Do you feel pain in dreams?

[Aerozord]

Now I dont mean like a sudden stabbing pain then boom you are up. But like a prolonged sensation of pain. Last night I experienced a sensation of my leg being stabbed, kind of like a fork. I also remember one where I was having my ribcage crushed. I dont have a context for broken bones, but the pressure was quite unpleasant.

Is it normally to experience this cause I figure most people would wake up right away?

[Menarker]

I tend to get the sudden ones that happen during tense dramatic moments of certain bad dreams, but once or twice I had the prolonged pain scenario, especially where thoughts of drowning (especially while injured) are concerned.

It's not a thing that happens even remotely frequently for me though, so it might be something that requires a certain mindset. Like an active imagination combined with bouts of depression that makes you more subconsciously willing to accept what is "happening" to you is plausible.

[rpgdemon]

I had a dream one time that I was being crushed by a charging bull against a fence, and felt a great deal of pain as my ribs were being crushed.

The funny thing was, in said dream, I was aware that it was not real. The dream was like a book, jumping between characters and scenes, and I was sitting there thinking, "The character is dying, and will die off-screen, got it. This is really painful, why hasn't it changed scenes yet? ...I hope it changes scenes soon."

Said dream was inspired by the Redwall books, and I knew it had to cut away soon, because they never showed someone outright getting maimed "on screen."

[Amake]

Yeah, just the other day I had a dream where a dog monster was chewing on my foot and it hurt just like being chewed on. Couldn't do anything about it either, because I had to keep my attention at another monster behind a corner in front of me, waiting for me to lower my gun. Eventually it got so frustrating being caught in this painful stalemate that it woke me up.

And you'd think I woke up to find out my foot was jammed between the bed and the wall or something, but there was no real world connection whatsoever to the dream pain. It was actually very disorienting to have the pain disappear completely when I woke up.

[synkr0nized]

As best as I can recall, I've had each of the following happen:
-- something that should have been painful (possibly terminal) has woken me up
-- something caused pain, I woke up, and there was a real-life connection to it
-- something has caused pain, but it was only in the dream, which continued on after; I feel I can confidently say that I did "feel" it


Semi-related: They say you cannot read books and stuff in dreams, but I call bullshit on that.

[rpgdemon]

Originally Posted by synkr0nized

Semi-related: They say you cannot read books and stuff in dreams, but I call bullshit on that.

Well, what it is is that your brain doesn't really maintain any sort of state in your dreams. It just fills in what it needs at any given time for it to make sense.

It's for that reason that clocks won't give you the same time if you check one, turn your head away, and then check it again. Your brain generates what it needs when it needs it, and you generally don't pay attention enough to see the seams, because your brain is generating things that naturally make sense to it.

Which is a long winded way of saying, reading isn't impossible, it's just that you're unlikely to have a book in a dream that you can close, then open up and continue later. It's not like you lose the ability to recognize words and letters in a dream.

I could be wrong about the above, it's a some of what I remember reading about when I was interested in lucid dreaming, plus some logic applied to it. Don't take it as a definitive science fact.

[Red Mage Black]

I can recall one specific dream that was very... macabre. I was in a mall somewhere and suddenly someone appeared in front of me with a gun. There was barely even a flash and suddenly I felt a searing pain in my chest, like it wasn't an instant "hit to the heart" kill. I remember limping(figuratively) away while I thought they had gone, when suddenly they were right behind me. On my way to the parking lot, I felt every ounce of energy slowly drain away from me and it was harder and harder to move.

I think I had made it all the way to the parking lot before I finally collapsed and turned on to my back. As my vision started to fade out, I had only one glimpse of the assailants face. It was a kid, probably no older than early teens, husky build, wearing a sweatshirt with the hood down. I remember gasping out something, but not what, then he suddenly turned around and walked away. It was only a few seconds later and suddenly everything went to black and I woke up.

It was the most vivid dream I have ever had. That whole 'getting weaker' thing isn't anything new in my dreams, I've found and it's usually the only thing I usually remember aside from the fact that its never been in the same context. Outside of bodily harm, it just randomly happens during different scenarios in my dreams, but only somewhere 'right' before I wake up.

And this is strange, but I never even heard the term 'point of contention' until it popped into one of my dreams once. I swear, I had never read it anywhere else before and I had to consult some folks just to find out what it meant.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

When I was a kid I had a nightmare about being stung by bees and oh boy did it feel real to me at the time. I woke up in the middle of the night and can't remember when I went back to sleep. And was terrified of bees ever since.

Now a days ever since I started lucid dreaming. It rarely ever happens due to me "rewriting" bad dreams as they happen. When it does happen it's usually mild pains.

I do occasionally feel the sensation of touch while dreaming though. Usually with something I've touched before.

[Flarecobra]

I believe you can, to an extent. Sometimes it feels to me like I'm having balance issues while laying down asleep, and when I "fall forward", I end up jolting myself awake.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

I had a dream where one of my teeth came popping out. There wasn't any pain, but I had the feeling of... like, that gap in my mouth.