Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Phenomenology of Pain During REM Sleep


Have you ever felt pain in dreams? I have. Once I dreamed I was lying on my stomach, getting a tattoo on my calf against my will. Because it was a particularly malevolent tattoo studio, I cried out in the dream. When I woke up, I felt no pain at all. It was false, a figment of the Pain Matrix. Another time a monkey bit me on the arm. Once again, the pain vanished upon awakening.

I think these examples of what I'll call "fake pain" are unusual. More common are instances when you get a calf cramp or have pins and needles in your arm while sleeping, and this real life pain gets incorporated into dreams about tattoos or monkey bites. But even these possibilities have been discounted as unlikely, because of limitations on which sensory modalities can be represented in dreams (Nielsen et al., 1993):
One possibility is that pain is beyond the representational capability of image formation processes -- that neither pain memories nor pain images are reproducible in the dreaming mode. A second possibility is that the sensory systems that might contribute to the representation of pain imagery are not functional during dreaming. This possibility is consistent with the finding that the high threshold polysynaptic afferent fibers that conduct pain sensations are actively inhibited during REM sleep in cats.
But plenty of people have reported feeling pain in dreams, so why construct hypotheses about why it's impossible? So skeptics Tore A. Nielsen and three fellow psychology graduate students, along with an undergrad art therapy student, conducted experiments on themselves in a 1993 paper. They inflated a blood pressure cuff above the knee of their colleagues 5 min into a bout of REM sleep1 [to produce ischemia of the leg muscles, i.e. pins and needles or paralysis].

Results indicated that pain sensations occurred in 13 out of 42 stimulation trials with usable dream reports (31%). In contrast, only one of the 21 non-stimulated control dreams contained a reference to pain (4.8%). Many of the dreams were realistic and took place in a sleep lab-like setting. Others were more fantastic; one was set at a rodeo, another at a dance party in a barn [the authors lived in Montreal]. Some were lucid2, like the "ugly shoe" dream:
I'm in a small store trying on a pair of ugly shoes. I started walking. Then I staggered forward because I was waking up and not fully conscious. You were laughing at me. I said "come on, its not funny, I'm trying to wake up!" This is the second or third time I've been trying to wake up.
Some of the participants were more likely to experience pain dreams than others. Subject B, who reported pain dreams on 70% of the stimulation trials, had knee surgery a few years prior and still felt numbness or tingling sensations on occasion. Most of the time, the pain sensations occurred in the appropriate leg for all participants. Interestingly, the "crampy pressure", "tingling", or "hurting a bit" sensations felt upon awakening were much less intense than those that occurred during the dream.

When interpreting these subjective reports, one has to consider an expectation or priming effect, since all the students were focused on dream research, with extensive experience in the sleep lab. However, this was not the case in a study of 28 hospitalized burn patients (Raymond et al., 2002). Obviously, the severity of suffering in burn patients is intense and chronic, unlike having temporary "pins and needles" in your leg. Over a period of 5 days, pain dreams comprised 30% of all reported dreams, which is quite comparable to the artificial BP cuff study. The patients who reported pain dreams (39%) had more nightmares, worse sleep quality, and more post-traumatic stress symptoms. The other 61% of the patients did not have any pain dreams. Why?

What sort of neurophysiological activity can account for painful sensations that are experienced during REM sleep? We'll find out in the next post.


Footnotes

1 It wasn't clear how they monitored for REM, since EEG methods were not described. However, the transcript of one dream suggested that EEG was in fact recorded:
Then I was trying to get comfortable on the bed. All the electrodes but one for the EEG had fallen off; the others were dangling free.
The dream transcript continues:
You said that this was too bad. I had tossed around in bed trying to get comfortable. It was really cold and hurt my backside. There was almost no mattress; I was on a board. I was saying to you that we had hit rock bottom in this bed.
The interesting part about this segment is that there was no BP cuff applied; out of 14 dreams this was the only one without external stimulation (kind of like my "fake pain" dreams).

2 The subject was aware they were dreaming and tried to control the action.


References

Nielsen TA, McGregor DL, Zadra A, Ilnicki D, & Ouellet L (1993). Pain in dreams. Sleep, 16 (5), 490-8 PMID: 7690981

Raymond I, Nielsen TA, Lavigne G, Choinière M. (2002). Incorporation of pain in dreams of hospitalized burn victims. Sleep 25:765-70.


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143 Comments:

At September 18, 2011 12:14 PM, Blogger Neuroskeptic said...

Interesting. I believe these studies, but in my dreams, physical pain is the one thing I never get. I get all of the emotions, I've been thirsty and (I think) hungry, etc. but never suffered pain.

 
At September 22, 2011 2:39 AM, Anonymous Matthew said...

Really interesting post, I hadn't thought about dreams as examples of non-physical pain.

I've done some experiments using hypnosis to induce an experience of pain in the absence of a physical stimulus and we found that it leads to similar activation of the pain matrix to 'real' pain. I also found a patient with PTSD who had flashbacks of pain during psychological treatment.

I'm not sure how unusual these 'fake pain' experiences are either. Osborn & Derbyshire (2010) found that 1/3 of participants in their study experienced an actual noxious somatic experience when they viewed images of unpleasant injuries.

 
At September 25, 2011 1:51 AM, Blogger The Neurocritic said...

Matthew - Thanks for the links to your very interesting work.

 
At December 20, 2012 4:42 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Very interesting .....
I often feel pain in dreams just this early morning i had a dream i was being stabbed in the hand repeatedly and i could clearly feel it , as usual though once i awoke the pain was gone .

 
At January 04, 2013 6:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Really, this is interesting but sometimes I dream of being hurt in many different ways! I know that sounds kind of morbid! My problem is the pain I feel doesn't go away when I wake, I actually have to wait til I realize I was dreaming before the pain stops!

 
At January 21, 2013 8:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very real occurrence, regardless of what the "experts" say. For years I have suffered terrible (non-recurring) nightmares. I have experienced excruciating pain in my dreams, most recently (last night) in my right knee, which has never been injured in any way. The pain startled me awake, and upon waking, the pain instantly vanished. I was left searching my bed for anything that may have bitten me or caused such a senstation, nothing. No marks on my knee, just - nothing. I am proof such a condition exists, and to the skeptics, I can only hope one day you can experience the same level of distress this can cause, particularly when you can't wake up....

 
At March 29, 2013 7:13 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Just last night, I dreamt of an alien invasion situation. My daughter was with me, and a bunch of other people, who I didn't know. We were surrounded and couldn't go anywhere. It turned into a farming situation. People were rising into the air at random times. When it was, "my turn", I felt a sharp pain in my spine while ascending towards, what I imagine to be this alien space ship. I woke up, and the pain went away. There are no marks on my back.

 
At March 31, 2013 2:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about emotional pain? My fiance and i broke up. And every night i dream of immense sadness as well as physical pain. (Last night i was shot twice!) Then i wake up at exactly 7.34am and throw up! Is that beyond weird? This has been happening for the best part of a year.
Katie.

 
At May 12, 2013 10:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What i remember of my dream was talking to a man with lots of tattoos down his neck and arms. Everything was just fine no unhappy emotions more of a pleasent feeling; then he put his hands on my neck not in a choking motion but more like a stabing with his fingers. I felt intence pain and felt parolized. Couldnt talk. Then some how i got him to move off me but not for long he then moved to my stomach where again i felt pain, parolized, but not just there it was back in my neck which along with the pain and parolization i felt like i couldnt breathe.. i didnt know i was dreaming but other than pain it didnt feel real either. I finally woke to minor aches that after 8-10 mins went away.. maybe not fully away but barely there now. I have no injuries to neck or stomach. I have felt before in other dreams pain that felt like pressure to curtin bady parts and even needles or bites.. dont remeber the dreams just the pain it had caused. Dont really want to sleep now cuz i dont want to feel that again..

 
At May 20, 2013 11:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last night I dreamed that a monkey bit me on my lower right leg just above my ankle. I can remember vividly the gruesome image and the reaction of others in my dream because it was a deep injury ,very painful and caused me to limp. I woke up in pain, grabbing my leg. Yes, I have several health issues and I'm no stranger to pain or sleep issues or odd dreams. However this extremely severe nerve pain is new and lasted all day. I find the brain, dreams and pain very interesting. Found this site while searching the web and thought I'd share.

 
At June 07, 2013 6:15 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had the craziest dream tonight! A boy ran in my direction with a big knife and stabbed me in the back through my spine. I felt the WORST pain of all my life! I could actually feel my flesh being dilacerating! it just lasted some seconds because I started to contorce myself and woke up. Right away the pain was gone... I was afraid of touching my back then thinking the dream may have been caused by a real wound, but there was nothing. crazy... I never felt it before. I dreamt with shots, wounds etc before, but I felt no pain... Today was REAL.

 
At June 21, 2013 7:07 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can anyone help me i dream the same dream a hundred times in a nite about trying to find my family in a city i dont know to take me to the hospital to have an op on my shoulders..i cant find them and my brain and the pain tells me if i dont find them soon il b in agaony and the pain in my shoulders gets worse...i wake up...feeling like ."thankgod thats over"...its driving me crazy as the pain is so real...ihave a certain same dream for months and then it will change to another annoying dream for 6 mnths...im going crazy

 
At August 21, 2013 7:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let me get this out of the way. I never really "dream" I never have happy, sad, emotional dreams. It's always nightmares. And most the time I feel the pain.

I have had pain dreams. And wake up in pain. I have been dealing with medical physical pain for quite a few years now. And random dreams where I get hurt like my back I wake up with my back hurting. My backs still been buggin me all day. This will be the 3rd night I've had back wounding dreams. And waken up in pain with my back.

The other night I had a dream where it was like Jurassic Park Era (this dream was fantasy obviously). Me and a few people who I didn't know went into this greenhouse. It was so vibrant with colors and flowers and greenery it was beautiful. But not until long. This huge. I mean HUGE spider like dinosaur spider came out. She was like a big spider from Harry Potter movies (Just to give ya'll an example) And she wrapped her web around my body. I couldn't move. And She used her lil pinchers by her mouth and started eating my back. Everyone just stood there watching as she feasted on my back. I was crying in the dream screaming in pain. I woke up with my entire back still hurting.

