I Just Want Them To Stop

[VioletBlue]

I'm tired of the freaking dreams. I know it's a type of anxiety dream. But do they ever stop? I dream all the time about accidentally eating gluten. I chow down a piece of bread or a cracker or something and then go "Opps, I can't eat that, it has gluten in it" and then I panic in the dream because I know the gluten is going to make my life miserable for over a week. Actually, they're kind of nightmares. I've been gluten free since last December.

Do they EVER go away? I'm so tired of it. I just want the dreams to stop.

Violet

[EBsMom]

I hope they stop. I've been gluten-free for around 3 months. I've had a couple of these dreams and yes, they are nightmares. No advice....just wanted to say you're not alone!

Rho

[Mongoose]

I'm tired of the freaking dreams. I know it's a type of anxiety dream. But do they ever stop?

For the most part, yes. Now and again I will still have one of those irritating dreams, but more often, when I dream of food at all, it's something yummy that I can eat. It will be 5 years for me in a couple more months.

Have you thought about keeping treats for yourself on hand as comfort food for when you wake up in the middle of the night with such a dream?

Just a thought, but maybe double-check your diet? I tend to get stress dreams mostly when a bit of gluten has slipped in somewhere. Dairy also affects my sleep.

Best of luck, and hang in there!

[Kaycee]

I've had them gluten dreams. Sometimes, I find myself eating gluten and I get quite upset and wait for the stomach pains to begin. The one that makes me laugh is the one when I am faced with all these gluten treats on a table, and I have to ask my host whether or not they are gluten free? I get so wild with myself when I wake up as I would've loved to have been able to eat all those naughties in my dream. My thinking is that if I can't eat them in real life, why can't I eat them in my sleep?

Cathy

[darlindeb25]

I only remember dreaming about eating gluten one time and I had been gluten free for 4 years at the time. I dreamed my kids and I had a party at our firepit and I had eaten hot dogs, bun and all. They tasted so good and all of a sudden, it hit me--I CAN'T HAVE BUNS!!!!!!!!! Honest to God, I woke up in tears and I panicked all day long because I could not get the thought out of my mind that I had glutened myself and I kept waiting for the attack. It was terrible.

Our minds can be fascinating, can't they?

[nzgirl]

Hey I was diagnosed bout 2 months ago and I have had dreams about eating gluten ever since. I have never made any mistakes (well that I know of!) and I am getting really parnoid about making a mistake! Let me know if you find a cure to this problem! I need it!

[gdobson]

That's funny. I thought I was that had these crazy dreams. I used to have those nervous dreams all the time. And would wake up feeling sick to my stomach until I "really" woke up.

I never have those dreams anymore. But I am still always afraid of getting glutened. Gluten free except for an occassional accident since 2001.

Gina

[silk]

Violet! I laughed when I saw this thread.

I have been gluten free for about 2 weeks now...

One of the freakiest things to happen to me since going off of gluten is the bizarre dreams that I have had every night. Have not dreamed or remembered my dreams for years and have always been a very restless sleeper. I can actually say that even with the dreams though, my sleep has been deeper and I feel much more rested since ditching the glue!

I read about your dreaming of accidentally getting 'glutenized' and thought, gee that's odd, none of my dreams are about that. But I had a terrible nightmare the other night that had me screaming in my sleep so loudly that I woke my husband up from the opposite end of the house. As I read about your dreams I thought about that nightmare. In it there was a man hiding in my house, waiting to hurt me. I knew he was there but couldn't find him. I was a kid in the dream and so I had my mom and dad bring the police to search the house for this person who wanted to hurt me and they didn't find anyone so they started to leave. I knew that they had forgotten to search one room so I went to check it as they were going out the door and I could see the man hiding behind the shower curtain and he started to come after me and I kept screaming "Mom, Dad, come back".

Maybe this is a stretch here, but do you suppose the gluten in my dreams is the man who was hiding and could not be seen and wanted to hurt me? Now I wonder if there is anyway to convince myself that gluten comes in the form of George Clooney?

[silk]

Hey I was diagnosed bout 2 months ago and I have had dreams about eating gluten ever since. I have never made any mistakes (well that I know of!) and I am getting really parnoid about making a mistake! Let me know if you find a cure to this problem! I need it!

nzgirl: watch out for Dannon flavored yogurt. I got 'glutenized' today after being gluten-free for two weeks and my stomach is killing me. Yogurt did not list gluten on the label but does list it in the website. Discovered this after eating it for breakfast and now I am living your nightmare! Rox

[VioletBlue]

I remember making one very blatant mistake early on. I'd bought these Indian rice chips from the organic store. I read the ingredient list and the chips were made purely out of rice. Great. I took them home, opened the bag and ate one. While I was holding the bag munching I read the ingredient list again and realized there were two ingredient lists on the bag. The list for the flavorings on the chips were listed separately from the chip ingredients and the first thing on the flavorings list was wheat. I had assumed since everything else on the bag was in two languages that the second ingredient list was simply a repeat of the English version so I hadn't read it. I spit what was left in my mouth out and washing my mouth repeatedly. It wasn't even the making me sick thing that got me, it was that it was poison to me and I knew it. My symptoms from gluten are very subtle and mostly neurological so I don't get physically sick. That was the only time I did in real life what I do in the gluten dreams.

