Recurring dreams as migraine aura experiences

 Recurring nightmares
 Recurring "Nostalgic Technicolor Dreams" (Lippman, 1954)
 Recurring "Waking Dreams" (Lippman, 1954)
 Recurring dreams of chase and pursuit
 Recurring dreams of fighting
 Recurring dreams of teeth falling out
 Recurring dreams of sexual activity

Recurring nightmares

"Dream Pattern # 1: The Nightmare. These dreams begin in early childhood, recurring frequently until the 10th or 12th year. Some patients remark that their dream 'began as far back as they remember.' In rare cases the dream may occur infrequently in adult life, usually during or following periods of illness. In such instances it is remarkable that the dream is identical in detail with that of the early childhood years.
The nightmare is characterized by an intense 'soul-shaking horror,' or 'cold terror,' and panic suffered by the dreamer. The emotional tone is often described as being all out of proportion to the dream situation. Chiefly of interest here is the fact that the feeling of horror, terror, or panic lingers far into the waking state, sometimes for hours."

(Lippman, 1954, p. 273)

Conny K. Jonsson, dis-harmonic, 2003. © 2003 Conny K. Jonsson

"When this dream appears I'll always wake up with migraine! I do not have that dream before every migraine attack though. - The bad dream: I'm standing in front of the bathroom mirror and watching slippery snakes and worms popping out of my head, ears, nose, mouth and eyes. I try to grab them and get rid of them, unsuccessfully of course. After a while I get aware of that I'm dreaming though! And directly I start fight my self out of sleep and the headache is already there. An unpleasant - and very weird - dream, believe me... The headache lasts for hours. No visuals or vomiting, just nausea. I've had it for about 30 years - got my first migraine attack at my early twenties - but this dream appears not so often really... hmm, maybe 4-5 times per year ... This dream does not appear when I'm awake, just in sleep-mode."

(Conny K. Jonsson, Emails to Klaus Podoll, May 25-26, 2004)

"the only time i dream is with a migraine. i don't always remember the dreams, but it's the only time i even have the feeling that i dreamt. the re-occuring dream goes like this:

(A) i'm standing at a sink full of dirty dishes, stacked higher than my head. There's a tiger w/ a head of a miniature pastel marshellow standing on his hind legs threatening me to eat my thumbs if i stop washing dishes. as soon as i get done with one dish and put it in the drying rack, it becomes even more dirty than it was before, and reappears on the stack of dirty dishes. this can go on for what seems like forever. if i try to talk to the tiger-

CUT to: (B) i'm in my grandfather's study. (backstory here, grampa's a neurosurgeon) he's lying on his stomache on a massage table researching polio for my sister. i'm sitting in his second chair, and am held down somehow, even though i have no body. he has chopsticks taped to his toes, and he's wielding my grandmother's biggest butcher knife. it seems he's trying to cut at my head, but he never quite does. if i try to talk to him-

CUT to: (A) tiger.

this can go on and on and on and sounds hilarious beyond all reason when i talk about it when i'm awake but i'll wake up sobbing, screaming or trying to bash my head agaist the wall in an effort to make it stop." [more]

(dame wilbur, LiveJournal for Support Group for Migraine Sufferers, Subject: dunno if this help, August 16, 2005)

Recurring "Nostalgic Technicolor Dreams" (Lippman, 1954)

"Dream Pattern # 2: The Nostalgic Technicolor Dream. This recurrent dream first appears around the age of 12, at the beginning of puberty. In many cases it replaces the 'nightmare.' It lasts until about the 18th year, and in a few cases, recurs infrequently throughout adult life. It is noteworthy that the appearance of this dream often coincides with the first appearance of recurrent migraine headaches in the lifespan of the patients.
This dream is always vividly and georgously colored. It is a dream of locale – of a place to which the dreamer 'returns' time after time, with a feeling of haunting familiarity. It is repeated in identical detail. It has no apparent relation to any place the patient has actually visited or seen. It is a characteristally a deja vu dream, accompanied by a sense of nostalgia, longing, loneliness, and/or sadness. This emotional tone lasts long into the waking state."