Last night I dreamed that a guy (now this dream was realistic) This guy I didn't see his face or anything. But he was chasing me and I was running. I had no idea what for. But I was trying to run so fast. He ended up throwing a knife or a hatchet of some sort. Into my spine. I fell down. My back hurting with excruciating pain. I woke up with my back still in pain.

Hopefully even though my back is still in pain. I don't have no more nightmares. Tired of feeling pain twice specially while I'm trying to rest. This last week has been pretty bad. I just want sleep :(


Found this site when I was looking up why I was dreaming of pain and waking up in pain. Just thought I'd share a few dreams. Hopefully happy dreaming everyone.

 
At October 08, 2013 3:33 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Last night I had another recurring dream where in it my boyfriend is squeezing me so tight round my waist that it is agony, hurts so much I want to scream or push him away but can,t utter a sound, feels like a kidney is being crushed, when I manage to wake the pain slowly subsides but I,m left crying and rubbing my side. These dreams only happen when I,m actually sleeping with my boyfriend, we,'ve discussed them and can only come up with that he might have his arm over my waist while sleeping. I don,t sleep as well with anyone else in my bed, but just hope these dreams don,t keep recurring as the fear inspired by the strength of the pain is pretty bad. Sweet dreams all!

 
At October 29, 2013 7:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a dream last night so I researched it and found this website blog...
I had a dream that I had the most excruciating deep nerve pain in my lower spine. when I woke up I realized it was just a dream. It was a very long dream.

 
At December 28, 2013 10:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a really weird graphic dream last night, my rib bones were puncturing my skin and pointing straight forward and it hurt like something I've never felt before never ever existed. I tried pushing my ribs back under my skin back in to place, and I did but one of my ribs wasn't sitting properly inside my chest I tried to push it down but it felt like it hit my lung and I couldn't breath. This went on for what felt like 10 minutes and then I woke up. I've never experience pain in my dream before last night. Is it likely that this will this happen more often now?

 
At March 16, 2014 5:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have been feeling pain in my dreams for as long as I can remember. Most of the time the dream scenario is one where pressure is applied continuously e.g. something is latched on to me with its teeth (dog, alligator, small child etc), an appendage is trapped between two objects or my whole body is being crushed, or objects/creatures are slowly driven into my body. I also once dreamed I was hanging from a cliff in the snow, and the pain in my hands from the cold was excruciating. In all scenarios the pain starts off bad but intensifies further until it gets so unbearable I wake up. It usually disappears upon waking, although once I dreamed someone was crushing my solar plexus with their fist and the pain was unbelievable and there was a lingering dull ache when I awoke. It's very rare these days that I'm in a situation where I actually feel pain but as a child I would often experience pains resulting from applies pressure - I'm the youngest of three boys :) - so I can't help but wonder if my brain is recreating these pains from memory. I also once dreamt about being shot, but the pain was not at all intense or very realistic for the scenario and I wonder if my brain struggled to simulate such a pain because it's something I've never experienced before. Pain in dreams is very real, although it does seem to be very rare.

 
At April 19, 2014 4:49 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Just last night I had a dream where I got hit in the leg and got a deep gash and when I woke up my leg still hurt. My husband told me I was whimpering while asleep.

 
At April 20, 2014 1:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also experienced pain, I was stung by a bug in my left hand and the pain was horrendous,

 
At May 08, 2014 1:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have similar experiences. I just dreamt that I was shot by an FBI agent accidentally. The pain was horrible, in my left shoulder, right upper thigh, and lower right leg. I was unable to vocalize anything in my dream, but remember thinking, "You stupid idiot!". It's like I was screaming to the top of my lungs, but only whispers were coming out. I awoke feeling pain and in emotional distress. I had been crying, and the pain in my leg lasted for approximately 30 minutes, although not nearly as severe as it felt in my dream. My actual sleep position was in a reclined position. I have terrible nightmares similarly 2-3 times a week. 30 year-old female.

 
At May 19, 2014 11:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am the exact same way! !!

 
At May 20, 2014 7:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The dreams are not real, but the pain certainly is. Had a dream recently where I was walking in a store and all my joints started to hurt and began to fall apart. I was in very real agony inside the dream. I was going around looking for medicine I could buy in the dream store to stop my pain. Of course it was gone when I woke up. My real joints are just fine.

I also have dreams of being killed in different ways. I feel the pain from those as well.

 
At May 28, 2014 3:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You guys are thinking to much, your brain just creates the pain, the pain doesn't have to be there. For example, last night I just had a dream of call of duty in real life where you would respawn if you died, my friend had a big maybe half a meter sword but it was dull like an over sized letter opener. Basically I got stabbed by this sword 3 times missing all my vitals and making me think I just want this to be over because it was the most excruciating pain you could imagine. When I woke up I could still feel the pain in the exact spots I was stabbed. It went away after about 3-4 mins, it was like my mind hadn't fully waken up yet and realized those wounds weren't real. Anyways thought I'd share my experience.

 
At June 04, 2014 5:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Uhm. You probably need to see a professional about that.

 
At June 12, 2014 1:46 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I had a dream about a week ago where my leg snapped in half. Of course in the dream the pain was excruciating. When i woke up i still felt the pain. Even though its been a week i still have pain in the exact part of my leg where it "snapped" and it hurts so bad tothe point that i want to cry when i walk. What does this mean?

 
At June 12, 2014 3:59 PM, Blogger The Neurocritic said...

Victoria - Have you seen a doctor yet?

 
At June 20, 2014 9:06 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Is there any reason for the absolutely unbearable and intense pain I've been getting lately? For example, just last night in my dream my back hurt SOOO bad that I could not move and I had to lay down because it hurt so bad so I was just laying there in suffering. Another time, I jumped off a high place in the dream and it felt like my joints were rubbing together really hard after that and, again I had to lay down. This is interesting because my dad has severe neck pain and whenever his neck starts hurting he has to go lay down in his bed for a while because he can't deal with it. Dreams are weird but the pain in my dreams is almost inhibiting my sleep because I'll wake up from it being so unbearable and it sucks because my REM sleep prior to these pains I've been experiencing were always so pleasant.

 
At June 23, 2014 8:20 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

6 - 23 -2014

My dream was just yesterday night. I had a dream I was falling from some great height. I then came to my end and SMASHED into a brick wall face down. When I woke I had a terrible pain in my head. There was a bruise already forming in the exact same spot I hit on the brick wall. Can anyone tell me how this happened?

 
At July 22, 2014 1:53 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I don't see why it is so hard to believe that we can feel pain in dreams, whether caused by outside influences or by our brain activity. If we can't feel pain in dreams then should we be able to feel pleasure as well? How are pleasure centers of the brain allowed it function normally during dreams, to the extent of orgasm, and yet pain is not? This would seem to be a contradiction. Could our being able to feel during our dreams be a survival instinct? If most people during REM sleep are essentially paralyzed, would not being able to feel pain be an significant benefit if you were being attacked. I believe there is more of our ancestors survival skills in us than we know. Do those that feel pain in their dreams make better soldiers? I just had a dream about being bitten in the shoulder and woke up with a dull ache in the same location but no reason for the pain. I like to say "the mind is a terrible thing".

 
At August 14, 2014 2:45 AM, Anonymous Varalai said...

Ok just had a dream that I've never had before. I'm with my family at a lake home (never seen it before) my dad hands me an antique zippo lighter after he's lit a cigarette of which I can smell, was confused my mom let him smoke in the house. I set down my unopened can of Pepsi to look at the lighter, my sister tries to use it to light her cig but it spews the lighter fluid so she drops it on the carpet. We try putting it out but since the top is open it keeps re lighting so I reach down to try and close it. I pick it up because at first it doesn't feel as hot then a second later it intensifies burning my hand so I also drop it. When it falls this time the fire goes out so I use my shirt to pick it up and set the top straight to close it. I reach back for my can of pop because it's cool and I want to use it to cool my hand. As soon as I grab it I can feel it's cold and I tear up from the relief. The dream goes on for a bit and when I wake up nothing is wrong with my hand and there's no pain. No one smokes in the house either so idk where I was smelling cigarette smoke. I do recall drinking something berry flavored - cherry maybe? Was kinda freaked out as I've never experienced anything like this before when dreaming.

 
At August 15, 2014 3:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I keep dreaming that I have been struck by lighting, I can feel the electricity burning through my body from my hands down to my feet. I wake feeling in pain and exhausting and pretty helpless. I have recently been tested for MS and sleep apnea with no diagnosis. I have been diagnosed with PMS for 2 weeks of amonth This reacurring dream happens a couple of times amonth...any ideas?

 
At August 16, 2014 10:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I’ve experienced many vivid dreams. Last night I was dreaming of a dark damp landscape with many strangers. It was dark outside and I could only see outlines of others. They were fighting these black flying shadows but were being killed one by one. I decided to come up with a strategy to finally kill the shadows and knew I could but before I could get to the hill, I was struck in the back of my head and it felt like a sharp static feeling which continued 2 more times after I awoke from the dream. It was very strange.

 
At August 20, 2014 4:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I once had a nightmare in which I felt horrible, consuming pain after having drunk poison in the dream. And when I jolted awake, my entire body was buzzing and I couldn't move. As if my whole body had been numb. It only lasted a minute or so, and then I had to deal with the panic as my heart raced. Can anyone explain that?

