Nightmares

[Enko_chan]

I HATE HATE HATE nightmares about bad things happening to my flock.

I used to constantly have dreams that my fish swam out of their tanks and away, with me chasing them and watching them go in every direction, swimming through the air... or that I did something wrong and they turned into monsters, which everyone in the dream was telling me I had to kill, but I loved them and didn't want to. (I wasn't doing experiments like Dr. Fishy Frankenstein, just comparing tank size and shape, feeding regimens and things like that...)

and then the birds came. I was so relieved to wake up and hear ALL my birds loud and healthy this morning. The nightmares about them shouldn't see the light of day, so I won't repeat them, but how very awful.

Does this happen to anyone else?

[wilkiecoco]

i rarely dream, or have nightmares. but since i got kiwi, i have recurring dreams of waking from sleep, either during the day or in the morning, and finding him lifeless in the cage or on the floor somewhere. i waken from these frights, and cannot relax until i hear him chirp, or until i check on him.

[linda040899]

When I have thoughts about bad things happening to either people in my life or my birds, I'm usually very much awake and it scares me because those thoughts are correct about 98% of the time. It happened the morning Miracle died and it also happened when my second daughter died. For that reason, I try to keep my brain very busy doing something or enjoying something. Zoning out is not a good state for me.

[bookworm0550]

yes, i always get nightmares about my birds: pan committed suicide, joey got lost several times, evie died. then i wake up and hear their little voices.

[Birkah]

I have a recurring dream that one of my cats managed to open Cipher's cage and ate him! She's a lazy old fat arthritic cat, and I know that she's not even interested anymore, but it still freaks me out to the point where I have to go check on Cipher when I wake up. He usually just glares at me like, "What??" when I peek in to make sure he's alright.

[Enko_chan]

When I have thoughts about bad things happening to either people in my life or my birds, I'm usually very much awake and it scares me because those thoughts are correct about 98% of the time. It happened the morning Miracle died and it also happened when my second daughter died. For that reason, I try to keep my brain very busy doing something or enjoying something. Zoning out is not a good state for me.

I've never been one to have prophetic dreams. I dream frequently and vividly, and I think part of my serenity during the day comes from the fact that I work out all my anxieties in the dream state. They do feel very real, though, and I've woken up in tears. The only one I think was a warning, not a psychic warning but my sensible side reminding my waking self to keep the toilet lid down- was one where Benny was flushed down the toilet.

I have had bad feelings accompanied by a sudden and unexplained flavor of blood tang or iron and that is when I know something very bad is happening. I don't have any particular belief or disbelief when it comes to psychic abilities, but I do know that every time I've had this flavor in my mouth accompanied by a feeling of dread, someone close to me has died. It didn't happen with Enko or Loki, those were genuine shocks, but it did with Pablo- that was the first time it ever happened. I am wondering if it is because they were so new to me. It also seems to come about when my mind is not busy elsewhere. It happened again when I lost the only child I'll ever carry, and when two very close friends and my uncle passed away suddenly. It only happens with sudden things.

Chris thinks I taste blood when I'm anxious because I bit my tongue without knowing it, but it is not that sort of taste- its much more metallic. Its also a very infrequent event, and it hasn't been wrong yet.

Its very strange and doesn't fit in with my understanding of the world, but then again, there's a lot I can't or don't perceive and even more I don't understand.

Sorry for bringing up this unhappy subject- I just always feel better once I've aired it out and see other people have dreams like this without anything bad coming of it... but it REALLY upsets Chris to hear about my bad feelings and dreams. As much as he doesn't believe they mean anything, they scare the crap out of him. He is actually quite paranoid about something bad happening to the birds. Not that I blame him, after what we've been through!

[Pips mom]

I'm like Wilkiecoco.....rarely dream. I've noticed that when I do dream in more detail, it's usually right before I wake up, more than during the night. I can only recall having one bad dream about any of my birds, and it was about Pip. Sorry about the nightmares! They say eating before bedtime may cause them to happen more frequently....also, I think when you're good and tired, you're less likely to dream....at least for me. I tend to dream more when I'm good and rested....most often in the morning right before I wake up. I notice this as I wake up alot in the early morning at different times and sometimes can't get back to sleep for an hour or so, and then when I do, this is the ideal time, when I've noticed dreams happen the most. Also, I think our nightmares tend to be about something we are really terrified of! Although I sometimes get scared about something happening to my birds, mostly I feel like the chances are that they'll stay fairly healthy and be around for a while! so I'm not really too terrified of that.....what I'm terrified of is storms, lightning, thunder, and this is what I've had the most bad dreams about....even tornados. I often wonder why I'm so scared of storms and the lightning.....maybe in another life, a storm caused something really bad to happen!:confused:

[dieflying]

funny you should post that, because just last night i had a horrid dream that my bird was cooked and served to me. absolutely terrible, i woke up just feeling . . . ugh. how do i come up with these things? i need birdie snuggles today.

[Jally]

Linda, me too :( I feel bad things, and sometimes I can zero in on the who, what, how of it :( A few Fridays ago, my husband was going to pick up our daughter at college and bring her home. I felt the need to ask him to stay home, but I selfishly wanted my daughter home and it is only an hour and a half - one way trip. He got into an accident.

