Ever had a dream affect your life, or your life affect a dream?

[Peace]

When I was young, I had a recurring dream. I would dream that I was in a situation where something was restricting my airway, ie; something chocking me, something landing on my neck etc. I would try desperately to breathe but could not. Finally I would wake, and discover that I could not breathe in real life. My throat seemed to just be closed. I tried desperately, but to no avail. Eventually I would begin to start breathing a little, and a little more and then finally I was gasping full breaths. This was scary and I did not understand what was happening.
Eventually I learned that I was somehow involuntarily holding my breath. I learned that if I relaxed my throat, I could get my airway open and breathe again. I remember waking up and thinking, OK, I know what this is, RELAX, just relax and breathe, everything is OK.
I finally stopped having this dream, but will always remember how it made me feel and the thought of not being able to breathe.

 

[King_Oni]

Well, if anything, I frequently have a deja vu, where I dream something and 2 or 3 weeks later it actually happens and I'm like.. wait a second... I've seen this before. Rarely something spectacular. Sometimes I wish it would be more useful, like seeing the numbers in the lottery or so, lol.

And then there was this one time where I was home from work early and went to lie down for a few hours. I had a dream I was a car crash with a co-worker. The next day at work, said co-worker didn't show up and our supervisor told us he was in a car crash. Most likely at the same time I had the dream (since looking at the end of his shift, the travel home and all). After a few weeks when he showed up I described him the crash in great detail... that freaked him out.

The thing with these kind of dreams for me is, that at some point I can't really differentiate what is just a bad dream and improbable and what's a realistic scenario. I rarely have bad dreams in general, but when I do they're never these odd dreams that seem impossible to happen (I mean, some people have nightmares about monsters or so). When my dreams are realistic they're always kinda gritty and that makes it a bit harder to make a difference in general. It does keep me bit on edge I guess.

 

[Amee]

Some of the nightmares I had as a kid has formed behaviors in me close to OCD, so yes, my dreams has affected my life. And yes, my life affects my dreams too. Whenever I get stuck in a certain idea or thought or memory or or a new intense interest, I tend to dream about it.

 

[Easter]

I suffered sleep paralysis and had scary figures visit me... that changed my life a bit.. Old Hag Syndrome, its not fun.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I suffered sleep paralysis and had scary figures visit me... that changed my life a bit.. Old Hag Syndrome, its not fun.

I heard of The Old Hag Syndrome on Coast to Coast am! How many times did it happen to you? What exactly did you see if you can remember? How long did it last? Did you tell anyone?

 

[nowwhat]

I am not, as a rule, given to metaphysical flights of fancy, but I have had a couple of very significant dreams in my life:

One, when I was 18. I awoke seeing excerpts from a dream that I couldn't remember in its entirety. They were very clear but short segments. I remember knowing they were from the previous night's journey, and that they had a specific, concrete quality that was unlike most remembered dreams. There was nothing nonsensical, bizarre or impossible about them. Each one of them was too brief to infer much from, so I let it go. Later that day, at several different times, my day's actual experience would seem to slide right over, and suddenly perfectly match each of the scenes I remembered from my dream. It was the day I was in an automobile accident that very seriously injured two of my friends. There was a roadside scene, one looking out the back of the ambulance, and I couple of others. Why? What did this mean? Who knows?

Many years later, I was in love and obsessed with someone who showed some form of interest in me (I'm aspie, so to this day I have to clue how much or exactly what sort of interest; isn't Aspergers fun?) She was brilliant and beautiful, free and fun and outgoing. So far out of my league that is was starkly depressing to even consider my situation. A worse match would have been hard to conceive. The thing is, even had I known her feelings to be reciprocal, I wouldn't have dared to think it possible, or act on my feelings. The awful truth is, she could have only done better, and believing this, and being in the idiotic state of having serious feelings for her, my love was doomed to remain unrequieted by my sincere (and frankly correct) belief that at best, I would be a waste of her time. I awoke one morning very, very upset. It seemed I had been dreaming something that disagreed with me. My REMsleep symbolism came back to me. A minimalist scene of a dirty, battered moth beating its brains out against a light. The moth, obsessed, heedless of its own wellbeing, singleminded in a sort of worship of the source of light. Its pursuit was the very picture of hopelessness and vanity. The light: beautiful, drawing every eye, useful and beneficial to all. The moth; a dirty hopeless nuisance. Thousands of such creatures could expend their lives in pursuit of one source of light. Not one would ever attain its goal. All of their lives sacrificed, taken together, could not help, hinder, or even be noticed by the light. I was upset because I realized I was the moth, and she the light. I lost the slight fool's hope I had been nursing and my heart broke. The next few months weren't fun.