 
At September 05, 2014 5:42 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

So, fake pain huh? I'm not sure if I find this comforting or not! I've had such a hard time recently... I've started having nitemares almost everyday. When I take a nap, it's not likely I will when I go to sleep at night, I wake up at 4 am and get my husband ready, get our puppy situated, and usually around 7 am I take a nap until I have to get ready at 9 am. It never fails I always have a nitemare, and pain is always present. Not only is pain present but recently I spoke with my brother he said that a study was done and long story short try to remember something about your dream.. The example he gave me was about light, he said in most people's dreams they report that the lights do not work there isn't a light on, so everyday go past a light switch and flip it, if it turns on say this is real life, then in your dream if you're able to pass and flip a switch and it doesn't turn on you'll know it's a dream. Well, I never got the chance to do that. Ever since he told me that when I am in a dream somehow I just know now that it's a dream. I know I probably sound crazy but it's true :-/ so I'll have these nitemares and I'll be like closing my eyes and trying to open them really fast hoping it will send a message to my brain to do so, or shouting up at myself wake up wake up!!!!! I cry in my dreams and I wake up and I'm crying as well, so I thought if I Yelled or smacked myself or what I might do it in real life too and it would wake me up. It's terrible knowing you're in a dream and not being able to wake yourself up. I find mySelf hiding in my dreams and trying to just hide and wait it out until I wake up so nothing crazy or painful will happen. Wondering if they will ever end. I wake up with a huge gasp finally happy that I got out of it. However lately I've been feeling so much pain in them, it really hurts so bad I wake up crying, whatever is being done to me weather some random person stabbed me or a dentist walking down the road says "smile" then pulls out a drill and drills my tooth off (lol) I really feel it and it hurts! I don't know how I feel about it being "fake"... On top of the knowing I'm in a dream but I'm stuck, knowing the pain is fake too but still feels just as real? That kind of sucks? Reoccurring dreams I have are, world ending, I'm the last one left, or the world is fine but for some reason nobody can hear me, being taken by some kidnappers, having my child taken from me. All sorts of things. I find it really weird, my brother had nite terrors as a kid, he would be walking around talking it was scary but he's the only one who did that. My grandmother always had flying dreams and when she passed my dad started to have flying dreams, then my other brother brother started having flying dreams. Me? I've never had one, just theSe scary, painful, I know I'm in a dream but can't wake up nitemares. Sometimes my entire family will have bad dreams the same night. And it's not what we "ate" we don't even live together. Obviously im all worked up right now because I just woke up from having my teeth pulled out in a dream while I was trying to save the world and wake myself up at the same time, so forgive me if I sound a little flustered. I'm 22 years old, I'm sick of this! I don't want my kids to have this either, any advice? Please?

 
At October 09, 2014 12:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last night was probably one on the scaryist nights of my life I had a terrible nightmare and I was in so much pain. In my dream my chest had been stamped on multiple times and I was struggling to breath but that wasn't all before the nightmare woke me my arm was cut off in this nightmare and when I woke for 5-10 seconds I couldn't feel my arm exept from where it was cut in my dream and I couldn't breath after the 10 seconds had past I started feeling my arm again and there was no pain what so ever plus my breathing had gone back to normal I don't know what happened to me or why it happened but I just hope it doesn't happen again

 
At November 24, 2014 7:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh it know how it feels! In some of my nightmares with weapons included i either get stabbed or shot in the lower part of my back in my spine. The pain was so bad that I just lay there in my dream and if I move the pain increases. But then I just wake up all sweaty and no pain. No back injury history. My first dream was about being in a creepy part of the ocean and Mr. Krabs from Sponge Bob comes at me and just shoves his claw or anchor up my spine. It hurt REALLY BAD. In those kinds of dreams though I never did die.....

 
At December 10, 2014 12:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a weird dream once when I was a little kid.. it started out in the middle room of my house and i could see my self and my siblings as well like i was floating surveying in a dream as a person normally would ,, something was coming monsters, aliens what ever it was you could feel it coming , then flashes of theses creatures would go in and out , they were sort of pinkish with long claws for legs and hands.. i saw them come in to the house as if they where searching for something,,, then i snapped back in two the firstperson view of my dream, i heard them break down the side door to the house.. as a kid of course im scared, i look around the room and my siblings disappeared ,then it was just me so i hid under the bed, (one of those spring platform beds you just lay the mattress on top of curly springs), i felt the ground move as these things entered the room i was in they searched the room then all went quiet, suddenly the mattress was ripped off by one creature, as i lay on my stomach under the bed i flashed in and out of 1st person and 3rd person mode ,,seeing and feeling this creatures one finger claw go straight into the middle of my back,, i woke up out of my dream laying on my stomach on my bed but still cringing my back as if someone was sticking a sharp knife in the middle.. it lasted for a good 30 seconds ...but the next day when i was infront of a mirror there was a small scar in the middle of my back,,,,,, please explain,,what does it mean,,, it is possible to wake up feeling a pain that youve felt in a dream, but to show a sign of physical attribute such as a scar in where the pain was in the dream..weird huh!

 
At December 14, 2014 8:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

so like last night i had a weird dream, we were inside a building and it happens that some gang of people came to the building we were in, they had guns with them. so it happens that this guys wanted to take us all to another room and i left bihind to hide myself in a closet, one of the guys became aware of that and they came after me. The person who was behind the the whole thing wasn't happy about what i did and shoot me on the head, i felt massive pain on that side were i was shoot... my brain stopped working, and i forced myself to be awake. i felt like i was dieying.

can anyone please tell me any possible teories behind what happend!

 
At December 21, 2014 11:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi! Thank you for your interesting article. I guess I'm a bit late getting to it, but that's why I love blogs. Here's my experience with pain & dreams: In 2009 I was officially diagnosed with my muscle disease: Mitochondrial Myopathy typified by Cytochrome "C" Oxidase. I had a Heart Transplant with I was 16 in 2000. I also take a narcotic pain medication and my research does show that since narcotics work with brain chemicals, the likelihood of me having nightmares does go up. Well, I do have nightmares, but I'm more interested in your opinion on what happens to me when I have it. For the last couple of years, I have been dreaming that I am getting shot. (The time, location, people, etc. is always different). My dreams are always extremely vibrant, with much detail. When I dream that I'm getting shot, I always "feel" it physically and mentally. I've experienced several different levels of pain through these dreams. (I've never ACTUALLY been shot), but some describe it as a burning sensations, some a quick bite, some say they were knocked down before they knew what was going on. I've experienced all of that, plus they really bad, really deep pain. I've also never been in the military, yet my last dream was me getting shot in a military situation. I was shot by one of those automatic guns that spits out tons of bullets at a time. When I wake up, inevitably, my limb (whichever one that was shot in the dream), is in excruciating pain. Pain that is searing, deep, throbbing. My muscle is twitching, and occasionally I'm cramping up. This is pain that for me, has come upon me and been able to stay too long. If it had been day time, and I had noticed some pain coming along I would have taken something long before the pain got this bad. So I find it really interesting that others agree and are having similar experiences. Mine just happens to be the same type of dream each time and pain never fails to follow. Thanks again for the article!

 
At January 03, 2015 1:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually i also feel same kind of problems with me, i jst want to find ot the reason behind it ,, and really scared about these dreams, coz pain z going on but i cant wake up..
I feel as if m paralised for some time..
Should i consult to doc

 
At February 08, 2015 6:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pain in a dream is very real. I continue to have this recurring dream and in the dream my kidneys or pancreas is in the most unbearable pain ever but when I wake up, the pain is gone. In these dreams, there is always the presence of demons or some evil force that tortures and torments me as I lay in a dark room on a bed that actually imitates my surrounding that I am actually in while I sleep. They pull my hair, crush my fingers and cause excruciating pain to my abdominal area. To be safe, I think I should get my kidneys and pancreas checked because this nightmare keeps occurring over and over

 
At March 22, 2015 11:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I felt pain in a few dreams. In one, this man was kicking me in my leg, but the pain was 10x more painful then it should of been. A kick should hurt, but it felt like a metal baseball slamming against the bone of my leg. Each kick stung and the pain lasted longer then should. Thank god I don't have that dream anymore.

 
At April 05, 2015 1:49 AM, Anonymous Cookie Monster said...

Before when I had dreams it would always be that a demon ripped out my spine and in the morning I couldn't move my body I just had to lay still and wait for it to stop however now I stopped having that dream It doesn't happen. P.S. When I said I woke up paralysed I mean it my whole body could not move and it felt like something was pushing me down not even my head could move

 
At May 08, 2015 12:49 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Sir in my dream, I felt, I couldn't move my body. When I said I woke up paralysed I mean it my whole body could not move and it felt like something was pushing me down not even my head could move I am fully feared when woke. Y sir can u plz ...?

 
At May 10, 2015 5:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I cant remember of I felt pain or not. I remeber having bad nightmares of just whiteness an black strips coming down like on a tv an I would feel pins an needles the black strips would get faster an id get worse pins an needles I knew I was asleep an needed to wake up. Ive had this dream quite a few times not recetnyl but early on in my childhood like 9 10 years old I think. Now I knew that one time I didnt wake up an I wanted to but couldnt an then the white just turned black in the end an something just made me jump an woke me up. So I knew of I diddnt wake up then something would scare me towake me up. Whats this all about?

 
At June 04, 2015 2:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a dream I fell on my head and when I woke up I felt a burning sensation in the spot where I fell in my dream. There was no way for me to hit my head in real life while I was sleeping but it still felt as though I did. Only I still have a slight headache as though my brain thinks it was real

 
At June 15, 2015 9:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

4 years now been lying in bed asleep but not asleep, feeling the most intense twisting tearing cramping buldge come out of the side of my stomach for hrs at a time like a babies foot or something, last night it was the worst I was in public in my dream it was so intense I was taken to the hospital and told I was 4 months pregnant w twin baby girls, I've lyed in bed holding my right side under my ribs seeing myself in my last residence and now dreaming abt the home I'm in now, we have an empty room I was going to make that a nersery. I get messed up dreams but this one is almost every night and I don't think I can take much more of it and the torturing pain w it...

 
At August 12, 2015 4:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just had the craziest dream where my whole body felt like it was being crushed and all my muscles were tense and I couldn't breathe or move anything. The fan in real life was blowing on me and in my dream it kept blowing hard and soft, and when it blew hard was when my whole body would feel the horrible pain. I woke up and was terrified that I was having heart attacks or something!

