Loss of dreams from cannabis?

[trichrider]

if i'm not mistaken, cannabis helps you forget. read it somewhere, but i've got so many cannabis related articles that it's no hope looking for it.

seldom do i remember a dream longer than a few minutes...and lucidity is nonexistent (even during conciousness). i would take a break to confirm, but to what purpose?

even when doped on opiates i couldn't remember dreams.

common thread in this tapestry is forgettting.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Quit smoking for a week. Your dreams will be so weird you'll never quit again.

 

[Morphote]

if i'm not mistaken, cannabis helps you forget. read it somewhere, but i've got so many cannabis related articles that it's no hope looking for it.

seldom do i remember a dream longer than a few minutes...and lucidity is nonexistent (even during conciousness). i would take a break to confirm, but to what purpose?

even when doped on opiates i couldn't remember dreams.

common thread in this tapestry is forgettting.

I first heard this while watching The Botany of Desire:

Botany Of Desire : Cannabis [1/2]
Botany Of Desire : Cannabis [2/2]

Here is a 1 hr in-depth lecture given by the author:

Cannabis Forgetting and the Botany of Desire: Michael Pollan

I wonder how many OD growers will start growing lima beans.

M.

 

[Chimera]

OjoRojo and Morphote, very interesting posts both of you. fab your post isn't true, the degree with which people remember dreams varies within the population... some people barely remember their dreams at all, some people remember many of their dreams.

We don't know exactly what dreaming is for, but there is some significant evidence that dreaming is involved in the conversion of daily events into long term memories. Somehow your brain shuffles through the days events and sorts the events in terms of their importance to your survival, tosses irrelevant info and keeps the momories that have importance... like where you found food that day.

This is why I found Ojo's post so interesting- that PTSD is essentially a variation on that theme... an event was so shocking or stressful, that it is 'over-encoded' in the memory.... at least there is an over-emphasis on the event in terms of emotional importance to the point that it interferes with daily life. Some treatments for PTSD involve re-exposure to the memory or scene in a controllable manner, so the patient can set a new emotional response the the cue.

Interestingly, there is evidence that the endocannabinoid system also plays a role in the conversion of short-term events into memory.

I suspect what we are seeing here is an overlap of all of these issues.
My 2 cents
-Chimera

 

[Cappy]

No dreams for me, but that doesn't mean we don't have them. We just don't remember them. I promise you, we all dream...

 

[guest 77721]

I get really vivid dreams and actually look forward to taking a break because the first few nights are "Movie" nights for me!

 

[spurr]

OjoRojo and Morphote, very interesting posts both of you. fab your post isn't true, the degree with which people remember dreams varies within the population... some people barely remember their dreams at all, some people remember many of their dreams.

We don't know exactly what dreaming is for, but there is some significant evidence that dreaming is involved in the conversion of daily events into long term memories. Somehow your brain shuffles through the days events and sorts the events in terms of their importance to your survival, tosses irrelevant info and keeps the momories that have importance... like where you found food that day.

This is why I found Ojo's post so interesting- that PTSD is essentially a variation on that theme... an event was so shocking or stressful, that it is 'over-encoded' in the memory.... at least there is an over-emphasis on the event in terms of emotional importance to the point that it interferes with daily life. Some treatments for PTSD involve re-exposure to the memory or scene in a controllable manner, so the patient can set a new emotional response the the cue.

Interestingly, there is evidence that the endocannabinoid system also plays a role in the conversion of short-term events into memory.

I suspect what we are seeing here is an overlap of all of these issues.
My 2 cents
-Chimera

Great post. K+

Re:

Some treatments for PTSD involve re-exposure to the memory or scene in a controllable manner, so the patient can set a new emotional response the the cue.

There was an episode of House (on TV), where a guy with PTSD had lingering pain in a non-existent arm. In the episode, his arm was blown off in combat, while holding a grande, IIRC. His pain came from an always-clenched (non-existent) fist, attached to a non-existent arm.

To help the guy get rid of his 'mental' pain, the pain he felt in a non-existent arm and hand, House used a trick with mirrors (so it looked like he has both arms and two hands) and guided imagery. It really stood out to me as something that could work in real life, and I wonder now if the House episode took bits of real PTSD treatment, to which you are referring.

In that House episode, House had the guy imagine he let go of the grenade instead of holding onto it, while looking in the mirror at his non-existent arm/hand (from a trick with the mirror). When he did so he felt the 'mental' pain of a clinched fist disappear, that seems to be what you refer to as "... set a new emotional response the the cue.".