 

[Anon88]

I mainly have dreams that reflect my real life fears. Like my fears of abandonment and loneliness. So I'll have dreams where the people I care about leave me and things like that. When I wake up I feel awful as if it really happened and it takes me the better part of a day to kick the depressed/sick feeling. Unfortunately, the feelings I have when I wake up also affect my interactions with people throughout the day until I can get over them.

 

[Easter]

I heard of The Old Hag Syndrome on Coast to Coast am! How many times did it happen to you? What exactly did you see if you can remember? How long did it last? Did you tell anyone?

I had it many times before i heard about it, told many people about it including an ex girlfriend, it started to happen to her.
There is a video on youtube called 'sleep paralysis, terror in the night' I won't post it as it is a bit scary but I was completely stunned when I saw it due to it being exactly the same in details as my experiences. I only ever had the 'old hag' come once, and that was the last time it happened... which was when I told them to F-Off by shouting, and they did. For many years I just had the shadowy silhouette man in my room but you know he is coming before he does as firstly you wake in what seems to be another dimension, though it is the same room.. You can't move or make a sound no matter what you do and this thing is waking around the bed or the room or leaning over you or doing worse in some cases.
The thing that gets me is the detail..... The last time it happened I was next to an ex in bed and it began, my head was in the centre of the room with my feet towards the wall in bed and the shadow man just walked in through the locked door and leaned right over my head, like he was sort of upside down in my vision by leaning, then he was followed by the tip-toeing old lady.... SHE HAS RUNNING MASCARA! so weird !!!! and she was moving her ugly face right towards mine before I broke out and shouted Foff. It is really scary and really really strange and completely true... so many people have seen the EXACT beings in the same way, how it that possible?

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I had it many times before i heard about it, told many people about it including an ex girlfriend, it started to happen to her.
There is a video on youtube called 'sleep paralysis, terror in the night' I won't post it as it is a bit scary but I was completely stunned when I saw it due to it being exactly the same in details as my experiences. I only ever had the 'old hag' come once, and that was the last time it happened... which was when I told them to F-Off by shouting, and they did. For many years I just had the shadowy silhouette man in my room but you know he is coming before he does as firstly you wake in what seems to be another dimension, though it is the same room.. You can't move or make a sound no matter what you do and this thing is waking around the bed or the room or leaning over you or doing worse in some cases.
The thing that gets me is the detail..... The last time it happened I was next to an ex in bed and it began, my head was in the centre of the room with my feet towards the wall in bed and the shadow man just walked in through the locked door and leaned right over my head, like he was sort of upside down in my vision by leaning, then he was followed by the tip-toeing old lady.... SHE HAS RUNNING MASCARA! so weird !!!! and she was moving her ugly face right towards mine before I broke out and shouted Foff. It is really scary and really really strange and completely true... so many people have seen the EXACT beings in the same way, how it that possible?

I used to not really pay attention much when they talked about it on Coast to Coast am because I thought it was too strange and a figment of imagination, but now that I'm hearing about it again randomly here I'm going to make sure I listen when they discuss the topic again. It really sounds like an evil spirit to me. It would be a coincidence for so many people to have the same experience - but I don't believe in coincidences. (My hairs are standing up on my arms!) I wish you would post the you-tube video with an advisory that it is scary so people can see it who want to see it.

 

[clg114]

I don't think dreams affect my life to much because I normally can't remember them. I have had my life affect my dreams. I'm electronics tech and sometimes I get problem jobs that about drive me crazy (crazier?). I just can't stop thinking about it. At bedtime I can't go to sleep because I'm thinking about it and when I finally do go to sleep, I dream about it. These dreams I can remember. I have even dreamt of solutions to my problem.

 

[Easter]

I used to not really pay attention much when they talked about it on Coast to Coast am because I thought it was too strange and a figment of imagination, but now that I'm hearing about it again randomly here I'm going to make sure I listen when they discuss the topic again. It really sounds like an evil spirit to me. It would be a coincidence for so many people to have the same experience - but I don't believe in coincidences. (My hairs are standing up on my arms!) I wish you would post the you-tube video with an advisory that it is scary so people can see it who want to see it.