 
At August 27, 2015 12:48 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A couple years ago I had a dream. In that dream I ended up getting pucnhed in the bottom right part of my back when I woke up I still felt the pain of the punch and I was still siting in my bed

 
At August 28, 2015 3:25 PM, Anonymous DreamGirl said...

I've felt pretty much every emotion in my dreams since I was a child, since I can remember. Because of this, I grind my teeth. I didn't wear the mouthguards I was given as a child, because they made jaws ache all day. Eventually, I grinded over 50% of all of my teeth down. I now have crowns in 80% of my mouth and I wear a mouthguard every night. I'll save the long stories, but just understand that I have very intense dreams. I've felt pain but that's only when I've allowed someone to get close enough to me in my dreams, to inflict it. I can run fast in my dreams (most of the time )lol However, what I do feel more intensely than anything is pressure in my heart. Now, let's factor in the fact that I'm hypoglycemic. Meaning, I have very low blood sugar. This ultimately affects my heart. Stress can trigger cortisol spikes, intense dreams can cause stress. So if I'm falling off a cliff in my dream, I can feel a pressure in my heart so great that I have, many times, woken up running to the bathroom to throw up. I think having some sort of physical illness or disability PLUS having a vivid imagination in dreams PLUS having a lot of stress in your life can somehow mix a cocktail that convinces you in your dreams that the pain is real.

If I may suggest to everyone, finding out the root of your dreams content is a good start to reducing these types of dreams. I'm not a therapist of any sort, but I think most would agree that finding the real issue can help eliminate subsequent issues. A first, and easy, step to finding out the issue is learning more about yourself. I suggest to everyone I know, friends and family and strangers, to take a personality test. Specifically, the Meyers Briggs personality test. Once you learn WHY you are the way you are, you will stop trying to change yourself. Your dreams can tell you so much about what you are internalizing in your every day life (while you're awake). My own theory is the pain becomes real when we feel like someone in our life, is not understanding us. Again, just my own personal psychobabble.....but it's something I think about often, usually right after I have a painful dream.

I'm curious to know if anyone else, that experiences pain in their sleep, has also experienced a not-so-normal life to date (non conventional job, extreme hobbies, etc). Does what we do in our awake-hours somehow influence the intensity of our dreams? I've noticed no one dreams of dying peacefully or dying of natural age. There's a lot of violence. TV & movies have tainted our subconscious, and we can't control what our mind produces while we're sleeping. There are no boundaries in where our minds can take us.

Interesting reading. I started off searching for reasons why I'm dreaming of planes trying to take off, when most of my life I've always dreamt of trying to land the damn plane on a busy highway....and I somehow came across this blog in my search for answers. Cool.

 
At September 01, 2015 11:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was dreaming last night and the whole dream is fuzzy but i remember feeling like i was stabbed in the chest and it was a horrible tightening pain and i was gasping for air. My boyfriend woke me up scared bc i was gasping for air holding my chest in my sleep when i woke up i felt no pain but i was out of breath and my chest felt heavy in the spot i thought i was stabbed in. I was scared and dont know why it happend. Ive only ever had one other dream feeling pain and ive never had anything wrong with my chest.

 
At September 10, 2015 2:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well I had two pain dreams... today and yesterday. Yesterday explored my house while having a head pain, I think it came from a high pitch noise from my ear. Today in my dream I couldn't move so I closed my eyes mentally as a weird list popped up and I was on it. I then dream as m y body woke up. Both dreams were over fast but very painful.

 
At September 23, 2015 2:50 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Okay so I hope someone reads this and can give an answer
I've been lucid dreaming for years so I've experienced pain in my sleep plenty of times.
But I just woke up and I still felt the pain
I don't remember my dream even though I normally do
I woke up and felt as if my backside was engulfed in flames
I jumped out of bed immediately and took my shirt off and started patting my back like crazy
I checked my shirt and bed thinking something was burning but there was nothing there
I felt as if my back was on fire for a solid 30 seconds or so after I woke up
It felt so real
I felt every flame burning up my back

Has anyone else ever woken up feeling they're burning alive?

 
At September 25, 2015 11:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This fake pain condition is a real thing. One night I was dead asleep you wouldn't have awoken me with a cold cup of water but as for the nightmare that i had that night. I had been woken up by the same nightmare 5 times that night but on the 5th time in the nightmare I was stabbed in the gut and the pain was felt so real that when I woke up the pain from being stabbed was still there 5 minutes after I woke up. I would also like to add that I have never been stabbed or received any other type of injury

 
At October 14, 2015 12:18 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Yes, I even have felt it myself. I was on this Island and all the people had turn cazy like in the movie Crazy, that I saw to days earlier. While every crazizt was chazing me, there was this dude that just pulled out his gun and starts shothing at me. I manage to get under another guy in hope of not getting shot. He comes closer and closer. When he is really close he shoots 3 bullets. The 2 goes trough and hits my lower back. I cant now feel it borring in to my lower back. The 3 bullet bores even longer in to my back. I can feel the blood coming out of my back. Im now Trying to cravl away. Ge fires 2 more shoots. I wake up and still feeling the pain in my lower back. No bullet holes but feels the pain for another 4 minuts.

 
At October 20, 2015 9:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I once had a dream in which I was shot. The shooter was aiming for my head, but only hit my ear.I felt a sort of intense, burning, pain like sensation, and fell over. The dream also included the shooter apologizing for the injury; he had assumed I was an AI. I then woke up for a few seconds, only half awake, as I turned my head to face the other direction, due to the pain I had felt in my dream. When I actually woke up a few hours later, my ear (the one that got shot) experienced a tingling sensation for the rest of the day. I don't know what it was, but I am still somewhat concerned.

 
At November 06, 2015 7:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just last night, I had this dream. I didn't know what it meant, so I looked it up. My dream was actually a nightmare. I was taking trash out, and I brushed a bee on a plant. When it came to get its revenge, it brought friends. I got about 7 stings. And I felt every single one. When I woke up, I didn't feel a thing. In the nightmare, All the stings were on my right leg, so I collapsed in pain. One of the stings were on my thumb and my thumb went numb. It was even worse, because bee's are my number 1 fear (animal wise) so it made it even worse. I feel like when its something your very scared of, that's when you can REALLY feel the pain.

 
At November 13, 2015 9:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

May i add that i jyst woke up from a horrible dream taking me back to a place in my childhood-- that makes sense but what doesnt is the end of my dream when i was punned down to a hospital table and two nurses were sticking me with needles causing a lot of pain..both upper arms and both inner thighs..plus more spots i think on my stomach..they were drawing blood or something. In my dream i was eventually weeping because it hurt so bad some sort of procedure. I woke up highly uncomfortable and disturbed by this experience of a dream. I was hurting in all the places i had been poked at in my dream. What the heck????

I did wake up needing to use the restroom and some of those spots are spots i have had pain in at one time or another. I have noticed more achy feelings lately kind if like when i was a child..hmm. interesting!! Brain!!!

 
At December 04, 2015 11:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Omg idk what it is Maybe im not getting enough sleep or idk .. but Ive had the same Dream over nd over for like about 2 yrs now .. its not on a daily basis but when i get it i feel like someone is poking my ribs and i cant even talk but i can feel the pain and it hurts so much .... Im scared to go to sleep i always Fall asleep just when i get super tired i go to sleep real quick... But when im not sleepy at all If i just lay down nd wait to go to sleep i can feel that im gonna dream about it cause it gets to the point that i cant even open my eyes ... And i cant even help it i feel so scared at the time that ill be praying in my mind and hoping it would go away :(

 
At December 17, 2015 12:57 AM, Anonymous Timplin Tolek said...

This is for real. It's never happened before. I woke up from a dream. The only thing I remember from the dream is that my face started to get hotter and hotter. As if it was a sunburn for example. Then it just seemed to be burning and that's the only thing in the dream. My face is burning hot. I wake up. And for the next 3-4 minutes my face is just burning. I wake up my wife, look in the mirror, put on a cold wet cloth. The pain gradually subsides. My face is not red. And it doesn't feel hot to my wife's touch, or mine. It's painful. The cold wet cloth helps some. Now, 15 minutes later my face still feels hot but not too painfully so and I know it is subsiding. I had a small electric heating pad in bed. It was past my toes. A moment after I became conscious from waking up from the dream my toe found the heating pad which was warm but not hot. I have slept with that heating pad for most of the past few months. There could well be a connection but I have no idea what. I am glad to find this thread. It's fascinating. But what have we learned from it actually, in a theoretical way about pain and dreams?

 
At January 13, 2016 10:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

See I came here to find an answer...
I recently woke from a dream where I was holding snakes (I plan on getting some so my excitement about it probably caused me to dream of them). One constricted my wrist to the point my hand was slightly purple. I could feel this pain. The snake was taken from my wrist. I then held a ball python (the snake I plan to get). It bit me. I could feel the pain. I've never experienced this before and I want to know why I did

 
At January 13, 2016 11:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a dream where I was trying to stop this giant bear, a black dog, a wolf and a small dog getting into my house and eventually after out strengthening me they all came in the room and attacked me the black dog bit me on the back of my heel and the pain hurt but when I woke up it was gone

 
At January 31, 2016 10:06 AM, Blogger Marshie said...

Last night I dreamed I had to pull flower like plants from underneath the skin near my elbow as at some point seeds had grown. I could feel the uncomfortable / painful sensation of it moving underneath my skin as I pulled them out. The worst though was the spider who had also been living there. I tried to also remove it. It wouldn't budge and bit me in response to my harassing. It was all very real. I woke up because of it.

 
At February 03, 2016 4:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

When i'm falling in my dream i can sense so much pain.I hope that nobody on this planet can feel this much pain.It's so strong, also when i'm stabbed in dream it hurts so much i'm sweating when i wake up.My muscles are burning in dreams (feeling of pain).

 
At March 31, 2016 4:39 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Pain is a fiction of the imagination

 
At March 31, 2016 9:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

No it's not, it's a physiological process.

 
At April 12, 2016 10:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last night, i dreamed about getting me shot right at my chest. Then i woke up with its literal pain. The pain in my chest lasts until now. It hurts me bad.

