United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I'm going to open a totally unexplored territory.

Do you have weird dreams that are explicitly related to your obpi?

I'll go first. I have this recurring dream of floating on water, while having my arm waxed.. it becomes a hit amusement ride at Disneyland, where they adapt white space capsules for the purpose.



In a variation, I'm floating in space, and I can feel pins and needles in my arm (the obpi one) but I can't move, in fact it's outer space and I can't breathe, and my arm feels super heavy, and I can't breathe until a thousand years passes. My wrist moves voluntarily by the tiniest amount and it feels like an infinite, uncrossable distance. If I'm lucky I wake up at this point, terrified

Fascinating topic. In my dreams, my OBPI arm is almost always as in life. Even in "flying dreams", I don't spread my arms out, but instead usually just decide to fly, then tuck my legs up under me, and there I am, hovering. Then I just think about where I want to fly, and I start to rise and move.

Once or twice as a teenager, I did dream that both arms were fully functional...and I remember being amazed at it in the dream. My OBPI arm has rarely since then been the focus of a dream.

They say that people who are blind from birth dream differently than those who lose their sight later in life. Similarly, perhaps because I never had the full function of the arm, my subconscious has chosen to incorporate the injury into my dreams.

I'm interested to hear the responses of others.

YES!, I have weird dreams to. My LOBPI Limbs always work ok and alot of dreams deal with my ability to fly; have out-of-body ability to view myself too as I fly and do other activies.

Then, there are those "Downer" dreams dealing with running away at superman's speed from those people(kids & adults to) taunting,teasing and calling me names.
Remember, I lived thru the "olden days" of ignorance and fear of others wsho were "different"...Good news, is it made me tougher and determined!!

Good topic, Erik!

HUGS,
Carolyn J
LOBPI/70


Message was edited by: Carolyn J

In my dreams I am just as I am in life. I cannot do anything with my OBPI arm in my dreams that I cannot do in life. I don't fly in my dreams. The location of my dream may change. In other words, I may start in one location, and then be in another location, but I have no sense of flying between places. To me it's just the unreality of dreams. A second ago I was there, but now I'm here. Alternatively, I may dream that I've walked from one place to another, or gotten there in a car or on a plane, but I can't recall ever dreaming that I flew like a bird.

I guess I don't have much imagination.

Joanie

My favorite was when I first discovered I had control of my dreams. I was about 13 and I dreamt a monster was chasing me. We heard a noise and he asked me what the noise was I told him it was my alarm clock and I had to go back to bed so I could get up for school. He said o.k. and I woke up.

After that day I tried having more control in my dreams. If I'm bored I fly just because I can. I always have to have a running start then I fly. I don't know how though, I don't think I use two arms, I think I put one arm in front of me and maybe like swimming I use my feet to kick and go higher.

Has anyone ever pinched themselves in their dreams? When I did my fingers went right through my arm. Like I was a ghost.

-Traci

Wow you guys are amazing. I have heard of people flying in their sleep etc. But no one I knew experienced it.
When I was young I had several recurrent dreams... always missing a train and getting there to see it leave. It was a strange train station and now I realize it was in Europe... I must have seen it in a movie. I had about three or four recurrent dreams and they were really pleasant so that was not bad...

I went through a long period where I would dream I was totally paralyzed they were horrible. After I got married I stopped having those dreams and just have very silly dream and all in very vivid color. The colors in all my dreams are very vivid and seem to be very important in the dreams. Some of the dreams are so silly they make me laugh when I remember them. That's much better than all the paralyzed dreams.

Not long ago I dreamt about my arm for the first time. It moved perfectly normal and it was such a great dream... But I woke up to reality.

I think it might be nice to fly but then again I was afraid of heights and flying so why would I dream about it... LOL...

Kath robpi/adult

I think I have only once had a dream where I set a volleyball with my left arm (bpi) and was very surprised.

That dream doesn't leave me with the kind of sense of power that I get from something I know is possible but unexpected. Or flying...

I have not been able to fly since I was 7, but it is really worth doing!

I even returned to the physical site of my dream takeoffs, but my subconscious was unimpressed. I really should not have done that, because one of my other dream sites, about an endless backyard filled with orange trees, is now the yawning pit of six lanes of Hwy-85. It's like Invaders from Mars. On the plus side, the area around the hill I used to take flight from has become a soccer field.

Wow! You guys...how interesting we all are!

Hugs all around,
Carolyn J


Message was edited by: Carolyn J

I remember flying dreams from when i was younger, and just being myself not spreading my arms out or anything just floating... then theres the dreams i have about trying to cross a road but its near impossible, and it feels like something is holding me back... i dont think ive ever crossed a street in my dream...

Mel

Frankie told me that on sunday night he feel asleep and had a dream that he was standing in his room reaching for something on the ceiling with his bpi arm he said it felt so real it woke him up. Mare