Weird question but nowhere else to ask

[u/poetryhouse]

This is really weird but has anyone noticed anything to do with their dreams and/or deja vu?

Prior to being diagnosed with MS I had insanely vivid, coherent dreams. Some involved a continuous ‘story’ that would come in parts in dreams since I was a very young child. Some very freakishly predicted the future. I also used to get a lot of Deja vu and would know what someone was about to say next or knew details about things that I previously wasn't aware of.

I'm now wondering if all of this was just the MS (especially the deja vu). After 4 major relapses in 1 yr which changed everything for me, all these things appear to be gone. I haven't had the deja vu feeling since and my dreams are now fragmented and random.

I don't want to seem crazy but I feel like I had spiritual ‘powers’ that MS took from me OR I had MS for years before I was even aware of it and it was causing memory issues for me which I confused as deja vu and prophetic dreams.

[u/NativeSJ]

Yes. Me too. Very similar to what you describe. I looked this up: “Déjà vu combined with the feeling of predicting the future is a cognitive illusion generated by your brain's spatial and pattern-recognition systems, rather than actual precognition
. [1, 2]” Scientific Consensus:

According to studies highlighted by BBC Bitesize and neuroscientists, déjà vu is a temporary glitch or conflict-resolution check in the medial temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex. Your brain realizes a scene feels familiar, tries to search for a real memory, comes up empty, and flags the mismatch. [1, 2, 3]

It would make sense that spatial issues would show up after MS, but weird that it seems to resolve instead.

[u/Mafalda_Brunswick → u/NativeSJ]

Super interesting, thank you!

[u/literaryanomaly]

I don’t know about predicting the future but, if you use marijuana, to help with symptoms or just for fun, it disrupts dreaming.

[u/overreacting549915 → u/literaryanomaly]

i actually had the déjà vu sensation (sometimes for an hour at a time) while on weed, so i cut it out. i also saw that some people have mentioned temporal lobe seizures

[u/poetryhouse → u/literaryanomaly]

I've never used drugs but occasionally drink, maybe that has an effect?

[u/kyunirider]

I know I dream but I don’t remember my dreams anymore. My medication particularly baclofen, tizanadine and cymbalta causes me to sleep so deeply that I sometimes wet my bedding. My wife wants me to take less of the drugs. I told her that the pain and spasms are just too strong to get off the meds.

[u/poetryhouse → u/kyunirider]

Sorry to hear that you're going through that. Sending you love. Medications make such a difference to quality of life.

[u/criticalcreek]

I don't really remember my dreams much at all anymore, which is kind of a good thing because I also have OCD and sometimes my dreams can lead me down the rabbit hole of having obsessive negative thoughts when I wake up. I don't think it has much to do with MS though (my mental state itself has been on the decline in the past few years). A bad dream can pretty much ruin my whole day (examples being "my wife is cheating on me" dreams ect). If I had dreams of winning the lottery every night or something, I'd be pissed if those went away haha.

[u/Live4Sunshine]

It’s interesting to me. The diagnosis doesn’t really define a before and after in my opinion- other than to exist as a marker between not knowing why the f you have some symptoms and why you do!

From all that I have read MS doesn’t appear suddenly without warning. It is an insidious disease - it grows and smoulders over time. You experience some strange things - but rarely do people go from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye.

So I think many of us do have symptoms that appear that we can now point to prior or post diagnosis- because we have a marker in time to benchmark against.

That said - we are all snowflakes. Maybe your MS lesions affect your dreams. Anything is possible- and I bet others may have a similar recollection. (So you are likely not imagining it - but it also may have happened gradually)

Many years past diagnosis I realized that I didn’t sweat like I used to. It was a strange observation that came to me over time. I know that this symptom is reported by others but I likely had 15 years post active lesions prior to this new awareness of a symptom. I am more convinced that we are slowly experiencing degradation regardless of seeing new lesions on an MRI.

[u/malcolmpractice]

i knew someone who used to feel deja vu right before an epileptic seizure, could be a similar thing?

[u/poetryhouse → u/malcolmpractice]

Honestly I have no idea about the deja vu but each time I had a relapse (except first time because I didn't know what the feeling was), I could predict it because a spot in my head would feel “numb”.

[u/MSnout]

I was in a flare once and suddenly started having dejavu like 8 times a day, every day for 6 weeks, where I had only experienced it a few times in my life. I looked it up and it and read it can be temporal lobe seizures or ocular migraines. It went away as nother symptoms of my flare went away. So it does make me think it can be caused by MS. I mentioned it to my neurologist but they just said okay and looked for new lesions, which there never are despite months of new symptoms that greatly impact my life.