 
At June 01, 2016 12:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I dreamed that I was hiding inside a dilapidated small and low building made in concrete. I was protecting myself under layers of coats when something huge hit the outer-wall of the closest room (I thought in the dream that it was maybe a missile). I have have to run outside. The building was falling. There were dust and hot electric air. I was young in the dream (teenager?). There was children around also fleeing. A moment with my right foot I walked in an unseen molted thing on the ground. I experienced a real pain. But when I removed my foot and continued to walk the pain decreased. I have no other choice that to forget the pain and walk. I thought or somebody said that the place was now maybe radioactive. We kind of helped each other to go up the path of the small rocky dry and bare mountain behind the building. When I turned back the plain under and the sky above were an immense yellow cloud wall of hot dusty air and fire in the background. I thought at the wife of Lot running away from Sodom and turned my eyes away for safety and continued to walk.
Then I woke up.

 
At June 20, 2016 9:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A burning pain...

 
At June 22, 2016 1:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last night before I fell asleep I had bad shoulder and neck pain. I believe it to be a stiff neck. While sleep I was dreaming that I was sitting on the floor in front of a room door trying to put on my shoes. I could hear someone walking towards the room door, and I remember thinking I better move before they hit me in the head with the door. I didn't move and he came into the room without hitting me in the head. When he walked in he said you still here (I think I was at my friends house and her boyfriend told her he wanted me to leave.) I looked up and he was about to punch me in the head I was awakened to what felt like a punch to the back of the head although in the dream I never saw him actually hit me because I woke up just as his hand was coming down. The spot where I felt the hit was sore for about a minute but I realized it was the same side as the stiff neck and my head was sort of in an odd position. I think I was feeling pain in real life from the stiff neck and my dream was created around the pain that I was unaware that I was feeling. Our bodies are made to wake us up if something is out of sorts while we are sleeping I think that was my body's way of telling me to reposition myself.

 
At June 28, 2016 1:17 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I have felt pain in my dreams a few times in the last few months. And again last night. I have severe anxiety and I'm thinking it has something to do with that. I worry a lot and sometimes the worry causes panic attacks in which I become lightheaded and my body just feels strange like I'm on some kind of drug. I have noticed that when I'm worrying a lot is when I feel the pain. I have something going on in my abdomen I think I may have an incarcerated hernia, and I worry a lot it's going to burst! And I was worrying last night, and I was dreaming about something totally different than my worries, but in the dream I started having trouble with my stomach, like it was real, as if I were really walking through this building and all of a sudden I started having stomach pain,and I could feel the pain. It was really intense but it did not wake me. It's very strange, and of course causes me more worry now! I can't even get away from anxiety when I'm sleeping! It's ruining my life!

 
At July 06, 2016 1:20 PM, Blogger Vyshakh Gopinadhan said...

Hi.
Im am experiencing dreams which is actually said to be in dreams itself.But this doesnt occur every time. Only the time when i fall sleep deeply. I can feel everything whatever i touch for ex:recently i experienced a dream of holding a gun i could feel the exact wieght of the gun and another one was holding a tree with the woods roughness was sensing in my hands. These dreams are oftenly seen and felt too.but the most drastic part is that when i see such kind of dreams i am half waken and i knew im dreaming bt couldnt come out of it. And the pain u mentioned as "fake pain" when u woke its gone.. But i could feel it when i woke up and its gone after 10-15mins. The worst part was in dream i was shot. The bullet pierced into my chest. But the pain i felt was too much as my eyes became wet as i was crying in pain. And thatbpain lasted till 10mins after awake. Such things makes me to feel harder to sleep.

 
At August 29, 2016 8:21 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I had a nightmare a few years ago, I was walking the tracks of a rollercoaster and slipped. Then somehow rolled down a hill and a limb of a tree got lodged in the back of my leg. I woke up instantly and saw blood everywhere, screamed and rolled off my bed. I passed out and when I woke up I was still on the floor and could barely move it hurt so bad. But I looked to see if there really was a tree limb there and it was a really bad red mark and I still get those pains sometimes in the middle of the day. Idk what that's about but it hurts and I wish it would stop!

 
At September 22, 2016 12:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have definitely felt real emotion that coincides with the physical pain. In one situation I was a wanted criminal, (basically the woman that Clarice Starling shot at the Beginning of the film 'Hannibal') and I was in an overturned SUV when snipers opened fire. There was a baby's arm that reached out to me and in an instant (slow motion then real time) I was shot in the back and I felt the bullet splitting two of my vertebrae and tearing through muscle just before waking.

But the worst one I can remember was when a lion was hunting me. I had sought respite on the roof of my childhood home, that had somehow gained a few stories, and I was on my side on the edge of the roof, my back to the edge. Lion spotted me, leapt up an impossible height, nearly clawed me, my terror grew and I realized I might be about to die. After a few more tries, Lion landed a truly horrific bite to my lower back. I could feel in perfect detail the upper canines on my right side and lower canines on my left. I could feel the size differences and even was aware of the smaller teeth between the fangs. I could feel the (partial) weight of the beast pulling me from the roof. It lasted so long and every moment I was in mortal terror. But I love cats ��

 
At October 02, 2016 5:18 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I tend to have alot of dreams where I can feel and not just pain other things as well though pain is most common but for me its always a less intense feeling for whatever I feel forexample I got cut with a knife but it felt more like a cat scratch

 
At November 13, 2016 4:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

For me, I was out on a battle field, and some other solder jumped on my sword and jumped off (I was laying on the ground playing dead) and it hurt only like a bit, but I jumped to my feet and I was about to draw my sword but the guy who jumped on me grabed my back and drew his sword, pulled it high in the air, then slashed down below my back not yet cutting me, and then lifted it up some, and cut a deep woond into my back, making a V on my back almost, he drew the sword up through my back, smiling and laughing, while I was crying out in pain because the sword felt like it was hot!!! This is the first time I ever had this dream, and the first time I knew I was dreaming but suuuper terrified to meet my death. Anyway I woke up and felt fine. BTW I'm only 12 this is weird xD

 
At November 20, 2016 11:09 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Am I toolate for my experience?
I literally just woke up (a few mins ago, and I was trying to remember wether i had had this dream b4 or it was my imaginatio. Turns out I think this is the 2nd time I have the same dream but this time it was longer. Lol and not so lol.). Same thing...pain and dreams ending bad. So this was on my rib.. lowest one (front side) and I dreamed that i was walking trying to get home and i was feeling some kind of thing (I thought it was some kind of demom or insect pushing the skin outwards exactly where my rib was.) And I found myself later on a chair.. everybody sleeping but out of nowhere my uncle (?say what?.. lol [bc he lives 9 miles away] shows up walking in front of me and me telling him I should go to the doc to get that pain checked... and then I just woke up to actually feeling pain in the same spot.. but bc I was like not sleeping right... creepy dream tough...

 
At December 03, 2016 4:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I woke up screaming and gasping for air and in extreme pain early this morning! I remember being in a huge eerie house with tons of Windows with several other people. Can't remember why or who any of them were, all I know is it quickly turned into a women covered in blood screaming and shattering the Windows around us. The blast sent us all falling to the ground and landing all over the shattered glass. I could feel all the cuts and glass in my body and was screaming in pain. I then heard my dog yelp and rain to her to pull the glass out of her paws, it got quiet so I turned around to see the bloody women with black hair and torn night gown with a long shard of glass running at me and my dog. As I struggled with my dog to get away she stabbed the back of my upper thigh and dragged the shard through my skin down my leg (again at this point I was in excruciating pain) I was now in a dark hallway covered in blood as she stalked toward me and my dog. My dog attacked her as she lunged at us and I woke up. It took about 30 mins for all the pain to go away and I have been having painful dreams almost every time I go to sleep. Please anyone help! It's making me so scared to go to sleep

 
At December 04, 2016 1:26 PM, Blogger Cookiekiddo said...

I've been having reoccurring dreams that involve a burning sensation and when I wake up, I still feel it for 30 minutes but I don't seen any mark. Occasionally I'll have a bloody nose or something after these dreams. A more recent one was a spider on my hand in my dream and when I hit it the fangs went into my hand and it felt like it was burning. I woke up and my hand was still burning so I went downstairs to wash my hand but the pain went away after I couldn't find the "fangs" . The night before I had a dream of being attacked in my sleep, but I feel as if that's more of ptsd from an ex that did attack me in my sleep about 3 yeas ago. But when I have the's dreams of being attacked I usually wake up with a bloody nose or dry eyes so I have to force myself to tear up.

I'm not sure if it's normal, but I've gotten to the point of sleeping with music on or lights when I'm home alone.

 
At December 25, 2016 5:33 AM, Blogger persephone977 said...

I have just had a real pain dream, one which I hope to not repeat. Safety note here, I am a partially lucid dreamer, so many of my dreams feature a partial awareness of what is going on.

In this particular dream, the pain portion featured me needing to crack my shoulder and neck, which was quite painful each time it happened. When my neck popped I would partly wake up and then fall back into deeper sleep and the dream would continue, until another pop occurred. After a number of these, I finally was able to wake up, and my neck and shoulder was indeed quite sore, as happens sometimes if I have to crack my neck multiple times. In fact, it was still tight, and I popped it several more times before a final, really painful, crack was enough to loosen it up and allow me to sleep again.

This was such an unusual dream because I had never felt pain in a dream before, and I hope not to experience it again, that I resolved to look it up when I woke up fully, and came across your interesting article!

 
At December 25, 2016 10:20 AM, Blogger Kramer said...

Last night I dreamt of a motorcycle accident where I fall of the bike in my dream and hit the left side of the back of my head (closer to my neck) but stand up and walk to the side walk and sit there. But as people start gathering, I realize there has been an internal injury as there is a severe stabbing pain at the area where I hit my head and start feeling dizzy due to internal bleeding (atleast that's what I think in the dream.) The pain woke me up but the strangest part is that I had severe pain in the same area even after waking up and felt dizzy for about 5-7 minutes. I even started crying holding my head as if i was in a real accident and my mom was so confused as to what was happening. This is the strangest thing i have ever experienced. I got off the bed when i felt a little stable and then the pain gradually went away. Dint feel it all day after that. I hope I never have this experience again, freaked me out!

