Starrant's dreams

"This morning, I went on a 9 mile run beginning at 06.30 a.m. After finishing the run, I was really tired and fell asleep on my couch for about an hour. Anyway, when I woke up in the middle of the dream for some reason, I noticed that my VS was a lot worse for about a minute until it went down to a level I am used to seeing. I wonder if the REM phase of sleep when you dream has an effect on the VS (making it worse) or if it is just sleep in general that causes it to worsen. Of course, in many of my dreams not surprisingly, I have bad VS in the dream, although sometimes I will dream and not recall any VS. Just wondering what you guys think about this."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Dreams making VS worse, July 22, 2006)

"My dream earlier this morning was fairly standard... I had a dream that I was telling the pastor of my church about the fine cooking of one of the Church members. As the pastor and I walked over to the woman to tell her how great her cooking was, I can remember looking at her and having the view distorted with weird visual symptoms, which I am of course used to in real life. The way I saw her in the dream, however, was not exactly how I see in real life as far as I can remember. There were concentrated flashing lights in my dream visual field as opposed to the floaters and VS. It is really hard to remember exactly how I saw her, but I do remember thinking in the dream about my symptoms and accepting their extreme annoyance without being alarmed. I have also had dreams without VS or at least without thinking about it at all during the dream. I would say though that in perhaps half of my dreams, I imagine my visual symptoms. This makes sense, as dreams seem to be a random combination of your current thoughts and feelings. Also, this may be off topic, but has anyone had dreams where you tell yourself in the middle of the dream that this is a dream? I can remember a few times where I would suddenly stop myself in the dream and think, 'wait... this is just a dream!' I would then remember real life in the dream, and then basically tell myself, 'alright, let's just continue with the dream!' This has happened a few times. Weird huh? Anyway, there are many times where I wake up and don't notice the VS to be any worse. This morning though, it was bad enough that the individual snowy particles looked kind of like giant vibrating bubbles. If I stay in bed, the bad snow will continue, but when I get up, it goes back to 'normal levels' fairly quickly."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Dreams making VS worse, July 22, 2006)

"[Dr Podoll], nothing positive at all with the VS itself. However, I will say that for me, it puts everything in perspective. Things that used to upset me don't even phase me anymore. It's amazing the things you can end up taking for granted. My vision used to be perfect. Absolutely perfect and snow free. For 16 years of my life my vision was perfect. And then, something happened to me which I haven't been able to understand yet. Something happened to me 8.5 years ago to change everything. I never had a severe headache with vomiting, etc. I wasn't involved in some horrendous accident at the time that almost killed me. Nope, one day I woke up and my vision was never the same. I woke up to bad VS, floaters, a mysterious ability to see my retinal white blood cells darting everywhere, and bad afterimages. I can recall the exact date. On Thursday January 15, 1998, my vision was perfect, and I didn't have a care in the world. On Friday January 16, 1998, my vision became messed up to this very day. The only thing is that I had a green blob form in my vision for 20 minutes approximately a week and a half before (maybe January 4th). This episode happened after a swim practice as I was changing in the locker room. A stupid, seemingly harmless migraine aura without a headache. Unless it was something else? [Dr Podoll] are there other events besides migraines that cause blobs in your vision which completely obscure vision that go away? My vision has been an absolute mystery as most people here can attest. Not knowing what happened and what exactly is wrong with me is killing me! I would give anything just to know right now! For those people born with VS, my heart goes out to you. I at least got to see completely normally for the first 16 years of my life. I would give everything to be able to see normally. I would sell away all of my possesions and become a begger on the street with no family or friends and no job in exchange for perfect vision. I would gladly rather be paralyzed in exchange for perfect vision. If God appeared to me and said that He would restore my vision if I pick up a hacksaw and cut off one of my hands.... gosh it would take courage and would proabably take me a few days to gear up for it, but that saw would be cutting. I feel like I could live with anything else if my vision was normal. When your vision is messed, up there are very, very few if any escapes from it. For me, my only true escape is when I am sleeping. Many of my dreams won't have VS in them, just a few of them which I am thankful for. (Or maybe the VS is there but I definitely don't think about in my dream.) If there will ever come a day in this lifetime where I can see somewhat normally again, I can say for sure that I would be in heaven. I feel like I could do anything and live with anything if my vision was normal. Sorry for the long post, but this is a support forum after all, and I just wanted to vent. I am sure many others here feel the same way I do. So one positive aspect of VS is it makes all other problems seem so incredibly small. At least for me, anyway."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Beauty of vs, August 13, 2006)

"Just to reiterate, most of the time, I don't notice VS when I dream. I actually rarely remember my dreams. However, there are dreams where I see it and it will bother me just like it does in real life. Fortunately, though, I can have many dreams where I just can't recall noticing visual snow."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – vs during a dream, August 20, 2006)

"I guess I do get nocturnal migraines. I am not sure if that dream I announced on this forum was in fact an episode of migraine aura because I remember there being VS in the dream but not a definite migraine visual aura like the one I had while awake. I could have had VS in my dream simply because my vision is on my mind alot lately. Anyway, I do remember dreams where I will be blinded in the dream from a very bright light. Also, I have had dreams where I am trying to run, but my legs feel so weak and slightly numb so I just can't move very well - almost like I feel somewhat paralyzed during the dream. Could feelings of paralysis during a dream indicate a possible form of nocturnal migraine?"