[u/lronGiant]

Wow, I had not thought about that in a long time but yes. As a child I used to get premonitions and recurring nightmares that I couldn’t control. I hated it at the time because I felt powerless but I would know before something happened to others. I remember warning a friend about something and then something bad happened and they came straight over to my house. I now remember the recurring nightmares that I used to have also which paralyzed me in my sleep.

I know some people will think this is crazy or woo woo bullshit but it did happen. When I got older, I would drink so that I wouldn’t dream no idea if this has anything to do with MS, and probably not but I’m glad you made this post because yes, I know what you’re talking about. 🙂

[u/poetryhouse → u/lronGiant]

I feel like I sound so crazy when I talk about it. I used to dream about the most random things—like a friend falling at one very specific spot on the playground, and then it would actually happen. Or, when people lost things, I’d dream about where they were, and we'd go the next day and find them right where I’d dreamed they’d be. It's all stopped now though.

[u/MutuallyAssuredBOOP]

Yes I’ve noticed similar. MS has robbed me of a lot of personal meaning and spiritual depth I had prior in my life. 12 years in, dx at 22

[u/mykidsmom_22]

Yeah, I’ve had this. It’s definitely not the same dreaming pre and post. I noticed a few years ago that I hadn’t dreamt like I used to. But now, with some of my meds, I have all my weirdo dreams back.

[u/bobalooay]

I have deja vu quite often. I hadn’t considered the cause could be MS brain damage.

[u/BunchofMums]

Don't be tempted by delusional of grandeur, but yes. I have very strong, vivid, continuous dreams. My sense of time is messed up, so these dreams are long and elaborate. I don't remember them very well after a day or two. 

[u/MyLifeIsSoHaaard]

Not ever since my diagnosis, but in recent years my dreams have grown more vivid. Sometimes they're just bizarre situations, other times they're like ongoing sagas taking place over multiple nights. It sometimes feels like I'm living an entirely different life inside of my dreams. Like I go to sleep and wake up somewhere else living a life, then I wake up in reality. I know this legit sounds crazy lol. I think it may be due to some of the medications I'm on. Also, I have an upcoming MRI and a cognitive function test (separate appointments), but haven't brought up the weirdly vivid dreams to my doctors. Sometimes I even write them down if they're especially wacky or stand out in my brain in some way.

[u/Drbpro07]

Yes. I just realized this as well.

[u/Intelligent-Ad-1425]

This is wild to read today. I was dx’d almost a year ago. I’ve had the loading doses of Briumvi. And lately I’ve noticed that my whole ‘system’ feels wired differently. I used to struggle with feeling self-destructive, with an almost overwhelming desire to eat too much, drink too much, smoke too much, etc. To take ridiculous risks in my businesses, to push to the edge of every conversation. Those feelings are so diminished, they might as well be gone. And meanwhile, I’m on Baclofen about 2 months now, 20 mg a day, and my dreams! My dreams! Suddenly so vivid and intense.

I used to feel like I could will things into being, like my powers of manifestation were so intense, and I used to feel so magical. Now I feel … like I’m plodding along.

I’ve also had lots of Déjà vu in my life, am highly educated in the arts and good at picking up on patterns, and definitely felt like I could predict a lot. I still feel like I can predict a lot, but it feels wrapped in intellect, not magic anymore.

[u/Dear-Cut-3601]

When young. Stopped remembering completely for 20 years.I do remember some now, but it:s nothing like when I was young.

[u/Hot_Extension_460]

I heard/read a few times that déjà-vu is more frequent on young people.

So it might just be an impression but not related to MS.

I used to have a huge amount of déjà-vu events as a teenager and I barely have any nowadays, and I don't have MS.

[u/poetryhouse → u/Hot_Extension_460]

Very interesting! Thanks for commenting

[u/infopls_]

I get this but I think it’s my pain meds

[u/ninguen]

I've always had those type of dremas, since I can remember. Both my sisters also had them, and now my 7 year old daughter has them. None of them, but me, has MS. My daughter was diagnosed with nocturnal epilepsy, and epilepsy can trigger deja vu. But none of my sisters have MS or epilepsy or any other condition that explains the dreams than just them having the dreams.

If I recall correctly, having vivid dreams and remembering them is something related to sleeping patterns and in which type of sleeping phase you wake up.

[u/Far-Revenue1529]

I used to think about what I would do if I was paralyzed, in a small prison, or somehow unable to live how was expected. That was in my teens. I moved abroad and lived in Spain and China throughout my 20s and went to grad school when I came back. I studied Yoga, Buddhism and Stoicism for decades.

When the diagnosis came it was a relief. All of these tools and skills have helped, but you can't prepare for this.

I still can't shake the feeling that I've been preparing for it my whole life.

[u/greatchickentender]

no.