Stroke Steals One Woman's Dreams

"FRIDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDayNews) -- Along with the potentially devastating physical damage that a stroke can cause, a little known and rare consequence can be the loss of dreaming.

In the September issue of the Annals of Neurology, Swiss researchers report the case of an elderly woman who had a stroke and several days later stopped dreaming.

"This suggests that the area that was damaged [during the woman's stroke] probably has some important role to play in the complex process that gives rise to dreaming," said study author Dr. Claudio Bassetti, of the department of Neurology at University Hospital in Zurich.

Each year, about 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke, according to the American Stroke Association. Stroke is the third-leading cause of death in the United States and a major cause of disability.

While loss of dreaming after stroke-induced damage to the brain rarely occurs, the phenomenon was identified as early as the 1880s and is called Charcot-Wilbrand syndrome -- after the doctors who discovered it."

For the full story please use the link above. I love dreaming and would be so disappointed if I lost it.