 
At February 01, 2017 10:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had is odd dream I was talking to a friend and she was crying because a boy broke her heart and then I started crying aswell not only because I felt her pain but as well as my own so I drop her off at her class then a friend comes up behind me I run into his arms and start crying when he asks me what's wrong I say my entire body hurts and then and only then do i realize my entire body is in excruciating pain I lean against the wall and my teacher is staring at me from her classroom looking almost mad at me I wake up due to the pain right after

 
At February 01, 2017 10:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had is odd dream I was talking to a friend and she was crying because a boy broke her heart and then I started crying aswell not only because I felt her pain but as well as my own then a friend comes up behind me I run into his arms and start crying when he asks me what's wrong I say my entire body hurts and then and only then do i realize my entire body is in excruciating pain I lean against the wall and my teacher is staring at me from her classroom looking almost mad at me

 
At February 03, 2017 7:55 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Didn't realise that feeling pain in dreams is uncommon/unproven as I always have!
Just now I have 'woken' from what I assume was a dream. However I was very aware I was dreaming even though I was dreaming of my bedroom. In this 'dream' I found myself paralysed. I refused to open my eyes as I had scared myself into believing that there was a ghost stood on my left. Every time I tried to move my head I felt a tugging/punching sensation in my left side abdomen (my brain concluded I was being punched by said ghost) the pain and paralysis felt very real. And even my awareness of the 'dream' didn't allow me to wake up for several minutes. I even found myself trying to distract myself from this 'dream' by trying to dream about other scenarios and returning to the previous dream however I would always return back to this 'dream' moments later. I am now unable to go back to sleep. I am oddly calm but know that I am scared of experiencing the paralysis again as it is a major fear of mine.

 
At March 06, 2017 7:33 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I had a dream last night about getting a tattoo. The pain felt quite real but because I expected the pain it did not wake me. It seemed normal.

 
At March 15, 2017 2:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have recently been having pain in my dream mostly in my stomach kind of like a butterflies feeling, or someone pressing on my stomach very hard, my dream tonight was of me getting attacked in my room by my ex strangled and I kept trying to scream and wake myself out of my dream. Until I finally did kind of going in amd out from my dream. To slowly breaking myself out of my dream, well my night terror I have PTSD and have had very vivid night terrors most of my child hood. I've had out of body experience just sitting on my porch.and I could look down on myself above myself strange . I'ma very sensitive person. And I have very strange intuition I get a bad feeling before something really bad happens usually a close death. I feel on esmdge for a week or two before it happens and feel back to myself after it happens even if I don't no it has happened yet if that makes since. I've just started having dreams again if that matters and I have been told I have peripheral neopathy . And every time I go to the hospital I have to get potassium and magnesium replaced because it's way to low. I also was told I have to much lactic acidosis in my blood. . if this helps figure out what is the cause of the pain. Maybe it's a sign I will die who knows. If it is well then. . maybe we can protect our own deaths. Or maybe I'm speaking nonsense you never no though. Nothing impossible... just not yet found to be possible. .. Jessica Kelly... #NIGHTMARESBEGONE

 
At April 01, 2017 6:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know this is old, but I had dreams I was being shot at in the back of my legs and it felt like the worst bee stings. I also had a dream I couldn't wake from, todat actually. I dreamt that my husband was leaving, but would not talk to me or tell me why. My chest felt tight, I couldnt breathe, and I was trying to slap him in my dream, but I couldnt. It felt like I was in slow motion when I tried to run or slap him. I was upset and I couldnt talk. It was like I was wanting to talk, but my voice wasnt working. Ive had similar dreams where I couldnt talk or breathe or hit someone. Some dreams I wake up and can not control my sobbing right away. It feels so real and like there's nothing I can do, but watch and I wake up devastated.

 
At April 07, 2017 9:56 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

This is very interesting because I have had dreams involving pain. Ever since I was about 9 years old(now 30)I occasionally have dreams of falling from high distances and feeling pain in my dream however I'm aware that in not actually injured. On a few occasions I dreamed of falling and felt pain to the point it jarred me awake and I could still feel the pain when I'm fully awake. The pain is never the same intensity or in the same location on my body, but I can still feel it

 
At October 01, 2017 7:18 AM, Blogger Cobra said...

I just had a dream last night that I was talking to a girl who had a huge piece of glass coming out of her head/face, but she was talking to me like she couldn't even feel it! It was freaking me out, but I was trying so hard not to let the horror show on my face because I was afraid she'd freak out once knowing half her face was sliced by a big shard of glass. I started to feel like my own body was covered in TONS of shards of glass just sticking out from all over my body. I began to try and pull every piece out and some cuts bled a lot more than others. I would apply pressure to stop the bleeding of one cut until I could pull out the next piece. I could even feel glass crunching in my mouth/between my teeth. I was spitting out pieces of glass. It seemed like I was in some place where a bomb had gone off as all the windows were blown out. There was glass everywhere and some people were fighting. I just wanted to get out of there and get some help. For some reason I remember telling myself in my head, "This is just a very realistic feeling virtual reality game," and while it did make me feel a tiny bit better, I was freaked out nonetheless! I woke up and my stomach was hurting from the horrible anxiety of the nightmare. I have hated trying to fall asleep at night since I was a kid. It always gave me great anxiety because that quiet time just allowed my thoughts to roam even more. I think anxiety and fear in real life can easily translate over to dreams/nightmares. This is also the first time I can recall having a dream/nightmare in a very long time. I'm almost positive I suffer from some type of vitamin or mineral deficiency as my diet is poor when my anxiety is high. Constant stomach aches from hunger, yet eating and drinking water can make it feel worse. I belch A LOT when I have these stomach aches. My stomach hasn't stopped hurting all night though I'm trying to do things that help, but feel extremely weak due to lack of energy from not being able to eat at the moment. I've never had any kind of truly traumatic incident like in my nightmare ever happen in my real life, but I am guilty of loving horror movies. It's really the fear of my own mortality is why I feel these types of nightmares happen. If you can learn to control those feelings in your nightmares could help you to survive in a real world disaster because you can go inside yourself and control the panic, fear, and anxiety to better know how to deal with your situation without panicking in the real life situation. Hopefully that made sense. It's very difficult to learn to control and those fear instincts and instead face the fear believing you'll be ok.

 
At December 04, 2017 4:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel pain all the time in my dreams. Last night i dreamt i got bitten by a snake on my finger while i was trying to save a baby. I have felt the pain of being shot and stabbed in my dreams. I have also felt myself die and then go to another place in my dreams. I dont know where i went but its happened a few times now where i die and i feel myself going somehwere beyond here. I always see a beach. I remember it all very clearly when i wake up and the last time it happened my paetner told me i breathing very funny as in holding my breath while deep asleep. Can anyone explain my nightmares please. I have nightmares every night. I sleep very little now because of what i see and feel in them

 
At January 02, 2018 7:08 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I’ve been having horrible pain in my dreams like burning and/or death. Every time it happens I wake up and feel the exact pain where it happens and it’s been keeping me from sleeping for about a week now. My first dream I had was when i was like on a bus like I was going to jail or something and I was handcuffed but not with handcuffs. It was a rope that every time I struggled it would burn my wrists. When it woke me up my wrists felt like they were on fire and I haven’t been able to sleep good ever since. What is it called?

 
At January 19, 2018 1:06 AM, Anonymous DavidM said...

Pain in dreams manifested in real-time? Or is it the opposite?
I have been suffering from back pain for 20 years and have occasionally had dreams with horrific back pain only to wake to the same pain. Only this morning I woke up with an awful headache---which I never get---, took a couple of painkillers and eventually slept with a dream of horribly agonizing headache. No doubt in this case my conscious pain had some effect on my dream, but the opposite??? I would love to know if the back pain I have caused the dreams ( and the pain in my dreams is ALWAYS more intense than in reality) or does my sub-conscious create the dream which creates the real-time pain

 
At February 09, 2018 11:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have had a dream I was being beaten up and spitting out teeth only to wake up feeling beat and actually spitting teeth and blood! Went to the hospital where I was accused of fabricating the experience only to be apologised to when it was found I had a severe seizure and broke my teeth the only thing I'm wondering is did the seizure cause the dream or did the dream cause a seizure?

 
At February 09, 2018 10:16 PM, Blogger Matthew said...

I have read most of these comments, and something has left me concerned. None of the ones I’ve read have mentioned pain in their head. I recently had a dream where I insulted what I imagined to be an alien, and I had the most excruciating pain in my head, and it was quite possibly the most intense pain I have ever experienced, and when I woke up I was fine.

 
At February 13, 2018 6:53 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

My dream is different because in my dream some stranger will hurt me like my earlier dream the stranger pulled my teeth out of my mouth and the pain wakes me up. but when I woke up the teeth that the stranger pulled in my dream really hurts the pain is completely unbearable that I cried of the pain I felt. So can really your dream hurt you in real. Becuase this is not the only time that this stranger tries to torture me. Last time the stranger burn my hand and when I wake up my hand is hot and it really hurts I even put my hand on the water to relieve the pain of being burn. Some explain whats happening to me.

 
At February 16, 2018 12:14 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

When I was 10 I think I had a dream where I was disagreeing with a girl in my class named Leticia about what she was calling into it the writing paper and I didn't agree with her anyways there was a let's say more developed girl in my class named anaclaria standing by Leticia and suddenly she elbowed me as hard as she could a right before I woke up she said "Im sorry!" because It was about "that time" I was guessing that it was my mind making sense of cramps.

 
At February 19, 2018 1:05 PM, Blogger The Neurocritic said...

Wow! Some really brutal dreams, especially the ones about teeth, because they involve real pain upon awakening.

One question for Anonymous of February 09, 2018 11:19 AM -- how often do you have seizures, and have they been diagnosed as a specific type?

archival alegado -- how long does your pain last? Have you ever seen a doctor for this?

