Loss of dreams from cannabis?

[socioecologist]

The dreams disappear for me while smoking too, only to reappear with ferocious intensity upon cessation. There have been a number of threads on this topic over the years with pretty consistent results. I'm fascinated by it--thanks for revisiting this spurr.

Read a study a couple months back (and can't for the life of me find it...) about dreams/cannabis. The researchers monitored brain waves of people who were under the influence of marijuana and noticed that they were similar to those in REM sleep. If that's the case, there's a good chance that we're accessing the recesses of our mind usually reserved for sleep while sparking up--a hypothesis that just feels right to me.

 

[spurr]

I watched a show on sleep that talked about REM vs this other state of sleep(Cant remember the name),

Alpha, beta and theta?

 

[spurr]

@ socioecologist,

Very interesting, thanks. I would love to read that study, if you can find it, I can get it for free in full text, if it's from a subscribed journal.

 

[STRAINZ]

IME, as a heavy smoker for 18 yrs, I have noticed the same thing! I almost never dream/don't remember dreams when smoking heavy. And I also have very lucid dreams (that I remember) when I don't smoke for 12-24 hrs. It seems from people's responses that it may depend on how quickly each person metabolizes THC & other cannabinoids as to when the dreams may begin!?! (I have an insanely fast metabolism)

Spurr, great thread & I also seem to always have control in my dreams....

 

[spurr]

Okay, today will be my last day of smoking for the next two weeks. I want some dreams, damn it!

For my severe and chronic pain I will have to resort to taking muscle relaxers and pain killers (prob. a bunch of perks). I wish I had some opium with me now, that would be the ticket instead of perks, etc.

Now I think about it, I have VERY vivid dreams after drinking enough poppy tea to get high and dull my back pain. I will order some opium poppies online (they are legal) and make tea from them, per usual, for my pain meds, I won't bother using perks. However, if I do that, the opium will affect my dreams ... decisions, decisions ...

 

[DARKSIDER]

no dreams here either

 

[spurr]

@ darksider,

What if I dream about smoking weed?!

Better yet, what if I have a lucid dream, and I choose to smoke weed in my dream? ... the best of both worlds?

 

[Chimera]

You are still dreaming, cannabis use does not stop you from dreaming.

I personally have experienced similar effects when taking breaks etc, but I think it's more related to your ability to remember the dreams, then that you are not dreaming.

REM is crucial to proper human health and sanity, if cannabis stopped REM completely you'd have a bunch of insane pot heads running around.... sounds like something Ansliger's propaganda crew would have exploited.

-Chimera

 

[Hydrosun]

Spurr,

This is a great thread filled with personal experiences! I too notice a considerable lack of dreams when smoking cannabis, and I smoke some 350+ days a year for over a decade.

I have found if I drink a lot of water and take a few Melatonin (6mg), I have the sounder sleep including dreams, despite my heavy cannabis use.

We all know about cannabis use and dreams, does anyone know any long term cannabis only smokers that have contracted cancer?

 

[spurr]

You are still dreaming, cannabis use does not stop you from dreaming.

I personally have experienced similar effects when taking breaks etc, but I think it's more related to your ability to remember the dreams, then that you are not dreaming.

REM is crucial to proper human health and sanity, if cannabis stopped REM completely you'd have a bunch of insane pot heads running around.... sounds like something Ansliger's propaganda crew would have exploited.

-Chimera

^^^ good points

 

[devilgoob]

Oh, you don't have any REM dreams you can remember?

I can't remember my dreams either. It makes sense you still dream, but don't remember it because you're in a deep sleep.

still dreamin alpha wayvz into my reality for dayz until my brain doesnt have to compensate in many wayz deciphering its own alpha waves for dayz while youre asleep comatose on tha marijuana, turn into a modern day morpheuz become a visionary and victorious on that haze.

anyway day dream much?

Hi, if anyone knows about alpha waves and marijuana, maybe you can understand my phat rhyme.

 

[spurr]

Spurr,

This is a great thread filled with personal experiences! I too notice a considerable lack of dreams when smoking cannabis, and I smoke some 350+ days a year for over a decade.

I have found if I drink a lot of water and take a few Melatonin (6mg), I have the sounder sleep including dreams, despite my heavy cannabis use.

I too find taking melatonin can enhance dreams, I think it crosses the blood-brain barrier, no? I haven't taken 6 mg, that's a lot. I take 3-4 a night, 20 mins before bed. However, I notice the effect on dreams from melatonin is temporary when first starting use of melatonin. For me, affects on dreams only happen after I have stopped taking them for a while, and then start again, and it only lasts a week or two once I start taking them (if that long).

