Question
All my life I have had very vivid, detailed dreams. When I was a child and teen, these were usually terrifying nightmares, so bad that I was afraid to sleep at night. As I’ve gotten older (34 now) my dreams have gotten a lot more fun and interesting.
A few months ago, I went to see a doctor as I’d been feeling down and she told me that I was pretty depressed and also had anxiety issues. She put me on medication, Cymbalta for the depression and a sedative to take before bed that also helps with my high blood pressure. I will be the first to admit the medication has helped, but sometimes I forget to take it. My point is, when I forget to take my meds, as I did last night, my vivid dreams return in epic form. I have to admit my dream life, as scary and weird as it can be, is something I really enjoy. I feel like I’m seeing all these other worlds and lives unfold before me, and I’m bummed that the medication that helps me also takes a lot of this away. Do vivid dreams have to go hand in hand with my depression and insomnia? Do I have to give up one to lose the other?
Answer
You should try adding the following vitamins to your diet to see if they can replenish what the drugs are depleting. B5, B6, and Choline (Citicoline is best). What’s probably happening is that the drugs are somehow destroying or depleting the acetylcholine that your brains uses to dream. If you haven’t tried it already you may want to experiment with some natural alternatives to deal with depression such as GABA or L-Theanine to see if you can get off the drugs completely. You may also benefit from regular use of a device called the Bio-Tuner (BT7) by Sota Instruments. It’s very effective at treating anxiety and depression. As an added benefit the Bio-Tuner is also a really good dream enhancer.
