Once in a while, sometimes more often, other times less I keep having a dream where I'm actually about to die, but every time I wake up just before it happens. I feel like it's getting harder & harder to get myself out of dreaming phase every time.
I wonder if anyone actually went through it without waking up.
Is it possible that dying in your dream will kill you in real life too?

This post has been edited by nbarts: Feb 11 2008, 03:36 PM

I think the "dying in your sleep = dying in real life" is a myth!.

I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into your post, but I sense that you have a real anxiety about going to sleep and/or dreaming. You say that it's getting harder and harder to get yourself out of the "dreaming phase"... why do you feel that you need to?

I don't think I have anxiety about dreaming, but it's possible I guess. I don't really control my waking up process, I think it's natural that you are trying to escape it, that's why you eventually wake up. Now I've heard many people telling how they had a dream when they were about to die, but they all ended with "I woke up before it happened". Never once I've heard someone say that it actually happened. Co-Incidence? Maybe. It's just weird, don't you think?

This post has been edited by nbarts: Feb 12 2008, 02:39 AM

i can understand that 'wanting to escape ur dreams' bcoz ive had some weird dream stuff going on that has at times made me petrified of going to sleep. i think sometimes the more anxious u are about it the more the anxiety will bring on unwanted dreams tho...from my experience anyway. i find that doing things that stimulate my mind just before going to sleep like watching tv and using the computer makes my mind more active too and that can carry on into dreams. have u tried doing more relaxing stuff before bed? i try and read (a nice book not a horror book) or if im going to watch something on tv it will be something with a laid back feel to it if that makes sense rather than a scary program or something with a lot of energy. just something that is more relaxing.
if it will make u feel better i have dreamt in the past that i have died and im still here so im sure its a myth that dying in ur sleep means u die in real life.

I'm sorry I have to ask this, but I just need to know. I've had dreams when I was dead too, but I've never went trough the moment of death and honestly I find it hard to imagine. When you see yourself in your dream do you watch yourself as a third party or it's like you are inside your body? If you were inside your body than how didn't you wake up? What happened when it happened?

Hi nbarts

I have died many times in my dreams, but it often represents change.
Often when you dream things like that, you get into a really deep state of sleeping, which would cause you to take forever to wake up.

So its really nothing to worry about as far as I know.

Trace

Hi nbarts,

this used to happen to me alot. i would dream that i was about to be killed / die accidentally and then a split second before, i would wake up.
its a horribe feeling, but you have to remember it is just a dream, and it doesnt mean that it will happen in real life. hell, if that were true, then surely all our dreams would happen in life. yes, even the most embarrasing of dreams!
there isnt much to worry about, its like a phase. these horrible dreams will stop, you might want to make sure you are completely calm before you go to bed, this usually helps. also, maybe something is bugging you and so these dreams represent you trying to kill off something, could be a feeling or a problem that you have, and like trace said, it usually represents change anyway, so i wouldnt worry.
also, if it persists and starts to worry you, you might want to talk to your doctor about it.
just some suggestions, hope they help.

nat xx

i havent dreamt it in a long time but from what i remember its hard to explain, like i had 2 viewpoints? like i was in me and (i was being strangled by someone...nice!)..anyway i was fighting it and could feel what was happening but i was also kinda looking at myself too. thats the closest i can explain it like i was in me AND looking at me. i remember seeing this person stop and i was dead and then i dreamt of my funeral and stuff (im such a positive person ). so it was like i didnt actually 'feel' the moment i died as such because i was kinda looking at myself at that point but i know i did in my dream.
its like what they say about not waking a sleepwalker tho and a friend of mine used to sleepwalk (and do all manner of stuff like dress for school, mke her lunch etc etc) and altho her mum used to try and lead her back to bed quietly a few times she woke up as she was being led back to bed and nothing bad happened. i think these are just myths altho it is scary to have dreams like that. ive actually written in a few threads about dreams coz the ones i have had the last few years really freak me. i wont go into detail here but they are terrifying dreams where i think ive woken and havent and this can happen 5 or 6 times so when i really do wake im not sure if im really awake or still asleep. id love to know why some people hve nice dreams all the time and others have these D*** nitemares. i definitely think tho a lot of it is to do with the illness which is obviously still there in the subconscious while were asleep and they come out in these bad dreams.

Wow! I have dreams exactly like that too, waking up multiple times. I know exactly what you are talking about. Sometimes I even have reality mix into my dream, then fade away. But none of those really freaked me out. The only one that did was actually series of dreams, 14 days in a row, I had the same dream for 13 days like I was driving this road & then there was this intersection with 4-way stop sign, I would stop & drive again. The 14th day I drive the same road & suddenly at this intersection there is no stop signs on both sides. Now that's a kind of dream that freaks me out.

Hi. My son would tell me about his dying dreams. He would be getting shot and he said it hurt. I wonder what sort of changes he was going through; I do not remember the time for sure/ what things were going on at the time. Probably puberty. I had worried a bit about them. Maybe the physical pain sensations meant that they were emotionally difficult changes. He had a dream recently of me dying. He used to have them about us parents dying which made him feel anxious about us dying. Anyway, in the recent one, he dremt of my death being sad and was ultimatelly good because he says I become alive into a new life. This made me happy because I felt it at the time too; that there were good changes occuring in me. My son has truthful dreams that we see end up taking place sometimes.

Dying in your dreams will not kill you in real life. It's just a myth. I had a few dreams of myself dying. They don't seem to worry me though. The only dreams that worry me are the ones that end up happening a few days later.

Actually the only reason it bothers me is that I'm afraid some day I'm gonna have a stroke while seeing one of these dreams. That could kill me for sure.

Only in the Matrix which was a dream state of sorts. Fiction. I have taken some nasty falls in dreams and just plunk down and dream think.......wow I s/b dead. But just get up and walk away.

I've died in a dream before. One second I was dead, the next I was in an airplane in South America (very much alive). It just changed "scenes" basically. It's not a big deal. Your dreams can't hurt you.

I had a dream where I died back when I was on cipralex. I got switched to another med, though, because my side effects were awful.