Who says we can't feel pain in our dreams?
By Poison_Girl
@Poison_Girl (4150)
United States
January 31, 2007 4:25pm CST
Isn't it usually said that we are unable to feel pain in our dreams? Isn't that the reason we always ask someone to pinch us when we think we're dreaming? I had a dream last night where I kept feeling these intense, sharp pains in my left foot. It was REALLY painful! So, if we can't feel pain in our dreams, then how is it I felt pain in my dream last night? My theory is that maybe the pain was really there, but if I was actually having physical pain in my sleep, I would think it would wake me up. Or I'd at least feel SOMETHING when I woke up, but I didn't. I was perfectly fine when I woke up this morning. Oh, the things that boggle the mind. What do you all think?
4 people like this
15 responses
@yes2day (173)
• Australia
3 Feb 07
Is pain am emotion?, I know we feel emotion in our sleep. The brain, or perhaps its the memory thats responsible, the old addage, if you can think it then is it real?. I love sleep, but this is because I love to dream, probably the aquarian in me. It interests me though that when you awoke there was no pain, perhaps we use the subconsious part of the brain when we sleep/dream, or perhaps theres a mechanism that protects us as we wake.
As for boggling the mind, isn't it eerie the way a bad dream can bother us for a few days, as though we store the emotive trace patterns for inpleasant stuff.
Nice to hear from you and sweet dreams. lol
2 people like this
@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
6 Feb 07
Alright, I suppose you have a point, but I still wish those dreams were real. :P haha Naturally, of course.
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@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
4 Feb 07
Pain an emotion? Hmm... Well, there is emotional pain, but that's totally different than physical pain. And we definitely feel emotion in our sleep. Well, I do anyway. I think dreams do bring up subconscious memories or feelings or what have you. I love to dream, too. My dreams are always so bizarre and entertaining that it's often fun for me to see what I'll dream up next. Even if it's a bad dream. I read a comic a long time ago that said, "Bad dreams are good and good dreams are bad" and it basically went on to say that bad dreams are good because you wake up and realize it was just a dream and it wasn't real and you're relieved, but good dreams are bad because it's generally something you really want to happen and then you wake up and realize it was just a dream and then you're totally disappointed. I have to say I agree with that. Wow... so that now I've gone off on a tangent... LOL
1 person likes this
@sirensanssmile (3764)
• Netherlands
31 Jan 07
Tey also say that you can't read stuff in dreams but that is a crock. I have been able to read in dreams often. I can also see numbers and adjust lighting.... I think they still have no real idea about the reality of dreams.
2 people like this
@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
31 Jan 07
I think you're right. They don't have a real idea of the reality of dreams. I don't think I've ever read anything in my dreams, though. I don't know. I can't remember. Plus, it's like such a day to day thing that it's something I probably wouldn't even think about upon waking up. Oh, surely I've read things in my dream before cuz I've had dreams where I was chatting with people online. LOL Of course, when it starts getting really good, then I totally miss what was "said" and never see what they typed. Ugh. Hate when that happens.
1 person likes this
@sirensanssmile (3764)
• Netherlands
1 Feb 07
True, so much of what you dream is forgotten and alot of times you awake to think that you didn't dream at all when you very well could have and who knows what you were doing in those.... Crzy stuff. They really should just simply say "We will never know." and leave i rather than make all these rules.
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@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
1 Feb 07
Yes, they should! I don't think they'll ever figure out the weirdness and inconsistency of dreams.
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@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
10 Feb 07
Very good point. I remember having at least one dream where I was crying and woke up while I was still crying. I didn't have any tears, but I heard myself crying. LOL I think that was the first time I realized I talk in my sleep.
2 people like this
@angelicEmu (1311)
•
11 Feb 07
I think it depends on how vivid the dream is. I've definitely had dreams where I've felt pain in the dream which wasn't there when I woke up - I think I've asked someone in a dream to pinch me once or twice, as the dream was so bizarre I was sure it couldn't be true, and I felt the pinch in the dream. However, your senses working in dreams can be a good thing too - I've eaten food in dreams which tasted absolutely delicious! They're strange things aren't they!
2 people like this
@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
11 Feb 07
Oh, I've eaten in my dreams, too, and the food was so yummy! I swear I've smelt things in my dreams, too. It's funny how our senses can "work" in our dreams.
@azriel (2107)
• Philippines
1 Feb 07
you know, it seems that there are a lot of so-called theories about dreams, and more often than not they are wrong. like for example, they say that dreams are not supposed to be colored, or just like what happened to you, it wasnt suppose to hurt. i seldom remember my dreams, but most of my remembered ones are either in technicolor or that i feel certain sensation (not necessarily pain, but you kind of know that your feeling something) i once remembered a certain dream when i pinch myself just to see if im dreaming. of course in my dream, i felt a slight pain. imagine my confusion when i woke up!lol!
i think since the mind generates the dream, it also goes to follow that our mind "fakes" our senses and so we see, feel and smell whatever it is that we are suppose to in our dreams, even if its not happening in real life.
@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
2 Feb 07
You know, I dream in color, too. So that kinda throws that whole theory out the window, doesn't it? I can't really remember other dreams where I've felt pain, but I remember this one because it was SERIOUSLY painful! I couldn't walk or anything. I've heard other people say we can't smell things in our dream, but I swear I've smelt stuff before in my dreams, too! I think you're right, though, that our brain can "fake" senses in our dreams.