Yea, If I had heard somebody else telling me about it without experiencing it myself I would of been quite skeptical and thought it was down to imagination too.. when it happens it is very real and vivid and they seem like physical beings. I was talking about it last night in the a.m to a girl online and I started to get the heebie jeebies , felt eyes on me, probably just paranoid.... here is the vid \/ , I swear to god that the details are startling to me and could only be noted by somebody experiencing the exact same thing.. (I never saw any blood though)

WARNING IT IS JUST A BIT SCARY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T WATCH IT YOU ARE EASILY FRIGHTENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Grumpy Cat]

Yea, If I had heard somebody else telling me about it without experiencing it myself I would of been quite skeptical and thought it was down to imagination too.. when it happens it is very real and vivid and they seem like physical beings. I was talking about it last night in the a.m to a girl online and I started to get the heebie jeebies , felt eyes on me, probably just paranoid.... here is the vid \/ , I swear to god that the details are startling to me and could only be noted by somebody experiencing the exact same thing.. (I never saw any blood though)

WARNING IT IS JUST A BIT SCARY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T WATCH IT YOU ARE EASILY FRIGHTENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I watched the video. That to me looks like a demon of some sort. And for several people to experience the same phenomenon who don't even know each other means that it's a very real occurrence. Maybe this "demon" or whatever can only come to a person during a certain time in the sleep cycle and this level of sleep can only be reached by certain people.

Had you heard of the "Old Hag" before it happened? Are you a believer in the paranormal? Have you researched to see if other autistic people have seen it and maybe NT's haven't? If it happened to me (I'm religious), I'd be praying and going to see a religious person for some possible guidance. In some articles I've read, some people have mentioned exorcisms - I don't know about that, but I would also wonder if my place was haunted too. What are your thoughts on all of that? Do you think it's in your mind or is it actually visiting you physically? (My hairs just stood up again!)

 

[Easter]

Ok, I watched the video. That to me looks like a demon of some sort. And for several people to experience the same phenomenon who don't even know each other means that it's a very real occurrence. Maybe this "demon" or whatever can only come to a person during a certain time in the sleep cycle and this level of sleep can only be reached by certain people.

Had you heard of the "Old Hag" before it happened? Are you a believer in the paranormal? Have you researched to see if other autistic people have seen it and maybe NT's haven't? If it happened to me (I'm religious), I'd be praying and going to see a religious person for some possible guidance. In some articles I've read, some people have mentioned exorcisms - I don't know about that, but I would also wonder if my place was haunted too. What are your thoughts on all of that? Do you think it's in your mind or is it actually visiting you physically? (My hairs just stood up again!)

I had never heard of it happening to anyone else and I didn't know anything about it or sleep paralysis until I got on the internet. I first looked it up on a friends computer and was amazed, my 'friend' thought it was nonsense, which is understandable.
From what I can tell there are many many people having the same thing , some seem like they are jumping on the band wagon but most seem genuine and pretty bothered by it. It hasn't happened to me for quite a long time, not fully to the point of being visited, but I have started to feel myself slip into the zone and got myself out of it before I was completely immersed, which is still scary.. I did for quite a while decide not to sleep until the sun came up but I am ok now.
I talked to a muslim about it once online and he thought is was the jinn , which is another word for a demon basically.
I can absolutely understand anybody thinking it is stupid or made up and I certainly can't explain it or prove it.
I am not religious (nor atheist or agnostic) but I think have a good understanding of negative and positive energies and how they can take form, perception of the external is indistinguishable from the internal, the is no reality but the reality that is inside of our heads, and that doesn't make anything less real or more real. I really don't condone belief in the paranormal or fear mongering but if something happens to me that is weird or unexplained I will be honest about it, and to be perfectly honest I believe I have witnessed dark energies manifest in many ways in my life, especially in people. I could go into my views on possession for example but that would be very long winded, it might not be a 'real' phenomenon but I am pretty sure I have witnessed what one might call possession, and in quite a few people, even like things as simple as negative behavior traits that seem to spread like diseases, negative energy possessing people is not really distinguishable from a 'demon', metaphor or not ,and there is definitely a much more we don't know than what we do. This stuff , including Old Hag Syndrome has been documented in histories and cultures since forever so there must be something to it.. ,
hope I made sense , I am a but tired hope you are well too !

 

[Easter]

On a different note, I just was watching youtube and was reminded of a dream I had long before The Lord Of The Rings films were out, I dreamed of that burning eye and then was amazed to see it in the film, exactly as I dreamed it.