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Question about Nocturnal Migraines, September 15, 2006)

"I am not disputing the attack I had 8.5 years ago while awake. That was definetely a migraine aura or something just like that. I wasn't so sure about the dream I had, but I guess you are right after looking back at what I posted earlier. The fact that I stated seeing concentrated flashing lights sort of gives it away. Anyway, I am going to make an effort to remember my dreams by writing them down right away, to see how frequently I may be getting nocturnal migraine auras."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Question about Nocturnal Migraines, September 15, 2006)

"My visual symptoms in my dreams seem different than what I see in real life. Usually, when I remember dreaming about my visual symptoms, they will seem worse and different. However, I can have dreams where I don't remember any snow or my other symptoms."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – The Grain Effect – malbatahan, October 25, 2006)

"Not much to worry about, certainly, but the fact that many of us see snow in our dreams provides good clues into what is wrong in our brains."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – The Grain Effect – To Starrant, October 27, 2006)

"Ok, I am getting a sleep study completed on me pronto. I don't know if what I experienced last night was a migraine attack or a side effect of the Topamax (I am still only on 25 mg a night), but I had this dream where all of a sudden, in the middle of the dream, somebody turned off gravity and I found myself all upside-down and disoriented. Now, when I woke up from that dream I faintly remember my VS being worse than ever, like it was worse than it normally can be upon wakening! Today, I think my VS isn't any worse than it has been (it certainly isn't any better and my vision is so bad now, that I feel it is very hard to tell if it is in fact any worse). I will just say that my visual snow isn't obviously worse which is not to say it may not be slightly worse today. Also, I do feel slightly dizzy today which may be a side effect of the Topamax, so maybe that dizziness I felt in my dream was from the Topamax?"

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Weird attack last night, November 26, 2006)

"I went back to sleep right after I woke up to the horrible VS. I guess I was so tired, that I just went right back to sleep. Also, during the dream... I felt upside down and really dizzy and I saw upside down in the dream. All of a sudden, in the dream, the Earth lost it's gravity and I went upside down and I was like flying away! I couldn't tell you what the dream was about unfortunately."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Weird attack last night, November 26, 2006)

"When I wake up from sleep whether a very short nap or a long sleep, my vision is absolute chaos when I stare up at my plain white ceiling. Its like it is a swirling void of pure snow. This happens every time after waking up so it must be the reduced blood pressure when sleeping or perhaps something else about sleep that causes more snow? Perhaps the issue of visual snow is more a change in consciousness which obviously occurs when you sleep? I am going to try and get a sleep study done..."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Waking and night, November 27, 2006)

"... my VS is pretty much always worse immediately after awakening. However, the severity of it can depend. Sometimes, I will wake up after another 'weird dream with aura symptoms' with really, really bad VS. I have also woken up with like a couple of random, concentrated snow spots that will rapidly dissipate after a few seconds to perhaps a minute (color kaleidoscope). So for me, my vision is always worse upon waking up; it is just a question of how worse. Now, for whatever reason, I only get headaches after waking up on the weekends (I guess from sleeping in?) I think that my stange dream attacks probably strike more on the weekends as well."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Waking and night, November 27, 2006)

"K, to expand on what you said earlier. My visual snow is ALWAYS temporarily worse after awakening. Not occasionally, but always. I mean, certainly within the last 6 months that my peristent visual symptoms have been really, really bothering me, my snow is always worse. Also, my snow is temporarily worse for maybe 1-2 minutes at most before it settles to 'base' level (which is still very chaotic!!), where it remains the same way throughout the entire day no matter what I do. This temporary worsening after awakening never lasts anywhere near 15-30 minutes but I would say really only about a minute or so at the most, leading me to think it is a blood flow type of issue. Anyway, is blood flow at all reduced to your visual cortex or other parts of the brain when you sleep? Then when you first awake, does it take perhaps a minute or so for your heart to pump up your blood to its 'normal' level in the visual cortex and in other brain areas? That being said, I have experienced some dreams of course with aura symptoms incorporated into the dreams (only maybe 1-2 times a month that I recall, though). Also, I have been waking up with dull headaches frequently. I have also noticed, in addition to the temporary worsening of the visual snow, 'weird concentrated snow spots and other bizzare things' that last as long as the temporary worsening of the snow - only about a minute or two. Also, looking at a plain white wall is the only real easy way for me to tell for sure that my snow is worse or better. It is amazing how different surfaces and objects can 'hide' the snow."

(starrant [subject #138], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Another question to ksomething, December 11, 2006)

"Dreams are hit and miss as far as my visual symptoms. When I do have visual snow in my dream, it is usually the focus of the dream. I dream that I am outside and staring at the sky just noting all these thousands of worms (white blood cells) crawling over the sky.) The visual snow when I dream is always way worse to the point where I am practically blinded by it. Really, it is a nightmare. When I dream like this, I fell like I am staring through the fog of Hell itself. Now, is this when I am expericencing nocturnal migraine aura? No freaking idea. It could be that or I am simply dreaming about a major aspect of my life. If you were a teacher, I imagine you would have some teacher dreams. We have visual snow, so we have visual snow dreams. However, many dreams, I won't recall any visual snow. However, I have yet to have a dream where I feel like I am in Heaven where there is no visual snow..... its weird. I will have the dream, not recall noticing any visual snow, yet not even be estatic that my visual snow has dissapeared."

(starrant [subject #138], Yuku forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – VS in dreams, June 12, 2006)

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