(Lippman, 1954, p. 274)

Jane Gwaltney, Welcome Home, pastel chalks on paper (6" x 9"), 2002. © 2002 Jane Gwaltney [more]

"The [recurring] dream I have most often is of moving into a new house, a very large one. Usually I find everything to my liking, especially a very large bed where I'm able to sleep peacefully. Sometimes I suddenly realize I'm dreaming and am able to have whatever I want happen. Sometimes I just keep roaming endless corridors, hopelessly lost, and look out windows where the sun is so bright it hurts my eyes. Sometimes I fall out the window or down a stairway and wake abruptly. When these dreams are unpleasant I often wake up with the beginnings of a headache. I just this moment remember that I had the 'house' dream again last night. I was thinking about the details when I awoke but can't recall now. I do remember the vision in one eye was very blurred for quite a while. I've been feeling ill the last few days, very restless too and I worked on a fiction piece tonight.

My dream about the big old house has indeed made its way into my art, poetry, and fiction. A few examples are a poem called Haunted, a story, The Peaceful Place, and my latest piece of art Welcome Home done a few months ago. The painting was done while looking into an antique mirror in my dining room. I could see a doorway (reminiscent of the scenery of my recurring dreams) and 'myself' and after-images wandering through. Actually, I was seated while drawing and at an angle where only the empty doorway was reflected in the mirror."

(Jane Gwaltney, Email to Klaus Podoll, January 21, 2003)

Recurring "Waking Dreams" (Lippman, 1954)

"Dream Pattern # 3: The Waking Dream. This recurrent dream might technically be called a hallucination, since it takes place after the patient wakens from a nightmare. However, my patients, who are familiar with the typical hallucinations of migraine, insist that these are 'dreams experienced just after awakening.' They maintain they are 'different' from hallucinations.
The waking dream appears to occur most commonly in childhood, although some cases report its first appearance in late adolescence or in adult years."

(Lippman, 1954, p. 275)

The following posts by Darlene describe her recurrent waking dreams of a glowing lamb, once followed by immediate migraine.

"7/7 - wish I had posted these sooner... oh, well. Woke up at 2:30 a.m. and saw a glowing lamb right beside me in bed. There was this faint sound of a crackling noise as if it were the embers from a warm fire. I immediately got a comforting feeling. It was, uh, kind of an answer to a prayer about something in particular, like the state of someone.

7/11 - another golden moment. This time it was a glowing image up in the corner of my room. Woke up again at exactly 2:30 a.m. and saw yet another sheep glowing up in the dark. Right behind it there appeared a dim whiteness just bright enough to enhance this black silhouette of a a wolf. It was like a shadow puppet only more detailed. This wolf (in silhouette) opened its mouth wide and bit the lamb as the whole image dissipated. This 'scene' manifested itself three times, as a wolf bit the lamb in half. I wasn't sure if it was symbolic of three lost, or more of a solid 'impression' by manifesting itself three times. Got an awful feeling about something. Obviously biblical, but it's also personal. Seems the more I pray about, um, things, the stronger awful evil conspire. Just a feeling."

(Darlene, Newsgroups: alt.dreams.prophetic, Subject: glowing lamb, July 21, 2003)

"Just thought I'd add this - Another Glowing Sheep thing last night. First I had a really unusual non-livestock dream. Not sure if it's related. Following this dream, I woke up some time between 4:30 & 5 a.m. and saw this image of a cave up in the corner of my room. Really. @@ There was a ram standing at the entrance of this cave. On the inside there appeared to be a fire that gave off a warm glow. Again, like the other dream, I heard this comforting, small crackling sound of the fire. That was it. I felt anxious afterwards for whatever reason -- not good or bad - just anxious. It physically affected me, though, in a negative way. I had an immediate migraine and queasiness that stayed the whole morning. Weird. The only other dream that had an instant physical effect on me was on April 30, seeing a friends face scarred by some accident."

(Darlene, Newsgroups: alt.dreams.prophetic, Subject: Re: glowing lamb, August 11, 2003)

Recurring dreams of chase and pursuit

"I have recurring dreams often, which involve being chased to the point of exhaustion by a person (not usually persons I know to exist in real life, though I will feel a sense of being close to them emotionally), and having to run for my life until I am tired. When I awake my neck and shoulders are extremely tense and there will be the piercing pain my head, and nausea. This occurs about 3 - 4 times per month."