 
At February 19, 2018 4:14 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

This may be a little different. What about feeling the pain upon awaking. My daughter had a dream she was being stabbed in the stomach as she grabbed her stomach in the dream and yelling out she was still holding her stomach and could feel the pain as she woke up.

 
At April 05, 2018 5:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also had a crazy dream everyone i knew was chopping my body into piece and i can feel the blade go into every slide it felt so real i thought it was real my girlfriend was the last one who chopped off my head. I woke up i didn't move i was scared, my face was fill with tears and im kinda scared to fall back asleep. I had many weird dreams before but i haven't been dreaming much lately and if i had i don't remember.Today dream freak me out I been up since 3 and don't plan to fall asleep its 5 now

 
At April 28, 2018 10:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just had this horrible nightmare about a "top twelve hauntings" video being made for youtube, what actually happened was my laptop was haunted, and I went into the room, thinking it was safe as soon as I turned the lights on. It wasn't, as soon as I lay to interact with it (It was on a bed, That's how I usually use it) A ghost jump scared me and I had this sudden jabbing sensation in my lower left back (Presumably due to a ghost) that landed me on the ground(In dream) only for more hauntings to happen around me. I woke up after my dream for a little (Intensely horrifying) while, and I'm still feeling the remnants of that. Thing is, I'm pretty certain I wasn't sleeping on that side.

 
At May 12, 2018 3:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

About a week ago i had a dream and all i could remember from it was i was in this dark place, like a basement (cellar) and there was a laugh i don't know who's but it wasn't a happy one more of a evil one and then i remember grabbing my right calf which was in pain then my left one too. i remember screaming for help but no one came and then when i woke up to get ready for school i went to stand up and i just fell back down and both my calves were hurting in the same place as my dream however once i was able to stand up i could walk as it was agony.

found it out when trying to figure out why i wake up from a dream in pain

 
At May 14, 2018 3:17 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Ok I'm little curious to share ma experience here. Sometimes back I had a dream but I don't remember anything....even after I woke up....and tried to recall if I was dreaming....but no I Couldn't ....wat I remember was im awake wth my eyes shut and something like a finger is pushing deep in my ribs and I can feel the pain ...I'm awake as I said feeling it pressure on my ribs ...but do not why I cud nt make an attempt to open my eyes and see what was it may be I was scared..it was unbearable,..somehow I managed to open my eyes nothing was there ....I saw ma wife sleeping on the other side of our bed and we had our 1 month old son between us. I cudnt figure out what happened? I cud feel the pain even after I was fully awake for sum 15 to 30 min...still nt sure what was it?

 
At September 26, 2018 3:22 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

How can they explain about a dream when someone throw a rock on your head and it hurts in dreams? I've once dreamt about a bag of million dollars inside it, my mom said that we would be rich if we take it home .Then,I realized it was a dream so it is definitely useless for me to take it home. I need a prove that it was a dream so I scratch myself .It felt pain.Why am I feeling pain in dreams? Am I like scratching myself during my sleep?

 
At October 02, 2018 2:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yesterday I had a dream about being stabbed in the centre of my chest based on the exact bedroom I was already sleeping in. I knew the sensation wasn't real in my dream, so I woke up to shake off the feeling of having a hole in my chest. And surprise no knife in the middle of my chest, more than anything I was annoyed by the fact I had to wake up in order to stop the dream from continuing to exert a false pain across my chest.

 
At October 05, 2018 10:12 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

This happened to me too but instead of pain it was this gut tightening feeling almost like nervousness or shock
The dream was I was swimming and I was older when I came across a guy taking pictures I asked to see some of them and he said yes it then cuts to being inside a wood cabin with a different guy who was showing me the pictures when he accidentally scrolled to a video. I noticed at the beginning it was a 2nd grade version of me and I asked to see the video. It was a FaceTime video of one of my friends I haven’t seen since 2nd grade. After the video I asked the guys last name and he said (last name of my friend from 2nd grade) that’s when I had the gut feeling cuz I was shocked I had found him and could talk to him again. He stood up and I asked if his name was aiden and right afterwards he disappeared and changed into a different person.
I’m kinda hoping this dream is somewhat a reality showing that someday I will see aiden again.

 
At October 26, 2018 1:57 AM, Blogger Jangoo said...

I have many dreams,in my dream am in a dark room i feel frightened and i walked i saw a door it was dark too i walked towards it i heard a noise and some thing hit me hard in my stomach and testis i woke up .. bad thing is i feel that pain for almost 2 days pls rply to this am seeing more and more dreams

 
At October 29, 2018 9:48 AM, Blogger The Neurocritic said...

Jangoo - If the pain continues for 2 days, I think you should see a doctor.

 
At November 04, 2018 5:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a dream last night that I got into a fight with a Dr. Then I kept passing out the last time I came to I was missing four pieces of my finger. No one would tell me why so I made my self pass out in a doorway. Waited to be awoke aw a Dr. My work alram wakes me up. And I still feel the pain of those four fingers

 
At November 14, 2018 9:22 AM, Anonymous kpop trash said...

Once my friend had a dream that she fell off a bridge and when he woke up her calf was hurting and her hip was swelled and she couldn't sit up for 3 weeks

 
At November 20, 2018 12:36 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I had a dream last night of someone digging their finger nails into the palm of both my hands . The pain woke me up instantly , and was also instantly gone .

 
At November 30, 2018 4:41 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I'm a lucid dreamer and I often die in my dreams but I noticed that I'm suffering real life injury and pain from where I was hurt in my dream state. Last night for example i was stabbed over and over and I died 3 times woke up each time feeling a dull pain where the injury adhered now it's the evening after and I still feel pain. Also dying isn't fun

 
At December 04, 2018 7:17 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I also felt serious pain in my foot during sleep that I actually got up and took a pain pill. Of course, there was no pain by the time I completely awoke, before I even got back into bed.

 
At December 06, 2018 1:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have similar dreams, but the pains are direct correlations to dreams for me typically on my lower back, electrical dull pain that is so painful. I feel like im someone experiment. I just want it to stop, im constantly put in simulations of sort. Just now i experienced some man trying to rip something from the back of my neck only for me to call out to Jesus to aid me in stopping it.

 
At December 26, 2018 4:08 AM, Blogger Ari said...

I just woke up from a dream. I was abroad in a field on a school trip, everyone had to play tennis and I’ve never done pe due to anxiety and every time I went into the corner and hid the teacher would yell etc, then one time he went up to me and started saying how I should change my character and basically just saying I’m a waste of space etc so I cried, I was sensitive in the dream even my friend cried too for whatever reason and we went to another teacher and said how cruel he is etc and then he came back. Grabbed my hand. He slit the top of it and blood poured down extremely and I can’t remember what else he did but I felt every part and it was so so scary he was like twisting fingers and stabbing me and putting knives in my hand multiple times and then he got a pen and with a smiley face on my hand put next to it “I’m so sorry it’s my fault” meaning myself caused this and I ran for it. While he was finding me he kept doing the same to other people and when he got close I woke up

 
At January 21, 2019 12:21 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I had a dream last night that I was out with my brother and some girl, we were at her dads house. She was babbling on about something and then a snake came out of nowhere and bit both of legs on the shin. Somehow he even bit my left arm, I felt it, it was excruciating, it was burning and I woke up and I felt horrible, I’m unsure of what’s wrong with me.

 
At January 25, 2019 10:00 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I had a dream last night of being stabbed with an injection in my upper leg, the whole dream was dramatic, I screamed as it was stabbed and involuntary. I shouted myself awake and still felt a pain in my leg. This is the weirdest thing that happened.

 
At February 22, 2019 1:34 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I was asleep and dreaming about being in a container.i was also being shot at the person shooting me had a shaky had and hadn't managed to land any fatal shots so while he was reloading I tried to run at him and get the gun but I slipped and he shot me right in the ear
I woke up instantly and my inner earlobe was hurting

 
At March 08, 2019 9:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does anyone else think about a dream while they are awake and feel paralyzed for a moment. Then once the feeling of reality comes back and all your head feels is pain for a few minutes

 
At September 19, 2019 7:23 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Can anyone, has anyone been thinking of something. The thought is over, now in bed watching TV, then you have a dream about being in pain, actually from what I ate. Basically, I am asking if you are thinking of whatever is it likely or not, you may dream related to that thought.

 
At December 06, 2019 1:06 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Every now and then I will have a dream where someone presses their hand on my side. Like normally someone would stab/cut someone to hurt them. But this is like in my dreams my side (side of my stomach)is my complete and total weakness.when they press on it I cant say anything, I can't move, I m paralyzed and it's this horrible pain to the point im crying. Many times I know it's a dream and I fight to wake up because it's so painful. When I finally wake up it's like I can finally breathe but my body is sunk into the bed and this big weight is let off my body once I wake up. I think of it as sleep paralysis but in my actual sleep. But I don't know if that's a thing or not. If anyone can relate or can tell me what it means or if there's a name for it email me snowflake7132@gmail.com

 
At December 11, 2019 2:37 PM, Blogger Mian farooq said...

But my situation is quite different...as sleep my head get pain and bad dreams starts ....when I get up my head gets more pain....when I walk her and there my head pain solved.
Than again I try to sleep the same situation occurred

 
At February 26, 2020 9:13 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I had a dream last night I was sitting down in my dream and I tried to stand up but unfortunately for me I got a bilateral thigh stiffness I couldn't stand up even with a help in my dream and when I woke I fealt serious pains in my legs and growns like a reality something

 
At March 06, 2020 6:22 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

High suger before bed causes clear night mares with pain in my case. Things like ice cream and so on. My deepest sleep is always between 6am to 10am and yes if I am cut I feel it

 
At June 03, 2020 3:06 PM, Blogger Steven said...

