Saturday night I dreamed I woke up with an aura. It looked just like the aura shown in my user pic, which means it was kind of abstract, but not too much so. In the dream, I immediately got up and stumbled down the two flights of stairs to the kitchen, where (in the dream) I kept my Imitrex. Then I went back up stairs to bed, and thought, “Oh, wait, I have to call in sick.” I turned, and there on my bedside table was my laptop, already booted up and logged into the network. I pinged J., my project manager, on IRC, and asked him to tell everyone else.
Then I woke up and couldn’t remember if I had taken my Inderal the night before. Still can’t, actually. Given my low blood pressure, I thought it was better to risk skipping a dose than to risk doubling up on one.
No actual migraine ensued, by the way.
This is the third or fourth time I’ve awakened to wonder, Did I take my inderal last night? I think I’m going to have to put it in one of those 7-day pill counters (even though I only take one daily med).
Inderal, it is said, can cause vivid dreams – in fact, on Friday night I had a rather disturbing dream about my cat. But vivid dreams about migraines? How self-referential!
Migraine aura picture from 
wow, only 1 drug? you can still get a pill caddy, and probably should.
When I get those dreams, I’m headed for trouble. Thinking of you.
Comment by deborah — October 15, 2007 @ 9:50 am |
I’ve had several dream auras myself, and wake up with aura full on. I’ve learned to keep zomg spray in the bedside table drawer next to me, and also fresh water. If I get dehydrated, I’m much more likely to wake with migraine. Yeah, it’s weird how our brains will incororate stuff, even aura, into our dreams. Tricky brains
Comment by claire — October 15, 2007 @ 11:51 am |
I don’t know much about aura, but I take Inderal for tremor. I take one every morning, and if I need it I take another in the evening. Come to think of it, I took one yesterday evening and did have some strange dreams last night…stranger than normal.
I had no idea about the association of Inderal with dreams, so I’ll be noticing the relation a little closer. I do know that the stuff tends to make me drowsy and somewhat lethargic, especially in the evenings. And, oh yes, it does help with the tremor.
Ron
Comment by Ron — October 15, 2007 @ 4:05 pm |
When I was taking Inderal (300mg a day) to avert migraines, I had extremely vivid dreams and night hallucinations. This side effect had been documented in high dose studies in Israel (but not previously shared with me by my doc). Anyway, the situation was that at night (only) something real would turn into something not real. For example, flowered sheets would turn into sheets filled with tarantulas; the light in the smoke detector would turn into a spaceship, etc. It created a few terror filled nights before I finally confided in my neurologist who explained the known side effect. I learned to cover all lights and only use plain white sheets and pj’s. Even when I did have a hallucination, I generally kind of woke up and knew it was an illusion. I still took the high dose of Inderal because it was much better than the headaches that took me out of action. I stopped taking Inderal after I had my daughter because it was just too dangerous to be potentially “out of it” at night when I had to care for an infant. I lived with headaches again for quite a while until I started using Migranal nasal spray with success. Except for the hallucinations and gutter level blood pressure and pulse, I LOVED Inderal. It saved me during my 30’s.
Comment by quietrunning — October 15, 2007 @ 5:13 pm |
ps: It is a good idea to have some sort of system for managing migraine medication. It is not uncommon to forget when you are experiencing an aura, pain, or trepidation and inadvertently double or triple dose. I have seen a patient accidentally updose on vasocontricting meds (sublingual ergotamine) to prevent the headache only to end up with temporary (thankfully) cerebral ischemia and minor stroke symptoms. Be careful.
Comment by quietrunning — October 15, 2007 @ 5:20 pm |
Thanks, quietrunning. Fortunately I am only on 60 mg of Inderal, and I would hesitate to increase the dosage. I have naturally very low blood pressure, and I was extremely worried that the Inderal would make me pass out. It never has, though I simply can’t tolerate hot weather the way I used to. But I don’t really want to press my luck by taking more. Fortunately I haven’t had to.
Comment by Migraineur — October 15, 2007 @ 5:42 pm |
[...] psipsina wrote a fantastic post today on “Inderal Dreams”Here’s ONLY a quick extractGiven my low blood pressure, I thought it was better to risk skipping a dose than to risk doubling up on one. No actual migraine ensued, by the way. This is the third or fourth time I’ve awakened to wonder, Did I take my inderal last … [...]
Pingback by www.topbloodpressureadvice.info » Inderal Dreams — October 15, 2007 @ 11:41 pm |
Dear all,
I have had Inderal (the brand) prescribed for migraines and tremor for years, and have found it very helpful. But my pharmacist (in PA, USA) told me that this brand has been discontinued recently. I don’t really like the generic as well. Do you have any information on where the brand can still be obtained? Or where to seek this information? Thanks.
Comment by Helen — October 23, 2007 @ 9:30 pm |
Sorry, Helen, I don’t know where you can obtain the brand name drug – I probably should say that I take propanolol (the generic form of Inderal). What generic are you taking, and why don’t you like it?
Comment by Migraineur — October 23, 2007 @ 10:00 pm |
I have been taking inderal initially 80mg then 120, I had some bizarre dreams which was quite neat because I rarely remember my dreams, but I am also having visual night hallucinations, I didn’t make the connection to the pills at first, and I wondered if I was sleepy and dreaming them, but I am awake when I see them, and I realized that I only got them when I looked at my large digit neon blue digital clock across the room, when I looked away the visions would go and then when I looked back there would be another vision, not always the same, rarely infact, dogs climbing on my furniture, people thank god no spiders or anything like that. I wondered why they were always in that corner of the room, where my clock was. At least now I know I’m not crazy, I will tell my neurologist when I see him next time, I’d still rather have a few trick images than the headaches, I am having a lot of skin erruptions and I don’t know if that is due to the pills either not that nice.
Comment by simone — January 19, 2008 @ 9:42 pm |
Simone – this is not the first time I’ve heard of Inderal causing hallucinations. I haven’t had hallucinations, per se, but I do have this kind of “waking dream” where I know I’m awake, know the surroundings (I’m in my own bed, cats on either side, etc), but my eyes are closed and I am imagining (dreaming about?) reading a book, word for word, a book I’ve never read before, that maybe even doesn’t exist. It’s just like a dream, except I’m awake! Bizarre, eh?
Comment by psipsina — January 21, 2008 @ 1:12 pm |