 

[wisco61]

If I wake up in the morning and then go back to bed for a little while, I will get dreams in that 1/2 hour to hour period, but otherwise nada.

But, I do still talk in my sleep so I assume dreams are causing that and I just don't remember them.

 

[nattynattygurrl]

Wow! This is so interesting. I always attributed my lack of dreams, or not remembering my dreams, to fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue synd. But, what Dubwise said also makes a lot of sense to me; during times of extreme stress, I have noticed, (or maybe just remembered), very vivid 'nightmares'...(these were definitely times I was toking, I haven't taken a break in years.)

Really interesting to see so many people reporting the same thing.

 

[OjoRojo420]

Hello Spurr,

Let me share something with you. For some of us who suffer from PTSD the lack of dream recall is a lifesaver!

Vivid nightmares are "culled" and you can finally rest for at least six hours, thus avoiding psychotic episodes (due mainly to chronic insomnia).

As a cruel turn of events, the VA is now prescribing Seroquel as a treatment for PTSD and insomnia.

This drug makes you sleep alright, eight hours straight...! But it has a very dark side awaiting PTSD folks...

So happens that Seroquel makes you have some of the most vivid nightmares you can imagine.
Before you could wake up... now, you were "there again" for extended episodes of High Definition night terrors. Add to this an state of "retarded" sedation and your quality of life goes to the proverbial shitter.

There is just one exception to this rule and it was while smoking a nice Ind/BB dom pheno of NL#5 x Blueberry.

This particular pheno (now gone) had the property of making you "lucid dream" as soon as you closed your eyes in bed (give or take few minutes). Similar to Opiates, including the body rushes and comforting inner blanket sensation.

This particular "dreaming" was always funny and entertaining and several times I was awaken by my own laughter while enjoying those episodes. But once I would fall soundly asleep I would not remember any dreaming for the rest of the night.

This cannabis experience remains untouched to this day and most heavy strains (such as the NL#5 x Sweet Skunk I have now) just give you nice narcotic sedation and dream "culling".

That makes Cannabis an even more important medication of choice for PTSD !

Ojo

 

[rock solid]

very rare i remember my dreams if at all

 

[fabvariousk]

If you remember your dreams you are not getting good sleep.
It is very unhealthy.
I smoke so I don't have to deal with my unconscious states.
My conscious ones are hard enough.

 

[Morphote]

You are still dreaming, cannabis use does not stop you from dreaming.

I personally have experienced similar effects when taking breaks etc, but I think it's more related to your ability to remember the dreams, then that you are not dreaming.

I had that thought, but for me it does not explain the intensity of the dreams. IME it feels like I am "backed up". I get the distinct feeling that I have not been dreaming. My brain believes this even before I start dreaming again. Then my dreams seem to confirm this. If I have been dreaming, then why do I feel like I have not. Even if I was just not remembering, why does it feel so new and so real to me. It is not what I consider normal dreaming, not by a long shot. It is amplified dreaming, as if I have not been dreaming and have almost forgotten how to. Also, over time the dreams become less intense (still vivid and always breathtaking, but definitely less intense), as if I am getting used to dreaming again. This, to me, says that I have not been dreaming properly for ages. It is more something I feel, and less something I necessarily know.

M.

 

[spurr]

Hello Spurr,

Let me share something with you. For some of us who suffer from PTSD the lack of dream recall is a lifesaver!

Vivid nightmares are "culled" and you can finally rest for at least six hours, thus avoiding psychotic episodes (due mainly to chronic insomnia).

Respect

As a cruel turn of events, the VA is now prescribing Seroquel as a treatment for PTSD and insomnia.

This drug makes you sleep alright, eight hours straight...! But it has a very dark side awaiting PTSD folks...

Damn, sorry to hear that. I thought they okay'd use of medical cannabis, no?

 

[spurr]

If you remember your dreams you are not getting good sleep.
It is very unhealthy.
I smoke so I don't have to deal with my unconscious states.
My conscious ones are hard enough.

I will have to respectfully disagree. Since time immemorial native peoples have been using dream states for various reasons; more so lucid dreams, which can be 'big' dreams.

I'm pretty positive remembering dreams is a good thing, or at least it's not a bad thing (caveat, as pointed out by OjoRojo420, dreaming can be a bad thing if one has bad dreams). However, I would be open to reading studies or other scientific data you may have with respect to it being unhealthy to remember dreams.