dreams

does anyone else have weird dreams? like CRAZY #@$%&*? i cant remember most right now off the top of my head, but last night i dreamt i was flirting with an rather unattractive older man who i just knew would rape me if i was alone (which is why i had a friend with me). it sounds kinda disturbing. do u think it means something or is it just part of the bipolar? do bipolar dreams ever mean anything, u think?

The only time I have bizarrre dreams is when I take either Xanax or Ambien. I have no idea why these two medications do it to me.

They aren't disturbing dreams, they are just very vivid and have intricate plots. Its like the type of things that would make good sci-fi/fantasy movies.

Dreams do have a way of helping us look inside and see how our brain is handling things but they can't be interpreted with ease.
You're dream may have nothing to do with being raped, for instance. It might mean that without a good friend beside you to help you along you feel too vulnerable. (Just a guess here.)
It could also mean that you find yourself feeling ill at ease when you have to make all your own choices. Like the world, a truly unattractive place at times, will emotionally rape you if you try to go it alone.
Try writting some down and talking about them with your TDOC.
I have been writing down many of my dreams and sharing them with my TDOC. They have been very enlightening.

I don't know if bipolar people are more prone to bizarre dreams than the non bipolars but I know that I've always had very vivid and frequently strange dreams and nightmares.

I went through 2 weeks of seriously disturbing dreams during one dosage change with Lamictal. Never before in my life did dreaming actually mess with my waking life. Then I ran across this at crazymeds, on the page of general anti-convulsant side effects:

"Expect your dreams to be different. I can't tell you how they will be different, just that they will be. Maybe they'll be different in a good way, maybe in a really bad way (e.g. nightmares). Not necessarily forever, but for some time."

Different, indeed.

For me, dreaming at night is very similar to day dreaming. Many times I have control of my thoughts and actions in my dreams as if I was conscience. This can be a good thing when I start off with negative thoughts, I seem to be able to turn it around. However, sometimes the situations in my dreams seem difficult to control and usually end up in a nightmare. My dreams are very vivid and mostly related to actual events or thoughts. I'm glad you mentioned dream issues, I think I'll start journaling them and relating them to my mood that day, perhaps my mood plays a big role, or vice versa.

Recently, it's been documented that children/teens who are Bipolar often have graphic, disturbing, and violent dreams. Dreams that are more frequent and vivid than the ones that usually plague other children. There's just something about how their brains function and what chemicals are working etc.
It's not much of a leap to suggest that even as adults, we still can have these types of dreams. I know I do, though less frequently than I did as a child.

I find that my dreams are haunting. I'm afraid of the madness within. The chemicals in our brains effect us when we sleep too...and what is this? Our lives are laced with chemical imbalance.

I've had extremely weird and vivid dreams on lamictal and ambien.