And, my oldest daughter wasn't feeling well. It went on for 2 weeks before we finally went to the ER (was to the family doctor who said it was the flu bug), I knew that we were going to be in the hospital for a very long time, but hubby didn't believe me and went to work. His work is another hour and a half away in the opposite direction of dd#2's college. He rides a van pool so he couldn't get home until the end of the work day.

Needless to say, I don't like dreaming and I don't like zoning out either...

But, it is hard for me to channel the energy I get into something other than just worry...that probably didn't make sense, but I am a constant worrier and trying to determine just which feeling is worthy of me saying something and which feeling is just a plain worry is hard.

I'm the kind of mother like on Terms of Endearment, who shakes the crib to see if the baby is OK. I do that to Peanut all the time. I walk in and peek in at him and call his name. I am only satisified if I hear a peep LOL then I can leave.

[akira-shakira-the bruce]

It happens to me, too. I will often wake up in the middle of the night and have to go check on Akira and Piggy, usually waking them up and getting an evil eye :). However, I feel much better knowing they are warm and alive, and they forgive me in the morning...almost always.
It just means we love them, I think, and we worry if we're giving them the best care for their little feathered buns.

[michael]

.......I used to constantly have dreams that my fish swam out of their tanks and away, with me chasing them and watching them go in every direction, swimming through the air......

Does this happen to anyone else?

Yes. I've had dreams about various pets somehow vanishing into the neighborhood. .. Honestly though, more so than any premonition or prophesy, I tend to believe most these (at least mine in particular) are products of having thought of them while conscious. .... A possible subconcious warning maybe? .. Either way you look at it, supernal or otherwise, that could very well be the case. .. After all, it was at least for the moment, a wakeup call.....:rolleyes:

I love to dream......Thunderstorms are a plus! .....Sometimes i'll even open the shades at night to help let everyone in. .. Of course, there are times I may not be home. .. Don't worry though, i'm probably out visiting a few old haunts myself.........:demon:

[HaleBoppPeachyluv]

the last dream i had before i woke up TODAY, my mom was showing me all these baby fids (already feathered) that she somehow wound up taking care of... they each had their own teeny tiny little cage.. like 10in by 10in, with only enough room for a perch, food/water & 1 toy. They looked happy & healthy, but I was like "Mom! You can't keep them in teeny cages like this!"

My nightmares usually involve finding my fid with his beak hurt/mangled/falling off.. usually the top one.... or going away on a trip and discovering whoever watched my baby didn't give them enough food/water and now they are starving and dying. I always have to take my fid out to play with as soon as i wake up.

[alifess]

I often have nightmares about bad things happening to Haricot, and I also spend a lot of waking time worrying about him. My nightmares are usually quite fantastical -- my last one involved him wasting away until he was the size of a small beetle, and they often involve missing or broken body parts, like once I dreamt that his beak fell off. I've had a couple of incidents in which Haricot came close to getting hurt, like once he got his head stuck in my printer (!!), so after incidents like that I've had follow-up nightmares.

I live with a dog and a couple of cats, so I often worry about them pushing my bedroom door open and getting at him. Sometimes I'll call his name across the apartment to make sure he's okay, and he chirps back. I also do this occasionally in the middle of the night -- I feel bad waking him up, but it does reassure me.

[Enko_chan]

I have always dreamed a lot, and vividly. My dreams become more elaborate and I recall them better as time goes on, too. I used to do meditations to lucid dream and had to stop after a few years because some truly frightening things were happening. It had begun as a project for a cognitive sciences course in college, but I continued for a while afterward. Its strange, because I didn't believe a lot of what I'd read could happen, and when it finally did- it really scared me half to death!

I think the reason why I've been having nightmares for the past few years is because of a medication I'm on. "Unusually vivid dreams or nightmares" is one of the listed side effects. Believe me, in the way of side effects, bad dreams are a small price to pay. I am very sensitive to most medications, and there are many I do not tolerate because of the severity of side effects.

Still, as unpleasant as the nightmares are, I also get the flip side, and have truly wonderful dreams. I dream often about traveling to other planets, living on really wild space ships, meeting characters from my own books and other things I've read... and being on outrageous adventures, backpacking in the Himalayas... I was an avid backpacker before I got sick and miss the outdoors very much. I lived in western Washington State and spent every last bit of free time outdoors. As for the more outrageous dreams, there's the meds and I've always had an overactive imagination.


I don't think my dreams, in general, are trying to warn me about anything- I worry about the fids and kids. I have dreams where terrible things happen to my siblings, too. I'm the eldest of 8 siblings, and I was the primary caretaker of 5 of them for many years... so I think its natural maternal type fears that I have for my animals companions as well as my siblings.

I dream often of birds I don't really have, too. I dreamed of Benny and Sayuri both before I even knew I was going to get them. I've had many dreams about a pied lovebird too, or that I'm working in an aviary or avian wildlife center.

I, too, will wake up after bad dreams about someone and will immediately check on them to dispel the fear and anxiety. I'm just happy to be surrounded by happy, healthy fids.