Can you dream pain?

[Hawaiian Eskimo]

I did some research into lucid dreaming for a while. Apparently, the body can sense things about its surroundings while asleep and translate them into your dreams. Loud noises, changes in light level, sensations, etc. can appear in your dreams as coming from various sources (like an alarm clock becoming an alarm in the dream, or flashing lights coming from police cars). I'd assume that the same thing can apply to pain as well.

[bhskittykatt]

Quoth Flying Grype

I've heard of this before -- in some sleep study or other there was an anecdote (not data, I know, I know, but these are dreams) in which a guy woke up from a dream about being shot to find that the headboard had fallen off his bed and made a loud sound. Apparently in the instant between hearing the sound and waking up, his brain had concocted this whole dream about confronting a person with a gun, talking to him, seeing the gun waved around, and finally being shot. In other words, a dream that felt like it had taken some time had actually taken much less time.

Inception wasn't that far off in their "dream time" vs. "real time". Your brain doesn't perceive time the same. Waking Life is another (somewhat trippy) movie all about dreaming that also describes the phenomenon fairly well.

Often, my alarm will go off. I will hit "snooze", and then doze off, and have a dream that feels like it takes an hour. My alarm will wake me up again...five minutes later.

[Onlooker]

I think it depends on the person. Some people dream themselves awake in order to take care of something happening around them or with their bodies (water/bathrooms meaning to get up and go).

My brother shared a dream that freaked him out. In the dream, he was on a battlefield and his arm got blown off. He reached down to pick it up and was amazed at how cold and 'dead' it was, as if it wasn't quite his. He woke up to find himself gripping his left forearm (which had fallen asleep) in his right hand and had to spend a few moments figuring out whether or not he was awake.

[Mishi]

Quoth Onlooker

He woke up to find himself gripping his left forearm (which had fallen asleep) in his right hand and had to spend a few moments figuring out whether or not he was awake.

My uncle did something similar. He went out drinking, stumbled back home and went to bed. He didn't realise this though, because he was absolutely wasted. Partway through the night, he woke up in a bed and a room he didn't recognise with a heavy arm across his chest. So he twisted one way, picked the hand up with one of his and threw it as far away as he could and tried to bolt, all at the same time. A few moments later, as he was running out into the yard, he realised that there was a heavy feeling on one side from his shoulder down and he was now having some very vicious pins and needles in that arm. Whoops!

[SongsOfDragons]

When on holiday once, I was having to share a bed with my mother. I had some sort of interesting dream and I punched her in the back in my sleep. Her yelp woke me up and I didn't really know what had happened...I was apologetic afterwards

I also tend to flail. As in, my hand will inevitable end up in your face at some point if I have to share a bed. ^^

I've had those calf cramp things before, now I've been reminded of them. The tips I was given was try to walk on it asap, and eat bananas to replenish potassium.

[smfrazier]

I feel pain in my dreams occasionally. I remember two incidents in particular. One i time I dreamed a girl pinched me in the behind. Another time a dreamed I was in a car accident and hit the side of my head. In both cases I immediately woke up and still felt the pain for a few minutes after I was awake.

[ralerin]

Quoth MamaMootz

I have dreamed of pain but it's usually because I got into a funky position while I was sleeping (I toss and turn a lot) and when I woke up, the pain was still there because my leg was bent oddly or something.

Yup. My left arm/nerve pinched in my neck that travels down that arm has woken me up during the night plenty times.

Also, regarding cramps: magnesium and calcium are your friends. Magnesium also kills chocolate cravings, because most of the time when you want chocolate you want the magnesium in the chocolate. I can never eat chocolate again due to asthma triggers, so...yeah...But at least I'm not constantly craving it when I have my period.