A new study suggests that an increase in nightmares may be an early indicator of some diseases.
Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Kings College London have noted that a rise in hallucinations as well as nightmares may indicate the beginning of various autoimmune disorders.
They have urged physicians to inquire about nightmares in the hopes that this may help identify certain illnesses in patients before they become serious.
Researchers polled 400 doctors and 676 lupus patients for the study, which was published in eClinicialMedicine. In-depth interviews were carried out with 69 individuals who suffer from systemic autoimmune rheumatic illnesses.
Patients were asked to report 29 neurological and mental health symptoms in the order in which they manifested during a flare-up of the condition. These symptoms included depression, hallucinations, and loss of balance.For three out of five patients, disturbed dream sleep was one of the most prevalent symptoms. Thirty of them stated that the symptom started a year before to the development of lupus, which 50,000 people in the UK are thought to have at the moment according to Lupus UK.
One illness that affects the immune system is lupus. It may result in issues with your kidneys, skin, joints, and other organs.
Professor David D’Cruz of Kings College London, the study’s lead author, stated: “For many years, I have discussed nightmares with my lupus patients and thought that there was a link with their disease activity. This research provides evidence of this, and we are strongly encouraging more doctors to ask about nightmares and other neuropsychiatric symptoms – thought to be unusual, but actually very common in systemic autoimmunity – to help us detect disease flares earlier.”
Hallucinations, or “daymares,” were another symptom that only one in four research participants reported having. Eighty-five percent of these symptoms didn’t show up until the disease was well underway or later.
The study discovered that patients responded better when the phrase “daymare” was used. “As you said [daymare] it just made sense, it’s like not necessarily scary, it’s just like you’ve had a dream … it’s like feeling really disorientated, the nearest thing I can think of is that I feel like I’m Alice in Wonderland.”
Lead author Dr. Melanie Sloan of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Public Health and Primary Care stated: “It’s important that clinicians spend time writing down each patient’s individual progression of symptoms and talk to them about these types of symptoms.”
“Patients often know which symptoms are a bad sign that their disease is about to flare, but both patients and doctors can be reluctant to discuss mental health and neurological symptoms, particularly if they don’t realise that these can be a part of autoimmune diseases.”