 

[DaPurps]

Yes. I don't remember any dreams while I am smoking. As soon as I take a break the nightmares come back, and they are bad.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Yeah, nightmares are bad shit. I guess you'll never stop smoking, eh DaPurps?

 

[guest 77721]

I'm the complete opposite. I've only had one true nightmare that I can remember. My sisters had them all the time when we were kids but not me.

I had taken Tylenol with codiene for a migraine and found myself in a Silence of the Lambs basement full of mutilated rotting bodies. I've only taken it one other time with a bad dream but not as bad as the first one.

 

[Stoner4Life]

I've recently cut back my consumption & have started dreaming again, some real doozies too.......

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I bet folks that eat lots of cannabis have more pronounced dream variations according to intake. I know when I do edibles I don't remember a damn thing, not even rolling over in my sleep, lol. Stone cold crashed.

 

[SOTF420]

I normally only smoke at night after the day is all done, and you know what I am smoking usually.

I think back when I was smoking "regs" that were mostly sativa's I would not dream very much. There seems to be some strain dependent relation here with the dreaming or not or as Chimera pointed out the ability to remember it. (I totally agree with this)

These days regardless of how much I smoke I still dream heavily but I like to sleep alot and always try to get at least 8 hours a night and even better is 10 or more. If I only sleep for 4 or 5 hours which is just unavoidable sometimes I don't recall any dreams taking place so I may or may not be entering the REM state where dreams are said to occur. Or maybe I just don't remember them? I know studies have shown that people sleep much less today than ever in history and many people are seriously sleep deprived which is really really bad for you and leads to a lower functioning immune system and a build up of stress hormones amongst other ailments caused by lack of rest. You need proper rest, your life & health fully depends on it.

Most nights though if I get a complete 8 hours + rest then I have very vivid intense dreams and even lucid dreams where I am in control of them in my mind. This is after smoking right before going to bed 9 times out of 10. I am not a heavy smoker though and the strain I am smoking is part Blueberry as was mentioned in this thread already so there might be some strain related differences here and maybe there is something chemical missing or not missing not sure I'm no expert on the chemistry aspect. I know that when I have stopped smoking in the past I would wake up with bad anxiety attacks and even sweating with nightmares and this never happens when I am regularly smoking Cannabis.

I used to dream alot and have lucid dreams when I was a child and I always thought it meant I had a few screws loose to be fully aware and making decisions in my dreams but have come to appreciate the lucid dreams even though sometimes it's hard to seperate the dreams from reality when you are in them and it can be quite scary if you can't get out of them. Sometimes I have the "trying to wake up" episode in my dreams where I realize it's a dream and it's something negative or scary so I try to force myself to wake up and can't do so now that is a real head trip let me tell you what it's not fun.

I also think if anyone is going to just stop using Cannabis though you should slowly cut down on your usage gradually and not just go cold turkey as it seems to me like it's somewhat of a shock to the human body because after all the cannabinoids serve some very crucial beneficial roles in human health and do replicate the effects of our own endocannabinoid system which seems to have some very important underlying reasons for existence in the body mainly in supporting the health & proper function of the brain and central nervous system along with many other roles. Since I started using Cannabis on a regular basis I have been a healthier & much happier person in general and don't suffer from the agony I used to as a young teenager with crippling anxiety and depression. I have had some very traumatic things happen in life as well (we all have) and used to really dwell on them and fixate on them to the point of near insanity but it does seem like Cannabis has helped to overwrite those experiences and thoughts with new positive ones and help me just reset my mental state so I could move on. I believe I owe my life & mental stability to Cannabis and without it I don't think I would still be here. I just can't say thank you enough times to Cannabis it really is a powerful & healing plant.

 

[supermanlives]

i have never thought about it before this. i would have to agree.

 

[BornToBeWild]

When I first go to sleep no dreams at all, but if I awake in the middle of the night then go back to sleep have some very vivid dreams.

 

[Dankgravy]

I think it is hard to dismiss the notion that cannabis messes with REM sleep after seeing all of these responses. I honestly thought that was common knowledge..

Another point towards this, most of the people that I know that don't smoke every day (myself included) feel almost like a hangover effect the next day, like I didn't get enough sleep..

 

[Opus53]

I get really vivid dreams and actually look forward to taking a break because the first few nights are "Movie" nights for me!

my movie nights all have freddy krugar in them

 

[woolybear]

I know for a fact 'erb can remove (the memory of?) dreams. I've had some crazy dreams the last few months, can I attribute this to the fact I only smoke what I grow now?

 

[fukndenny]

I have a lot of vivid dreams and i smoke a J right before bed every single night.

 

[SOTF420]

What are you smoking, different kinds of herb? More info please