I Dreamed That I Was Walking

Yep, I too have (and love) those same “walking, running, realizing OMG I left my canes somewhere, and then thinking oh well, I don’t need them anymore!”. What the heck, a nice respite from reality...and maybe a small subconscious push to keep fighting for what might be again. Wishful thinking, but why not.

I was drawn to this story because I have random dreams where I will run like I used to, but can no longer able do. It's such a great feeling, but leaves me melancholy when I wake to face the things MS has taken from me.

I regularly dream that I am walking. Last week, I dreamt I was walking up and down stairs in the rain! It feels free and gives me hope.

I've always had really interesting dreams. Usually I forget them in hours, and a few have haunted me forever. Some dreams I've had many times; some surrealistic, and some just weird.

I've been in a Power Chair for ten years now and always I'm walking with real legs in my dreams; just like when I was a kid; no cane, no limp - a real person.

I've always wondered if others 'walk' in their dreams. Thanks for the post.

MS has never been part of my dreams. I am always totally able bodied. Although I am in an electric wheelchair now, the first 32 years with MS had no mobility issues. Perhaps that is why I never see it in my dreams? Hmmmm

Ed Tobias, I did find one research article regarding dreams of walking in those who cannot, that may be of interest to you. Here is the summary:

"Why do paralysed people dream of walking? The researchers dismiss the psychoanalytic idea that the dreams are an expression of a subconscious wish. They argue that people with paraplegia are open about their desires to walk, and that their dreams are not dominated by walking to the extent you’d expect if they were compensating for lack of walking in waking life (in fact their dreams contained less walking than the control participants). Saurat and her colleagues suggest instead that walking in dreams may have an adaptive function: helping “consolidate the relevant neuronal mapping … Notably, motor imagery training improves the movement performance of the intact muscles and increases basal ganglia activation in subjects with spinal cord injury.”"

Apparently, walking and the associated muscle movements are long ingrained in human's brains. Dreams of walking often are accompanied by physical movement in the dreamer. Perhaps this sheds some light on these dreams for you all.

https://digest.bps.org.uk/2011/11/17/paraplegics-walk-in-their-dreams/

When I dream I am always able bodied. The last time I was walking to the doctor's surgery when I realised I had left my walker behind.

I find it difficult to enter into REM sleep and then to dream. Visits to the bathroom and inability to find a comfortable sleep position are contributors. Anyone else have less productive sleep?

Ed, and anyone with these sleep issues:

I fought the nap-doze routine for years until my doctor prescribed Temazepam 30mg. I've taken it for over a year without problems. I now get 6+ hours sleep almost every night. That changed my life. Talk to your doctor. It doesn't seem to affect my dreams; the're still as weird as always.

Also, I keep a small urinal by the bed; I hardly even have to wake up.

I love this. Throughout the past 30 years that I've had MS I've had to use canes, a walker, and eventually a wheelchair... but in my dreams I've never been disabled. I've dreamt about pushing a wheelchair but never actually being in one, unlike reality in which I now am in one. I've also dreamt recently about swimming the butterfly stroke for miles, probably because I can't feel or use my right arm much anymore. So, as we all know, dreams seem tied into the cravings, needs, and desires of the soul. When the body can't do what the spirit is wanting it to do...it'll make up for it in dreams.