Lupus Horror Stories: Wicked Dreams Foretelling Flares

It was a cold dark night. I could hear the wolves howling at the moon. A cool breeze came through my window and I shuddered. As I closed the window, I felt a sharp pain in my arm as I outstretched it. Quickly, I moved past the pain and slammed the window shut. I walked back to bed and tried to stretch but noticed I couldn’t. I shrugged it off and laid down on the bed.

A scary awakening

The room was pitch black and held an eerie stillness. In addition, the darkness I felt cold and uncomfortable. There was an aura over me that I just couldn’t get rid of. I tossed and turned for hours. Finally, I drifted off to sleep.

Above all, sleeping felt so good until it wasn’t good at all. It felt like a rush of crazy dreams began to overtake my sleep. Dreams of falling and being chased by monsters. In one dream I was being attacked by pain. The pain was alive and shaped like people. They were trying to snatch parts of my body from me. I couldn’t take it anymore. Then, one of those pains bum-rushed me screaming, "do you want to play a game?" and hit me in the calf with a bat. I swear he looked like Jigsaw from the horror movie Saw. Bam, wide awake, scared, breathing heavy, and holding my calf. It was all a dream, NOPE, it wasn’t a dream at all.

They’re here

As I jumped out of bed grabbing my calf the TV was full of static. In my mind, I thought about the girl from Poltergeist sitting at the TV saying, "THEY'RE HERE." I screamed and winced as I tried to stand on both legs. Who are they, you may ask? The night leg cramps, you know them. In other words, CHARLEY HORSES. They are the worst and always come to me at night.

Shining a light in my life – here’s Johnny

Johnny – that’s the name I gave my charlie horse. He was here shining a light on my right calf like never before. He busted through the broken door like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. After that, like the twins in the hallway, he was begging me to come and play. However, I was not excited about being in his little horror film.

Bent over in pain and struggling to just breathe, my husband began to rub down my leg. He kept saying it feels alive. I envisioned him like Dr. Frankstein screaming "It’s alive, it’s alive!" It was as if I was in some sort of lupus horror story that I couldn’t get out of.

1, 2 Freddy’s coming for you

We tried warm compresses, cool rags, and continued rubdowns. All to no avail. Finally, we remembered we heard somewhere to take a spoonful of mustard when cramping at night. Oooo cramping, I’m like Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street. One, two, Freddy’s coming for you. Three, four, better get out my body and not knock on my door.

As I continued to rub my leg, my husband shoved a full tablespoon of mustard in my mouth. Continued rubbing and warm compresses, 5 minutes later the cramp began to quell. My nighttime horror was averted for the moment. This lupus horror story ended with a sore calf and a flop on a bed for uninterrupted pain-free sleep. No monsters, no attacks just fatigued sleep from beating down that monstrous cramp.

Foretelling a flare

In conclusion, the day after my horrifying night, I was very sore. Night cramping always takes a lot out of me. To be awakened in such pain is difficult. I keep a journal of my pains and what I realized is that I get crazy dreams and cramping when a flare is on the horizon. It’s almost like my body is warning me trouble is on the way. I think it’s great that I get a warning, I just wish it wouldn’t come like a horror movie in the middle of the night.

Do you get weird dreams as you battle lupus? What do you do to ward them off?