That which makes you wake in a cold sweat...

[temporus]

Since I brought up my son's nightmare the other day, I thought it only fair to bring up some of my own in comparison.  When I was young, not only did I have nightmares on a somewhat frequent basis, I often had recurring nightmares and dreams.   One of the most vivid that I can still recall was almost always the same.  I was in the garage, with my

Comments

[sartorias]

The most terrifying dream I ever had resulted from the entire school being pretty much forced to have polio shots when I was five, during the great polio scare. I had never had a shot before, my dad being Christian Scientist. I was already tense, because though I was in kindergarten, I could already read more or less, and the attitudes of the big kids made me read that yellow form we were sent home with that we were told WE MUST RETURN SIGNED. What I read scared the crap out of me, half-understood as it was.

Then the day arrived (this is still experience, not the dream) we were lined up and went down to the world war 2 bungalows that had been carted in for the overflow of kids. At one, on the top of the steps to the doorway, stood a woman in white nurse's uniform with a little table of stuff, and another woman ministering it. The big kids were lined up. Each would go up the three steps to the nurse,who would jab them in the arm with a pointy thing. The big kids would howl, and one kid was bleeding, but when it was done, they had to

[temporus]

I don't know if it's true, or what, but I recall the needles for shots being much larger/thicker when I was a child rather than what I've dealt with recently. I really can't imagine that, I wasn't particularly good about shots as a kid. I can definitely see the connection between your experience and the dream, however. And that's pretty horrific.

[jongibbs]

My childhood nightmares usually involved scary clowns, or that big, face-smothering balloon from The Prisoner - sometimes both :(

[temporus]

I am sure there is a whole generation of people who saw that show as a child, and then had horrific dreams based upon the balloon from The Prisoner. I didn't encounter the show until I was an adult, so it doesn't have that same sense memory for me.

Serial dreams

[blue_23]

From childhood to current I've occasionally had serial dreams where they'd pick back up, either direct continuations or at a new act. Even more frequent are dreams in a location I "knew" from other dreams. Sometimes I can fix them to other remembered dreams, other times I wonder if it's just my mind playing tricks - and if that's any different than a dream anyhow.

I'm a deep sleeper but usually wake up sans alarm, and I find that I will go for long stretches without remembering dreams when I wake like this. I remember more dreams from times when I'm ill or have other reason my sleep is disturbed. Humorously, this means that a noticeable share of dreams I remember involve at some point that I need to use the commode. Ah well. :)

I don't remember any recurring nightmares, but that may be just creative editing over time.

Just to add in another category, sometimes I do "work" in my dream. Things that could make challenging but boringly repetitive flash games. When I wake up I don't feel mentally rested. I don't appreciate

Re: Serial dreams

[temporus]

Most of the rest of my recurring night mares, were probably more of a mixed state. I used to half wake up a lot, and still sort of be half dreaming, and it was very much like having hallucinations. My senses were almost over-amped, if you know what I mean. Like I could feel sights and sound with my hands, and I know I'm not explaining it well at all. But it would freak me out and it was very hard to get fully awake from that state, and it was equally hard to go back into real sleep as well. So time would dilate and it would feel like eternity. Oh, and I used to sleep walk too. Loads of fun.