That #$?@! Nightmare

I occasionally have a nightmare where my eating is out of control, and I'm eating pastries and candy and stuff like that. When I wake up, I'm so relieved to find out it was just a dream! I'm also relieved to realise that I have absolutely no craving for whatever I was eating in the dream.

This nightmare is right up there with the one where I have a final in a class I've never been to, the one where I'm naked but no one else has noticed yet, and the one where I'm trying to accomplish some vague task in a very confusing bureaucracy.

Anyone else have that dream, or something similar?

I have not had that one -- and if I do tonight, I'm totally blaming you, lol!

well, I think many people probably have dreams like that as their brains work out anxieties around food failures and successes, etc. If you control your environment it thankfully shouldn't be an issue even if you sleepwalk ;)

Yes. And I still have dreams that I'm smoking - and I quit smoking 25 years ago!! I think it might just be part of addiction - it's so much a part of your personality that the thoughts stay with you years after you've given it up.

Yes! I had one recently where I was at this party and was gorging out on cake and ice cream and in the moment I panicked because I realized I wasn't supposed to be eating this. Then I woke up and was so relieved it was only a dream! I've also had the naked classroom dream....those are always fun....not!

After posting this, I noticed a pattern. I have sleep apnea, and occasionally the mask will slip and I end up with an extremely dry mouth. My sleeping brain sometimes interprets that strange sensation to mean I'm stuffing my mouth full of food. And now when I think back on it, most of the times I've had that nightmare, I've also woken up with a dry mouth to find my mask has slipped.

Of course, I'm sure there's a subconscious worry about losing control over food that also contributes to this dream. But the fact that in the dream I'm quite literally stuffing my mouth with food suggests that mask slippage is the main factor.

Wow! That makes a lot of sense but still, it is always interesting to where our minds take us in our sleep and what we recall the next morning. I hope things get better.

This is sort of off topic but you mention sleep apnea and I see your surgery date as back in 2018. Did your sleep apnea improve at all after surgery?

My sleep apnea definitely changed after surgery, but didn't really improve. I used to have a problem where my throat would close up, but that no longer occurs. The problem I have now is that my nasal tissues often swell and block off my breathing. Nasal dilators help a little, but I have a tiny nose and it's hard to find one that fits properly. I'm still using the CPAP.