Night Three

Night three resulted in better dream recall but nothing unusual to note. I've been writing down pieces of the dreams I remember.

Since I don't have to be up at any certain time tomorrow, I decided to experiment by taking one before bed instead of in the middle of the night. I'm curious to see if anything unusual happens.

Night Two

Night two was also a bust, but I got the timing right this time. What I am pretty sure inhibited my dream recall and even recollection of waking up at 3:30 to take the Galantamine was Ambien. I was dumb to think that its half-life in the body would make things okay but I forgot the whole night including the ability to recall my dreams except one small thing. I feel them just under the surface but I cannot extract them.

I will wait until later this week to try again. I know there is no magic pill and that I have to be patient. What I do know for certain is the more you try to recall your dreams and make a point to acknowledge them, the easier the recall. Recall leads to awareness and then lucidity.

Night One

Last night was a really bad first night because I didn't get to sleep until after 3:30am, woke up at 5:20, took the Galantamine, and then went back to sleep until 8. I do not recall anything unusual about my dreams, but my lack of a decent amount of hours may have been a factor in not noticing anything. In the article I posted previously, it recommends getting at least 4-6 hours of sleep before taking the Galantamine. I am going to try again tonight. Supposedly, those using this for lucid dreaming aren't supposed to take it every day. I will do more research and report my results.

Introduction

When I was a child, I would have lucid dreams very regularly; it just came naturally. I didn't know there was a term for this phenomenon at the time, but it felt very familiar to me. I would sometimes be within a dream and simply blink my eyes as if they were a remote control and my dream scenery would change. I think before doubt clouds our minds in adulthood, exploring lucid dreaming to the fullest was much easier. I would get down on the ground and explore my terrain in detail; feel the hardness of the road, or shoot straight up in the air in flight. Now that I am an adult, achieving lucidity, let alone decent recall, is much more difficult.

Upon reading about the supplement Galantamine, I decided to give it a try. Galantamine is a supplement that is supposed to increase memory function and assist with Alzheimer's disease. BUT... this supplement is supposed to increase chances of lucid dreaming. I bought mine from eBay. The recommended starting dose is 4mg, however you are not supposed to take it right before bed, but you are to wake yourself up via alarm midway through the night, and then take it. This way it works well with our second cycle of REM sleep and prevents undesirable effects.

I've read of a fellow that didn't heed this advice, and had something like fever dreams, and sleep paralysis, which for anyone that has experienced this, they know it to be quite frightening.

So tonight begins my journey. I will arrange to wake myself up around 3am, the witching hour, and take my first 4mg dose of Galantamine. I will be sure to report here regularly to document my experiences. Sweet dreams...

For further reading:

Galantamine: The Lucid Dreaming Pill
Lucid Dreaming Pills: How to Take Galantamine