Dr Mark Porter: Could prescription drugs be causing my vivid dreams?
Our GP on whether medication could be the cause of vivid dreams and nightmares.
Esther Curtis
Our GP on whether medication could be the cause of vivid dreams and nightmares.
I have always had vivid dreams but in recent years, they have become both more frequent and frightening, with troubling recurring themes like being unable to find someone, coming across bridges and stairs I can’t access, and blank walls that I can’t find a way through.
I am 83 and live alone (my husband died eight years ago). I am not in the best of health and take two pills for angina (nebivolol and ranolazine), and two for high blood pressure (amlodipine and losartan).I have poor mobility, so don’t get out much and sometimes feel anxious about falling when I do.
However, I do enjoy meeting other people and still manage to have an active social life. Is there anything you can suggest to calm the dreams so I can get a restful night’s sleep?
There are myriad possible causes for vivid dreams in older people, ranging from stress, depression and anxiety to pain (such as from arthritis) and neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease and early dementia. However, one commonly missed cause is a side effect of medication, and every one of the pills you are taking has been linked to nightmares/distressing dreams.
Top of my list would be the beta-blocker nebivolol and I would be interested to know if your symptoms worsened after starting this. If so, your GP or cardiologist may be able to swap you to a different beta-blocker that doesn’t cross so easily into the brain (such as atenolol or sotalol). This should help if the nebivolol is indeed the culprit.
You don’t mention if you are also taking a statin, such as atorvastatin, but if you have angina, I would expect you to be on one, and people who are sometimes do complain of disturbing dreams. One simple trick is to take the statin in the morning rather than at night as this may help. When trying to see if something is related to medication it always pays to go slowly, swapping one drug at a time and waiting four to six weeks to see if it makes any difference. And, while you are consulting your GP about this, they could also look for other possible triggers, particularly anxiety or depression, both of which are very common in people your age and often missed.
Finally, while I am no expert in dreams, your recurring themes might be interpreted by some as suggesting that you are struggling to achieve what you want or believe you should, and that, despite your social life, you still feel isolated, which in turn may reflect your past bereavement, current health issues and reduced mobility.
You could always try an online dream analysis tool such as Dream Interpreter AI, which offers a free interpretation based on your description of your dreams.
Tools like this are no substitute for a face-to-face consultation with a psychotherapist, but they can turn up some interesting ideas. Treat it as a bit of fun that might actually reveal something useful.
(Hero image illustration by Esther Curtis)
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