Dreams and Adrenaline

[Katty]

Whenever I have that 3am adrenaline wake-up, I'm usually having a bad dream right beforehand. Anyone else experience this? I guess it makes sense... If my blood sugar is dropping right before I wake up, a bad dream might be expected.
Am I understand the mechanism correctly here? Blood sugar drops because my liver wasn't storing enough glycogen, so then adrenaline kicks in to bring up blood sugar...? Or are there more complicated things happening?

I actually had been sleeping well until the last few nights. Had a couple restless nights, but mostly able to sleep through. Then last night, the 3am adrenaline, woke up starving after a bad dream.
I've been on a higher thyroid med dose for about 2.5 weeks- seemed to make me sleep better at first, but now I'm wondering if it is pushing me too hard. Or perhaps the slight increase in activity I've had has depleted my glycogen more quickly? Maybe I just need more overall calories.
Or maybe because I'm in the later part of my cycle my body is requiring more fuel.

I also re-introduced 50mg of niacinamide a few days ago. Doesn't seem like high enough dose to deplete glycogen so quickly, but maybe it is...?

In any event, the dream part is interesting to me.

 

[Stilgar]

Ahhh definitely, yes. I think there is a direct correlation between dreams, especially negative ones, and adrenaline/stress hormones. I would imagine that the dream itself would provoke further adrenaline release too. Try to wake quickly, calm yourself and eat/drink etc, before going back to sleep so that you don't fall back into agitated sleep.

Try having something by the bed to nibble on. I keep orange juice there sometimes, and salt to put under my tongue, because I usually find I start peeing a lot if I am in a high adrenaline state.

Also maybe try an extra something before bed? Coconut oil, a warm, sweet milk drink? I also suffer badly if most of my food is in the evening, or if I have eggs close to bedtime without enough sweet or starch.

It is tricky to master when upping thyroid.

 

[Katty]

Thanks for your response!
So are the bad dreams caused by the low blood sugar that comes before the adrenaline rush, or are they caused when the adrenaline rush actually kicks in/starts?

 

[tara]

I seldom have bad dreams. I used to say I only get bad dreams if I'm too hot in bed (ie too many blankets...). Now I suspect that a sugar drop caused adrenaline spike and bad dream, and adrenaline caused overheating and wake up. But that's a guess - obviously none of that is measured in real time. :) I occasionally dream of food, too, and I think that goes with undereating, but not necessarily a sudden sugar drop. Haven't had either for a few months. I often have to snack in the night to get back to sleep, though.

 

[Katty]

Tara,
I used to have food dreams all the time too. When I was really low carb and low cal I would dream about being at a buffet of pastries.

I need to keep snacks by the bed again. I was doing fine without them for a while, but maybe I should have it just in case.