often forget all or most of your dream by the time you get to the notebook.

That's the thing: I do have a pen and paper by my bed - mostly for those "going to sleep" thoughts but also so I always know where one is.

I never remember until I've been awake and moving around for a bit. :)

Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#27

Post by Ntrails »

mhalle wrote: post #4

The article ends with: > Only now I can wake up any time I want. The author talks about dreams, but dreams are just one aspect of the ICU mental experience. The line between dreams, hallucinations, and memories can collapse. Delirium in intensive care units is extremely common, affecting up to 80% of some patient populations. It is the result of a combination of highly vulnerable patients, extremely stressful situati…

The first time they gave me a bunch of morphine post-op, a nurse kept wondering by. After a few checks, getting slightly more in explicit, I asked "why". She explained that there was a fair likelihood of hallucination with the drug, but if they warn people in advance it is significantly more common.

There is obviously more risk to unexpected hallucination, but always some risk if it happens. I still think it's a really interesting risk minimisation proposition.

Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#28

Post by mhalle »

tzamora wrote: post #23
mhalle wrote: post #4

The article ends with: > Only now I can wake up any time I want. The author talks about dreams, but dreams are just one aspect of the ICU mental experience. The line between dreams, hallucinations, and memories can collapse. Delirium in intensive care units is extremely common, affecting up to 80% of some patient populations. It is the result of a combination of highly vulnerable patients, extremely stressful situati…

Sorry to ask? What did you do to recover? Diet? Lactuloce?

Liver transplant.

Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#29

Post by dTal »

Ntrails wrote: post #27
mhalle wrote: post #4

The article ends with: > Only now I can wake up any time I want. The author talks about dreams, but dreams are just one aspect of the ICU mental experience. The line between dreams, hallucinations, and memories can collapse. Delirium in intensive care units is extremely common, affecting up to 80% of some patient populations. It is the result of a combination of highly vulnerable patients, extremely stressful situati…

The first time they gave me a bunch of morphine post-op, a nurse kept wondering by. After a few checks, getting slightly more in explicit, I asked "why". She explained that there was a fair likelihood of hallucination with the drug, but if they warn people in advance it is significantly more common . There is obviously more risk to unexpected hallucination, but always some risk if it happens. I still think it's a rea…

I wonder if that phenomenon is explained by people being more willing to admit to hallucinations if they've been told it's an expected result of the drug, and not because they're crazy or weird.

Re: The Dreams of a Man Asleep for Three Weeks

#30

Post by newshorts »

newnewpdro wrote: post #8
agentofoblivion wrote: post #7

I get it, I’m cynical. But am I the only one that wonders how much of this is true, and how much “poetic license”?

The imagination has literally everything imaginable at its disposal. Considering the drugs they were pumping through his veins I don't see why we have to doubt the veracity. I've dabbled in sleep deprivation in the past and after four days it's as if I'm dreaming while my eyes are open, simultaneously sleeping on some level while still functioning in the world. It was as if totally random and crazy movies were playin…

New parent here. The sleep deprivation thing is real. There were moments early on where I would lay on the couch hoping to get a quick 15 minutes in and almost as soon as I closed my eyes I would have dreams.

The interesting part for me, is that as soon as I realized these were crazy and not reality, I would instantly zap myself awake. It made things incredibly difficult and I would have to close my eyes with the intention of not trying to detect if what I was thinking about was real.

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