1 person likes this
@nw1911guy (1131)
• United States
1 Feb 07
First it was bubbles and now it's pains in your foot while sleeping? What's next? Finding the motherboard of your prized computer in bed next to you when you wake up one morning? jk (anyone who did not catch this needs to see the movie Godfather). Uh I've noticed I have had a tendency now and then to feel a pain while I sleep but turn it into something else in my dream.
2 people like this
@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
4 Feb 07
You turn the pain into something else? Are you lucid dreaming, then? You know, where you KNOW you're dreaming? If I knew I was dreaming, I'm sure I could turn it into something else, but I never have lucid dreams anymore. :(
1 person likes this
@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
8 Feb 07
I remember having a dream as a kid that I was about to get shot, but I knew I was dreaming, so I woke myself up. I wish I had tried to just change it. That would've been better.
1 person likes this
@yes2day (173)
• Australia
8 Feb 07
I knew I wasn't alone in this, yes there seems to be a sort of dream concious state in which you know your asleep and that you are dreaming. Its real strange yet somehow pleasant and relaxing. If its a good dream you can go with the flow, if its bad then you can opt out.
2 people like this
@cloud_kicker_32 (4635)
• United States
11 Feb 07
I agree with you! And it has happened so many times to me to count! But the one that sticks in my mind the most was this dream I had..I was running from these hunters,,I let out this man being tortured,,anywho i am running threw the woods and one of them shoots me..OMG!! Right in the back..and then BOOM!@@ RIGHT IN THE CHEST!! I woke up..and i swear to you..I hurt soo bad that i checked to see if i was bleeding!!!And whats even worse i was sore all damn day..it was just odd,.But i want toshare something with you...and everyone else that has nightmares..if you can teach yourself GO TO SLEEP IN YOUR DREAM...YOU WILL WAKE UP!! I kid you not!! I have had nightmares my whole life..and one day i went to sleep in my dream and I immediately woke up. Just try it..it has worked for many other friends of mine..lots of luck to ya!
@sunita64 (6469)
• India
11 Feb 07
Once at night time my mother woke me up and asked why I was wailing as if I was having pain somewhere, but I said no I am fine, then I realised I might be seeing some dream in which I might be suffering some kind of pain. Similarly my mother once was seeing a dream in which one monkey was sitting on her shoulder and she was afraid and asking of help by which I got up and woke her up,so she told that she was seeing this dream and was afraid, no one was doing anything to remove monkey from her shoulder.So sometimes dream also bring emotions and feelings.
@wmg2006 (5381)
• United States
11 Feb 07
I think "they" are speculating, there is no way they can determine if we see, feel, or hear something in our dream. I do believe I have felt immense pain in my dreams. I have even felt like I was slowly dying in my dream, then to wake up and everything is fine. I am not so sure I believe the ones who think they know everything. I am sure you can feel pain in your dreams and you can also see color in your dreams.
2 people like this
@shmeedia (1044)
• Canada
4 Feb 07
i feel pain in dreams!!
sometimes it is because i have a pain in real life though ;)
i have also had 'heart' pains while dreaming. like something happens that is so sad, you feel heartache like physical pain, as you might in real life.
i have woken up crying from such dreams.
i have also woken up because a real pain had infiltrated my dream world. happened to me last night actually....i put out my back this week, and sleeping has been excruciating, as every time i change positions in my sleep, i wake up due to dreaming about the pain!
@ronita34 (3922)
• Canada
17 Feb 07
I think that you most likely were sleeping on your foot the wrong way which is why it was only temporary pain and not enough to actually wake you up. I have cried in my dream and actually woke up crying. I also used to dream that i would be fighting and everything always seemed to be in slow motion and i was told that this is due to sleeping on your arms.
@Poison_Girl (4150)
• United States
17 Feb 07
Well, as far as I know, I don't sleep on either one of my feet. Not sure how I'd be able to do that, but I suppose it's possible. I do, however, tend to sleep on my arms, but I can't recall any dreams in slow motion or where I was fighting. No, I take that back... I've had dreams I was fighting with my younger sister. Anyway, I'm not sure I believe all these theories about dreams. I've heard about all sorts of things that just don't seem to be true with me or with others.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
6 Mar 07
I have a clear memory of feeling pain in a dream, but if it is bad don't you usually wake? Of course pain triggers release of adrenaline, speeding heart beat, etc and it may be that that wake you?
all the best urban
1 person likes this
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
6 Mar 07
Lol they say ALOT of things about our dream time. But meh, just proves we can't believe everything we read ^_^
I've felt some pretty intense pain in my dreams, along with deep sadness -- which to me is another form of pain, and I've woken up with tears streaming down my face. I also dream in color..which they USED to say that people couldn't.
So whatever I guess lol.
List of things they've gotten wrong about dreams in the past:
Often if we realize we're dreaming we can change the direction of the dream.
Some of us CAN dream in color
It is possible to feel pain, we can taste things, and other things similiar to those in a dream.
We can read in a dream. We can tell the time in the dream (funnily I've dreamed of the time, woken up to go to the bathroom and it WAS that time lol)
There's probably more but that's all I remember lol.
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