Demented Dreams of a Drinker

hallelujah

Hey,
Have any of you noticed that after a weekend of heavy drinking, come Sunday night in bed you're so wrecked you can't sleep? And when you do sleep you have terrible nightmares and keep imagining things are in your room?

One night after a few days of the old El Vino I was in bed lying on my side sleeping. I 'woke up' to find this arm around me. In a frightened panic, I looked over my shoulder to see who it was. It was my brother and I thought 'Thank fuk for that.' Then I started thinking 'Hang on, I dont live with my brother!'

Then I really woke up. Wasnt him at all, it was nobody. I was having a nightmare.

Another time I was having my first proper nights sleep in a hostel after a music festival in Spain. I was lying in bed when I saw a bear walk into the room on its hind legs. I started what could only be described as a muffled roar. My roommate woke up and said 'Jeff, are you alright?'. 'Yeh', said I, upon realising I was dreaming

Do any of you drinkers share my problem?

Yours,
Jeff

PeakOutput

only thing close to that for me is apparently(after half litre of gin) going into my parents room and asking them for "pen and paper to write down what the man is telling me"(4.30am) when they said they didnt have any i went to the wardrobe and took out a tshirt and said grand ill just write on this

then went back to bed and passed out again

gin=devils drink

nesf

Moved to our ever popular and always controversial Sleeping & Dreaming forum.

Donald-Duck

This topic would be so much funnier if left in after hours.

nesf

Donald-Duck wrote:

This topic would be so much funnier if left in after hours.

Maybe, maybe not. There's nothing stopping people from coming here and sharing their amusing drinking/dreaming experiences.

Goodshape

nesf wrote:

There's nothing stopping people from coming here and sharing their amusing drinking/dreaming experiences.

Now now, we'll have none of that 'amusing' stuff in here.

I'm super serial right now.

nesf

Goodshape wrote:

Now now, we'll have none of that 'amusing' stuff in here.

I'm super serial right now.

Super serial?

Goodshape

nesf wrote:

Super serial?

South Park.

--> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manbearpig

nesf

Goodshape wrote:

South Park.

--> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manbearpig

Ah, ok. South Park trivia isn't one of my strong points.

Tar.Aldarion

Back on topic. Sleep. Serious business.

hallelujah

I think some of you are missing the point. I am not talking about having weird drunken visions. I am talking about when you drink say Friday and Saturday night. Then when you go to bed on Sunday night, sober, and absolutely wrecked, you cant sleep then have these weird dreams, if you'd call them that. Its getting to the point where I'd nearly stop drinking

hallelujah

hallelujah wrote:

I think some of you are missing the point. I am not talking about having weird drunken visions. I am talking about when you drink say Friday and Saturday night. Then when you go to bed on Sunday night, sober, and absolutely wrecked, you cant sleep then have these weird dreams, if you'd call them that. Its getting to the point where I'd nearly stop drinking

And god forbid you stop drinking :rolleyes:

Does it happen on an entirely sober weekend?
If not, then the drink is probably having some odd effect on your body and you'll either have to put up with nightmares, drink less, or stop drinking altogether.

hallelujah

bluewolf wrote:

And god forbid you stop drinking :rolleyes:

Does it happen on an entirely sober weekend?
If not, then the drink is probably having some odd effect on your body and you'll either have to put up with nightmares, drink less, or stop drinking altogether.

No, it doesnt happen on sober weekends. I know it is drink/lack of sleep related. I would have thought when you are so wrecked you would fall asleep ASAYHHTP (as soon as your head hits the pillow).

nesf

hallelujah wrote:

I would have thought when you are so wrecked you would fall asleep ASAYHHTP (as soon as your head hits the pillow).

Not necessarily. If I get overly tired I can get very agitated/worked up and be unable to sleep for hours once I go to bed. It can be a bitch.

Black Swan

hallelujah wrote:

No, it doesnt happen on sober weekends. I know it is drink/lack of sleep related.

This reminds me of a really old horror film with Peter Lori in a supporting role. It was based on an Edgar Allen Poe story, but I cannot remember the title. He drank so much that he had the DTs, but the film made fun of it. He was so used to seeing these delusional snakes, toads, and bugs, he would just brush them aside as he went about his business.

DublinWriter

hallelujah wrote:

Hey,
Have any of you noticed that after a weekend of heavy drinking, come Sunday night in bed you're so wrecked you can't sleep? And when you do sleep you have terrible nightmares and keep imagining things are in your room?
....
Do any of you drinkers share my problem?

I've noticed this in myself when going mano-a-mano with the sauce.

Basically, when you fall asleep after a skin-full, you don't fall into the REM state as you would normally do when sober. You tend to just be in a very black, undreaming state for the first 4/5 hours of sleep when the alcohol is still very present in your system.

During the REM state, we dream, and arguably work out all our surpressed conscious worries in terms of re-sitting the leaving cert and/or ending up on the wrong train travelling in the wrong direction in just our underpants. Although we mostly don't understand what we've dreamt about, and we feel initially confused the next morning, we generally feel a bit more refreshed and optimistic about things over our Weetabix.

Constant heavy-drinkers surpress the REM stage of sleep on a on-going basis and that's why you'll find a lot of chronic alcoholics will have associated problems with mental illnesses, especially neuroses and paranoia.

Now, if you're binging at the weekend, you'll be surpressing the REM state over a 48-72 hour period, so your subconscious will have quite a 'stack' to unload when you stop drinking, so your dreams will be off the wall.

But I'd be a little more worried about what you're saying OP, as you're almost describing detox-type hallucinations rather than usual type-dreams or symtoms of sleep-paralasis.

Cheese Princess

I had seriously demented dreams while travelling around Australia a few years back, due no doubt to the copious amounts of alcohol going around my system.
One night in a hostel dorm I sat up screaming in bed and threw all the bed clothes on the floor because I was convinced there were rats crawling all over me. All the other girls in the dorm jumped out of bed as well thinking I had actually seen a rat. My friend and long-suffering travel buddy had to convince them I was just dreaming.
On other occassions I sat up in bed in other dorm rooms and had conversations with total strangers while they were awake and I was fast asleep.

Kingp35

hallelujah wrote:

I think some of you are missing the point. I am not talking about having weird drunken visions. I am talking about when you drink say Friday and Saturday night. Then when you go to bed on Sunday night, sober, and absolutely wrecked, you cant sleep then have these weird dreams, if you'd call them that. Its getting to the point where I'd nearly stop drinking

Happened to me last night. Was heavy on the sauce Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and didnt get much sleep. Last night (Monday), after not having a drink on Monday I couldnt sleep even though I was wrecked. I was lying in bed and kept nodding for what was probably only a couple of minutes but I would think I was still awake and would hear noises or think someone was in the room. I would wake up with my heart pounding.

I also had really strange little dreams like I went into my room mates room for some reason and he would wake up be he wouldnt be awake properly and he would start to freak out which would make me wake up back in my bed. Very strange stuff. Absolutely wrecked again today because of all this last night.

Thats what Paddys weekend does to you