(Ladypeculiar, Email to Klaus Podoll, August 9, 2005)

Recurring dreams of fighting

"I do often find that I have very intense and vivid dreams before waking up with a migraine... I have many recurring dreams where I am forced to fight with people that I love (even if they do not exist in real life). These people are usually very attractive physically, sometimes male, sometimes female."

(Ladypeculiar, Email to Klaus Podoll, August 9, 2005)

Recurring dreams of teeth falling out

"I have had a similar dream..... I'm standing in front of a mirror looking at my teeth because they are extremely painful at that point.... as I watch, they start to bleed and then fall out..... this only happens during a severe migraine..... the only reason I can give for it is that I might be clenching my teeth as I sleep from the pain in my head and this dream is my response to that..... "

(Tuatha Bran, Newsgroups: alt.dreams, Subject: Teeth !!!, September 17, 1997)

"I was going to tell the tale of my recurring migraine dream of all my teeth rotting out and bleeding down my chin, but I prolly shouldn't."

(Raven, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Propitiating the migrane gods, September 15, 2000)

"Hi Raven, I've had that (waking) dream! It usually starts with the matter behind my right eyeball (and the eyeball itself) rotting and oozing out the empty socket. Then is when it spreads to the teeth. I have actually smelled the rotting flesh before. It's not a very fun dream ..."

(Fr Confessor, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Propitiating the migrane gods, September 16, 2000)

Recurring dreams of sexual activity

"Another recurring dream is an erotic one, usually involving someone I'd been with that day or a famous musician or singer I had listened to that day. I almost always realize these are dreams while they are happening and am usually (delightfully) able to program them. If such dreams don't result in a climax that wakes me, I'm very prone to developing a headache. I don't know if anyone else has described these events to you as related somehow to migraines. But I hope they give some insights into your research."

(Jane Gwaltney, Email to Klaus Podoll, January 21, 2003)

"I do often find that I have very intense and vivid dreams before waking up with a migraine. Occasionally it will involve a loved one, whose face will change, become monstrous, and they will then start pounding on my head with an open fist. These dreams ocur semi-regularly. I have never had visual transformation when I am awake and experiencing migraine. In the dream itself, it will start out as a pleasant situation with someone I care about (last year, it was typically my boyfriend at the time). Their physical features will transform themselves - the teeth become exagerated, lips spread apart, eyes become larger and frightening - and then the entity that was my lover/friend will then start beating at my head, yes. While I can generally be aware that I am in a dream state, this becomes quite frightening. These dreams generally occur at the moment between sleep and waking, though at times they have been vivid enough to wake me up from a deep sleep."

(Ladypeculiar, Email to Klaus Podoll, August 9, 2005)

"Vor ca. 2 Jahren hab ich fast jede Nacht einmal (selten 2 mal) eine Orgasmus bekommen. Manchmal durch erotische Träume. Manchmal kann ich mich nicht mehr daran erinnern warum. Eigentlich sollte das ja nicht so schlecht sein, aber bei mir kommt das Problem hinzu, dass ich größere Migräneauraprobleme habe (das ich eine ganz spezielle Migräneart, die ich schon seit mehereren Jahren habe). Das Problem ist, dass diese Orgasmen mich zum Teil schwächen und die Auslösung der Migräne-Aura begünstigen, was nicht so lustig ist."

(Andreas, Forum Homoeopathie - Krankheitsbilder - Zähne und Orga, February 26, 2006)

References

Féré C. Note sur des rêves précurseurs de la migraine ophthalmique. Rev Méd 1903; 23: 127-130.
Lippman CW. Recurrent dreams in migraine: an aid to diagnosis. J Nerv Ment Dis 1954; 120: 273-276.
Namazi MR. Presentation of migraine as odontalgia. Headache 2001; 41: 420-421.
Podoll K, Töpper R, Robinson D, Saß H. Wiederkehrende Träume als Aurasymptome der Migräne. Fortschr Neurol Psychiat 2000; 68: 145-149.

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