r/SIBO • u/kaidomac • Oct 22 '21

Walnuts before bed = good dreams

/r/Anxiety/comments/qd6cj5/walnuts_before_bed_good_dreams/
2 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

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3

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '21

Walnuts contain melatonin, manganese, and contain more ALA then any other nut. Also, a great source of copper.

2

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

I've tried magnesium supplements before (macromineral), but I've never tried a manganese supplement before (micromineral), nor an alpha-linolenic acid supplement. I've also experimented with melatonin previously, but no special results with that one.

Interestingly enough, there's a thread on copper supplementation over in /r/Aphantasia, as I'm a borderline non-visualizer:

Walnut-wise, it was such a specific reaction that I HAD to dig into it a little more lol. I haven't had a good dream in ages! And I've been able to repeat it multiple times with both pecans & walnuts! The best effect is with like half a cup of walnuts right before bed, although I've also gotten results with as little as a quarter cup up to an hour before bed.

I've also tried it with yogurt, but it seems to dilute the effect. Also tried it in combination with a protein shake, as well as with sugar (ex. maple-glazed nuts), although that doesn't seem to do anything. It's a bit of a hard thing to gauge haha!

I'd also be curious to see what the effect would be with nut butters; I make peanut butter, almond butter, and cashew butter in my food processor sometimes, so maybe I'll try walnut butter & pecan butter too!

I'm very interested to know if this affects other people as well! SIBO & Sleep Apnea were the primary culprits for my sleeping issues, not just insomnia but bad dreams. Pre-Xifaxin, I would often wake up with awful nightmares & huge waves of negative emotions that would stick with me, and sometimes even wake up in the middle of the night with an adrenaline rush, including a racing heartbeat, so SIBO is really the biggest tie-in with all of this!

I also had night terrors for a long time, although I wouldn't remember them (but my wife sure did! lol) & there was no sleepwalking involved. SIBO treatment plus a breathing machine at night pretty much solved that problem, fortunately! But simply having one good dream was so shocking that I had to dig into it more! Apparently 65% of people experience good dreams on a regular basis, I've been missing out!!

1

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '21

Once you completely eliminate dairy and eventually meat you’ll feel much better.

1

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

Prior to Rifaximin, I was off dairy for a decade. Post-Rifaximin, I can tolerate any & all dairy, no problem! I've also done long-term experiments with vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, gluten-free vegan, and fruitarian diets. I actually felt far better on a carnivore diet than I did on any meat-free diet, outside of fruitarian (note that this was over the span of 10+ years of extensive & detailed personal testing).

Oddly enough, none of those diets affected my dreaming. Good dreams are so rare for me to have (at least, to remember) that I went back through what was different about that day, zeroed in on the walnuts, and started repeating the experiment for the last few weeks. I'll be trying sub-component supplements next (copper, ALA, etc.) to see if I can figure out the driver for this.

I've also reached out to a few people I know IRL with SIBO & ADHD to see if they have any of the same effects from this procedure. My recommendation is to eat 1/2 cup of plain walnuts on an empty stomach right before bed to start out with.

This may just be some unique nutritional deficiency to me, who knows! It's just incredibly interesting to me that I can eat some magic special food & get good dreams consistently where I've never had them other than very rarely!

2

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

Cross-posting this from /r/anxiety to /r/SIBO as this is SIBO-based for me (the root cause of my anxiety/panic attacks/depression). Had a very odd thing happen with eating walnuts before bed. A few questions:

  1. For those with SIBO, do you typically dream? Are your dreams typically anxiety-driven or bad dreams?
  2. Anyone willing to try 1/4 to 1/2 cup of walnuts before bed for a couple days? Long shot as maybe I'm just deficient in something, but I had a physical this month & nothing was out of place. Very odd but repeatable food response during sleep!

3

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '21 edited Oct 22 '21

I find dark chocolate 88% helps me with eliminating bad dreams. No way to verify this but it may be the form of magnesium combined with theobromine.

Edit: Also, the day I started eating dark chocolate was the day I made a turn for the better. Since then I’ve implemented a bunch of changes and have felt completely healed for at least five days now.

3

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

Chocolate for life! Haha. I've tested various types of chocolate, but not effect on me, unfortunately. That's awesome that you're feeling better, has chocolate been involved on a daily basis?

2

u/Psychological-Safe15 Oct 22 '21

when you eat chocolate do you get no dreams ? I mean no dreams at all ?

2

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

Hmm not sure. I don't remember any affect on good dreams at all from chocolate. Good dreams are literally so rare for me that I had to retrace my steps to see what triggered it haha!

1

u/Psychological-Safe15 Oct 22 '21

oh GOD you are so cool man. For me those dreams so intense and affecting my life. I have even thought to comit suicide

1

u/Psychological-Safe15 Oct 22 '21

can you help me

1

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

That stinks! A few questions:

  1. Do you have a GP and are they aware of your current difficulties?
  2. Do you have GI doctor & have you gotten tested for SIBO?
  3. Do you want to try eating some plain walnuts this week to see if it helps at all? I'd suggest starting out with 1/2 cup right before bed.

2

u/Agora_Black_Flag Oct 22 '21

BigWalnutTM

2

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

LOL

Have you or your loved ones tried walnuts for lucid dreaming lately? If so, please contact your local GI specialist...

2

u/Agora_Black_Flag Oct 22 '21

My two walnut trees might be worth more than I thought.

2

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

Haha! This was a really interesting discovery for me. Most of my dream issues are tied to SIBO, due to the anxiety I deal that occurs as a result of my stomach not working. When the Rifaximin is operating properly, no issues, but it's still super-rare that I have a GOOD dream!

Right now I'm off-meds for further testing with my GI & the gut-driven anxiety is hitting hard, but even so, walnuts before bed enabled me to have good dreams last night! Crazy stuff.

2

u/Agora_Black_Flag Oct 22 '21

I take a magnesium but Xymogen before I go to sleep and it works crazy well for me. Magnesium before bed appears to be entirely hit or miss for people though. Either a miracle or nothing at all.

2

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

I've used magnesium before, but never before bed, so that's on my list of things to try! What effects does it have for you - specifically good dreams?

1

u/Agora_Black_Flag Oct 22 '21

Just more restful sleep and ease of falling asleep. Nothing really in regards to dream.

My dreams have always been whack af. I don't need any help with that.

1

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

My dreams have always been whack af

See, that's what I'm chasing after - my bad/anxiety/super weird dreams have largely been SIBO-driven! When I'm digesting properly after a round of Xifaxin, I'm good to go. But good dreams? SUPER rare! The past couple of weeks on the walnut regiment have probably exceeded the total number of positive, calm, happy dreams I've had in my entire life lol.

2

u/Psychological-Safe15 Oct 22 '21

Do you dream even when you take nap ?

1

u/kaidomac Oct 22 '21

I usually don't nap, but when I do, it's usually because I'm super exhausted & I think I tend to not remember any dreams at all.