Cold Feet and Dreams

I have experienced lengthy periods of time in my life when I can not get warm.  Warm clothing, sitting next to a fire or a heater, using a heating pad, and hot showers all help temporarily, but ultimately, I feel a central chill that I can not shake, even if the ambient temperature is not uncomfortable.

I am not referring to being in the cold.  I am referring to getting a chill, and after I am trying for a period of time to warm up, not succeeding at warming up.  I have thought that during these times, I might be suffering from Raynaud's Phenomenon http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000412.htm. 

Although I have periods of being cold, the insufferable, persistent cold has not been with me for several years.  I can not think of when it was last with me, but I am guessing before 2006. Oh, I have had a few days of being cold, but not persistent, and usually due to cold weather or cold climate control inside...

Until about 3 and a half weeks ago.  I noticed it first at night, when I could not warm my feet.  They would be ice cold. I would wear socks to sleep, and have an afghan at the foot of my bed to help warm my feet.  It sometimes did not seem to do any good.  I would wake up in the middle of the night and have to rub my feet to warm them. 

At the same time, I noticed something that I have not paid attention to previously, so I do not know if it has been associated with this experience of being cold in the past:  I was remembering my dreams.  I am sure I dream, but most nights, while I might wake up knowing I was dreaming, I do not remember my dreams.  During this period of my experiencing this uncomfortable cold, I am remembering my dreams.  I am often waking up, I think, and then returning to sleep and to the dream in progress.  Sometimes I am not sure I am fully awake, and I am just experiencing a change in the level of my consciousness.

Most of my dreams are strange, and are about things in my past.  Most of them are not scary, and some are down right intriguing, so I want to "finish the story."  It seems that while the dreams are about my past, they skew the information in strange ways, combining various peoples in my life in odd or unusual pairings.  Some of these dreams are almost comforting.

I wonder if, because of the cold, I am not achieving a deep enough sleep, so I awaken during the dreams and remember them.  I do not know enough about sleep theory to know if that coincides with what sleep theory says, but I think REM sleep, when we do most of our active and memorable dreams, is not as deep a sleep as other stages of sleep.  

Well, I do not mind dreaming, and I do not mind remembering my dreams, although the memories usually do not stay with me more than a few minutes, then I move on to thinking about my day.  But I do wish I could get warm and stay warm.