I must be an exception to this. I've never been shot or broken any bones in my life, though, when I dream, I can tell you that I have been shot, broken many bones, and lots of other serious injuries. Be it falling off a building and breaking my legs or somehow being in a shoot-up and getting shot. I have felt it and it is the worst pain I have ever experienced. I don't wake up and I have to wait until I bleed out or get saved(Hospital or forcing myself out or into another dream). If there is any explanation or somewhere to run some tests on me I would appreciate it because I have talked to so many people throughout my life and not one of them has heard of anything like this. Thank you and I will continue to find my answer.

 
At June 03, 2020 3:06 PM, Blogger Steven said...

I must be an exception to this. I've never been shot or broken any bones in my life, though, when I dream, I can tell you that I have been shot, broken many bones, and lots of other serious injuries. Be it falling off a building and breaking my legs or somehow being in a shoot-up and getting shot. I have felt it and it is the worst pain I have ever experienced. I don't wake up and I have to wait until I bleed out or get saved(Hospital or forcing myself out or into another dream). If there is any explanation or somewhere to run some tests on me I would appreciate it because I have talked to so many people throughout my life and not one of them has heard of anything like this. Thank you and I will continue to find my answer.

 
At June 10, 2020 2:36 AM, Blogger nick-martin-12 said...

Last night I had a dream that I had a battle with Dr. Then I continued missing my finger four pieces the last time I came. Nobody would tell me why I made a doorway for myself. I expected aroused a Dr. My alram of work wakes me up. And the pain of these four fingers I still feel read more

 
At June 10, 2020 10:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have a recurring nightmare where I am in sleep paralysis and experience the most terrible pain in my testicles from something happening in the dream. I'm not able to make it stop unless I snap myself awake. I'd compare it to torture, luckily I can now quickly identify these nightmares for what they are and wake up.

 
At June 14, 2020 11:22 AM, Blogger Mahogany said...

I turn to a vampire any time i want to, i become a vampire because of how people treat me, this world is a wicked world and not fair to anybody. At the snack of my finger things are made to happen, am now a powerful man and no one steps on me without an apology. I turn to human beings also at any time i want to, and am one of the most dreaded men in my country. I became a vampire through the help of my friend who introduced me into a vampire kingdom by giving me their email. if you want to become a powerful vampire kindly contact the vampire kingdom on their email worldofvampir@hotmail.com

 
At October 11, 2020 10:07 AM, Blogger Miguelito said...

I just had a dream that I was asleeep in my dream and felt an immense pain of me pushing my bottom tooth against my top canine tooth so hard it felt like it was going to rip out. I couldn't stop it because it felt like I had lock jaw. Eventually, my jaw would release. I couldn't anticipate it because it was random both in my 'conscious' state in my dream and unconscious while sleeping in my dream. All I know is the pain was REAL!

 
At October 11, 2020 7:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I believe that I am having the same experience as you. Certain dreams trigger it. Electrical sensation more than pain... Sharp and very clear electrical sensation at the bottom of my spine. I have a question. Have you tried to meditate before?

Please respond to this. This is happening repeatedly.

 
At October 13, 2020 10:06 PM, Blogger BGR.UK said...

Throughout the last 20yrs I've experienced horrific pain nightmares, rarely the same, I've been impaled in every part of my body, strangled, slashed, crushed, broken, tortured and most other things you can think of, I wake up with my heart beating out my chest and if I go back to sleep I go right back into another one, it usually happens when I'm overtired but often when I go to bed at a decent time too, it's depressing and exhausting, I wish there was something to stop it, I sometimes drink alcohol to knock me out and get a peaceful night's sleep though I know alcohol sleep isn't good sleep

 
At October 13, 2020 10:09 PM, Blogger BGR.UK said...

That is one of the many I have also the sensation of being poked in the kidneys to the point where it feels like I'm being impaled, it's bloody horrific

 
At November 08, 2020 2:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@Blogger Steven; i can understand what you're going through, forcing yourself into another dream, or well person you become someone who is you and or not you at the same time, i have not been shot but i can tell you what it is like to have your stomach sliced clean across, there was a small gentlemen in a yellow rain coat telling a group of people who were fenced in a rope enclosure i was one of them, that we had to leave, so he started slicing people open, when i woke up i had this hard ribbon of ice cold skin across my abdomen where i had been "cut". though i don't always wake up after something like that. sometimes i just "float" into another place, or person.

 
At November 25, 2020 10:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I found this site because I had an unusual experience in my dream last night. I felt real pain. This incident was simple. I was walking with a friend and he had a red carpenter ant on the cuff of his shirt. When he raised his arm to show me the ant 🐜 fell off and dropped onto my upper chest, I felt a sting and shop pain and in my dream tried to brush away the ant. Feeling pain while in a dream as part of the dream surprises me. I have woken while experiencing real pain like leg cramps and tingling in my hand, these I understand.

 
At November 30, 2020 6:38 PM, Blogger The Neurocritic said...

Thanks for telling us about your ant 🐜 dream. It's been interesting to see that many others have experienced pain in dreams.

 
At February 10, 2021 1:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also sometimes have dreams where I get cold shocks through my spine! It is always specifically an electric shock in the dream and, I don't know if it's in the dream or IRL but I feel my back or body spasm briefly. It's not distressing as it hasn't happened with any nightmares yet - I rarely have them - but it is so intense I'm interested to find out what it is. Unfortunately this is very hard to search for online! Haha

 
At April 17, 2021 3:17 AM, Blogger Rishabh Raina said...

I had a dream and it happened in the afternoon which I think doesn't count in "REM SLEEP" time.
The pain was in the left ear and it was very severe, I woke up twice while I was still sleeping I mean I knew what was going around but my eyes were closed. Not just me I was with a friend in my dream and asked him if he was also feeling the pain and he said yes, then I started searching about "pain in dreams" on Google while I was still in the dream.
I had to wake up because the pain was increasing rapidly. I noticed I was sleeping on my left side and instead of a pillow there was the sheet which I use during night to cover myself. The sheet is made of Khadi so it's a little tight and I don't know, when you fold it becomes "not soft" like a pillow.
I guess the pain started from there and my brain was trying to wake me up so I can remove the sheet.

 
At May 12, 2021 10:44 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Im have something different, where like if i got shot in my leg i wake with pain in my leg for half a day. Are an arrow going throw my hand and my hand hurting all day whats is it thats going on.

 
At May 18, 2021 6:42 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I have been having dreams about real physical pain. For a while my tendonitis in my arm was so bad. I started dreaming about having to go to the hospital crying uncontrollably. And now it's my leg. The same thing I cry uncontrollably in my dreams and about going to the hospital. And all of them I wake up in so much pain I can't get comfortable. When the real life pain eases the dreams go away.so weird.

 
At July 22, 2021 10:25 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi, recently my boyfriend has been having nightmares of being stabbed or shot and he wakes up panicking because he "feels" the pain. Hes scared to go to sleep now. How do yall handle this when yall have similar dreams?

 
At December 05, 2021 10:06 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I've had horrible dreams before where it's centuries ago and I'm being tortured alive or burned alive and the pain is excruciating in the dream, but no pain when I wake up. And never had felt pain like that before.

 
At June 05, 2023 2:22 PM, Blogger x said...

I assure you that you can feel real actual pain stimuli just as if you were awake in your dreams. I am not talking about dreaming of falling for example or being attacked by animals. I have had these thing happen and felt nothing. When I was a teenager and could not understand what they were I called them my suffocation dreams. Little did I know that I can often sense my intermittent suffocation in my dream state from my throat closing up due to obstructive sleep apnea. Not only do I snore but my throat relaxes and closes up. I never have these episodes as long as I wear my CPAP equipment which essentially keeps your throat open when you sleep. Imagine if you were awake but paralyzed and someone was intermittently suffocating you by putting a pillow over your head then removing it and letting you breath again, then applying it again. Fun right!!! i have also felt my entire calf cramp cycles in my dreams. I try to stretch the leg in my dreams but of course you can not move in your draems so you just endrue the entire cramps. I wake up with the unmistakeable soreness from the cramping. So yes I 100% assure you that is possible to feel actual real pain in your dreams, and not just dream pain. Fortunately such epoisodes are pretty uncommon for me as long as I fall asleep with my Cpap mask on. Any comments or similiar experiences welcomed

 
At November 15, 2023 7:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am a lucid dream who also suffers from hereditary sleep paralysis (as in my mother and brother also suffer from it) I feel REAL pain and pleasure during REM sleep. It is actually awful. Not to be vulgar or anything but I have even awakened with real orgasms from dirty dreams. I have had dreams where things like bugs or rodents bite and attack me and I feel every bite (feels like a pinch) I have been shocked by power lines and every shock burns and hurts. Just last night I was slashed with a sword several times in a nightmare. Every slashed burned and hurt. I literally have to break the cycle but getting out of bed and walking around until my brain fully awakens, and just hope and pray that I don't fall asleep back into the same dream cycle. I have a neurologist and a shrink and neither know anything about this. I have read that people with chronic back pain are more likely to feel pain in dreams (I do suffer from CBP) due to a car accident. I noticed one thing though....I only feel sensations that I have 1: felt before in real life or 2: my brain "thinks" it knows what it would feel like. Example; I was shocked mildly by an outlet once, the powerline electric shock nightmares started AFTER that real life incident. I've but myself with kithcen knives several times so I know vaguley what real cuts feel like etc. If I get shot in a dream, fall off a cliff, my plane crashes etc in a dream, it feels like NOTHING. My brain can't compute it so it feels like nothing, so my theory is that the brain needs a real starting point. Someone who has been shot or even grazed before who suffers from this might actually feel a GSW in a dream. There needs to be more research into this because I feel that this a real neurological/mental disorder. I bet most of the people that suffer from these realisitc dreams all have things in common, like sleep disorders, neurological disorders, chronic pain etc. Also I take ambien which also makes dreams wonky and even induces nightmares. I'd love to see a support group started or at least a think tank. Unfortunately this isn't a movie and "hypnocile" isn't real so no stopping the dreams or never sleeping lol. It's nice to know that other people have this issue as well. Being tortured in your sleep every other night begins to get OLD. If anyone wants to chat about their physical dream experiences email me @ wendytesteberger83@gmail.com

 

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