Mostly those dreams have subsided. But the dreams I'm having now are somewhat disturbing. I have rarely had nightmares in my life, but lately I've had quite a few. I don't know what it is, but it seems to coincide with my body finally beginning to heal from years of vitamin and mineral deficiencies. I hope that's all it is and not yet another wrinkle. Maybe remembering your dreams and having nightmares are normal and I've been abnormal all these years, LOL.

Hey I was diagnosed bout 2 months ago and I have had dreams about eating gluten ever since. I have never made any mistakes (well that I know of!) and I am getting really parnoid about making a mistake! Let me know if you find a cure to this problem! I need it!

[Joe Hoffman]

I wish I could have dreams again. I don't get enough good sleep to dream. I'm up every one to two hours with diarrhea and then I lay there with those God awful stomach pains and cramps.

I'm not complaining, because at least they know what is wrong with me now, but I sure look forward to being able to sleep again.

I find that reading and watching movies takes my mind off the madness of Celiac.

[allison lynn xo]

when i dream about food, it's about the gluten-filled food i can't have, but it's no nightmare!

the dreams actually make me crave the foods i can't have. i've had SO MANY of them. it's annoying to wake up and realize "shoot, i can't have that. ever."

[JustMe75]

I have these dreams too! It was such a panicky feeling in my dream. I would be eating a sandwich or something like that and halfway through would remember that I can't have bread. I had one this week but I think it was because that day at a party I couldn't eat most of the food and I actually picked up a chip and dipped it in salsa that I knew I couldn't have and caught myself just before I put it in my mouth. It's such a habit at parties to mindlessly munch while visiting. They say our dreams are our brains working out things we are dealing with. I would think that when the diet becomes "normal" to us and not as much of a constant conscious effort (I am still hoping that days does come) the dreams will stop.

Glad I saw this thread though.... it's nice to know I'm not crazy and we all go through it.

[bluejeangirl]

I didn't get gluten dreams but when I quit drinking I would have them with alcohol. I would wake up thinking I blew it and had a drink and feel guilty until I realized it was a dream. I think it was alot harder for me to give up beer and wine then eating gluten. And that fear gets played out in our dreams.

You might also have them whenever your doing anything in your life that your not suppose to be doing. It will work itself out in your dreams and gluten will represant that forbidden object,person, anything. You might ask yourself if there is something else going on that your doing that is going agaisnt what you know to be true.

Gail

[Unclezack]

I'm a newbie here, but not new to the gluten free lifestyle. I have been gluten free for nearly 5 years. I hope my experiences can help others. I am a 56 year old male and have been gluten intolerant since I was very young, but couldn't get anyone to pin down the problem. With the advice of a friend who has the disease and a very trusted herbalist, I tried going gluten free. It wasn't easy, but it made me feel much better. I had enough intestinal damage that if I hadn't changed my eating habits, I probably wouldn't be here to share this with you. I was extremely paranoid because just the slightest cross contamination would make me extremely sick for at least a week. I had many of those dreams too. Sometimes I swallowed the glutenous food, and sometimes, I tried to spit it out, but I was always sure (in my dream) that I was going to be really sick. I would wake up knowing it was a dream, but it still upset me. Now......I have one of those dreams once and a while, but they no longer are upsetting, just a weird dream and then forgotten. They will go away as you become more comfortable with your new diet. It's a learn as you go experience, because everyone is affected differently by gluten intolerance. If you have gone long enough to have celiac disease, it gets more involved. It's not easy, but my rule is, "If it makes your stomach hurt, don't eat it." Follow this rule, and you will get well and the dreams will go away.

Unclezack

[GFinDC]

I don't remember ever having a gluten dream until very recently. And I am just posting it cause I thought it was funny.

So, the dream is in black and white. It's an old Bullwinkle and Rocky cartoon, and they are trying to get even with Boris Badenoff and Natasha. Boris and Natasha are on the right side of the screen and Rocky and Bullwinnkle are on the left side separated by a wall. Rocky and Bullwinkle somehow know that Boris is very fond of what he calls "puffy cheeseburgers". So Rocky and Bullwinkle have slipped a bicycle air pump hose through the wall and into Boris's cheesburger. Rocky wails away on the bicycle pump inflating Boris puffy cheeseburger to the max, which poor Boris doesn't notice for some cartoon reason. Boris grabs the cheeseburger and bites down hard, and gas starts shooting out his eeire end and he flys all around the room bouncing off the ceiling, floor and walls leaving a dotted trail all around the room and Natasha. Natasha just stands there coyly, smiles and says" Boris, darhlng, you really do love your puffy cheeseburgers!"

Guess you had to be there... Hmm, I hope this isn't one of those dreams that predict the future...

