Dreams of a madman

Just am update of my post-CPAP experience for anyone who is interested. It’s been a few months now.

I’m a natural scientist and analyst. Makes sense that I’d focus on the impact of the experience. The machine I use provides a daily measurement of key components of my rest, so that’s always fun to analyse. I don’t feel any more rested than usual, but the machine says I’m resting better than before, and it provides facts and data, so I’ll hold off on arguing with it for a while.

But there’s one item that is markedly different.

The dreams are no longer lifelike. That’s the major change.

Used to be, I’d wake up and recall my dreams as a normal extension of waking life. No flying, no dramatic experiences, no weird scenarios. I’d hide a lot in my dreams but to be honest I’d likely hide in real life a lot if I could get away with that, haha. Usually I’d dream that I was driving or mowing the grass or having a chat with folks I normally chat with. Maybe pet a cat that magically appeared but it would be a normal cat and act like one. And I’d remember things from previous dreams all the time.. “O yes, this is where I left that potato. I wondered where it went.” And if often get frustrated when I was awake and I’d look for something that I put down while I was sleeping and dreaming, and it wasn’t there.

Now, it’s really bizarre when I drop off into that deep REM state. I don’t realise just how odd that place can be unless the alarm pulls me out of it on occasion as apparently I can no longer remember my dreams otherwise.

Last night’s – or rather this morning’s – waking dream at the alarm was so complex that my conscious mind still can’t wrap its head around all the imagery. This one involved trees that gushed water and raw steak as I was wrapping plastic wrap around them while an ex-wife was asking me what time it was in Bangalore.

Y’all normal people actually live like this every night for your entire existence? Wow. It’s like living in a music video produced by mad pygmies dining on acid.