[StrongerToday]

I've been gluten-free for three years now and I still have those dreams!! Not as often as at first, and sometimes in my dreams I know I can't eat the food and have to find safe food, but yes there are times when I wake up mad/upset thinking I ate something I shouldn't have. Or worse - when I realize I can't have that stuffed crust Pizza Hut pizza... sigh...

[HAK1031]

I had a really weird one a few nights ago, my entire extended family was in England (???) and we were at a fancy restaurant. We ordered a pizza (??? again lol) and I assumed, for some reason, that it was gluten-free. I had eaten an entire slice before I realized it probably wasn't!! In my dreams I tend to forget I'm celiac entirely...until I've eaten something gluteny that is! But it wasn't really nerve wracking as much as just a "doh!" moment.

[rpf1007]

I have been gluten free almost 2 months and had a dream about gluten last night! I was eating chocolate pudding (weird, because I haven't eaten that in years) and I could taste little bits of graham crackers! The taste was so real...I was panicking that I was going to get so sick! I think I had mine because I'm going out of town this weekend for the first time since gluten-free and I know I'm concerned about not eating in my own kitchen for 5 days!

[SpikeMoore]

It is interesting to see how common these dreams are. It wasn't until I read this thread that I realized the dreams (of accidentally eating a food containing gluten, realizing it in horror and trying to spit it out) have subsided. I'd say it took a year. But thinking back, I used to get a lot of exam dreams after univerisity. I guess it just shows you how very aware and concerned about it we are in our daily lives. It must be because we realize how important it is to our well-being.

[kitten37]

I have always been a very vivid/scary dreamer. Keep in mind that these are the things you worry about manifesting themselves in odd ways. Just gone gluten-free for good and I think if I wake up in a panic from a dream like that I'll dies from laughter shortly after.

It's a scary thing that's for sure. Having been sick for however long having some answers but always on the lookout for that sneaky gluten monster to rear its ugly head in something. No one wants to go back to the way they felt before so it's totally understandable that it would make its way into your dreams and shake you up a little.

I wish I could have a little recorder that would tape my dreams as I see them.....I think Stephen King would have a run for his money

[ThatlldoGyp]

omg, do I know what you mean.. every time I have the tiniest gut ache I have the dreams... I know it is all that anxiety about the fear of being ill for a whole week, curled up on the sofa in pain, my life on hold until god knows when... I do feel like I lost so much time and so many aspects of my life while I was suffering and waiting for a diagnosis that my biggest fear is going backwards in my health. You would think that knowing we have control over our situation by just being careful about what we eat would ease all of that anxiety... it is not like we have no control..

but it doesn't work that way, does it? lol!

Who ever thought chicken noodle soup and Pizza Hut pizza would be the stuff of nightmares? lol!

[JNBunnie1]

I remember making one very blatant mistake early on. I'd bought these Indian rice chips from the organic store. I read the ingredient list and the chips were made purely out of rice. Great. I took them home, opened the bag and ate one. While I was holding the bag munching I read the ingredient list again and realized there were two ingredient lists on the bag. The list for the flavorings on the chips were listed separately from the chip ingredients and the first thing on the flavorings list was wheat. I had assumed since everything else on the bag was in two languages that the second ingredient list was simply a repeat of the English version so I hadn't read it. I spit what was left in my mouth out and washing my mouth repeatedly. It wasn't even the making me sick thing that got me, it was that it was poison to me and I knew it. My symptoms from gluten are very subtle and mostly neurological so I don't get physically sick. That was the only time I did in real life what I do in the gluten dreams.

Mostly those dreams have subsided. But the dreams I'm having now are somewhat disturbing. I have rarely had nightmares in my life, but lately I've had quite a few. I don't know what it is, but it seems to coincide with my body finally beginning to heal from years of vitamin and mineral deficiencies. I hope that's all it is and not yet another wrinkle. Maybe remembering your dreams and having nightmares are normal and I've been abnormal all these years, LOL.

Actually, I think you're right. I never slept well all my life, major insomnia, until I was truly gluten free. I've had some of the gluten dreams, but mostly I've had the randomest, stupidest, scariest, or wierdest dreams you can freakin imagine. My Daddy used to say he knew he slept good because he dreamed funny. I think your brain is 'turning back on'. My dreams have subsided a bit in intensity and frequency, hopefully yours will do the same after some time.

I actually had a dream soon after my father died that my whole family was now dead except for my boyfriend and my niece. And it was way realer then the gluten dreams. I woke up in physical pain from the grief of it. I'll take a gluten dream over that any day.

[MDRB]

If you can see the picture next to my display name then you are pretty much in my head.

I drew that and the idea came from the multiple dreams I have in which some form of gluten monster (like a hot dog bun or donut with big arms and angry looking teeth) is chasing me and trying to hurt me.

I also have dreams in which I am being held in a hostage situation and the hostage negotiators send in pizza which I obviously can't eat.... so what should I do? Politely ask my captor to order me something gluten free?

Oh and then there is the standard accidentally eating gluten dream and I wake up screaming 'NOoooo I can't eat that!!!'

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make these stop? I'm not sure that it is shrink worthy but I could really use a good nights sleep!