Recurring nightmares equal Adrenal Fatigue?

I suffered from severe adrenal fatigue for many years. And through all those years, I had one persistent, seemingly unexplainable problem - a horrible, recurring nightmare on a daily basis that would frequently cause me to wake me prematurely (I rarely slept more than 4 or 5 hours). And when I would wake, I would do so drenched in sweat and short of breath.

The recurring nightmare was a zombie invasion. I was always running from zombies in my sleep, sometimes with a random friend or family member but also frequently completely alone. Sometimes a friend or family member was the zombie chasing me. Sometimes it was an entire pack of them chasing me. The world seemed to be in full apocalypse mode in the nightmare. No place was safe.

Zombies, vampires, cannibals, and basically anything involving a human (or human-like) being biting into a human being is one of my biggest phobias, since I was a child. It's always been the one thing that sends the biggest chill down my spine.

As my adrenals gradually improved in condition thanks to a variety of therapies (as well as lifestyle changes, namely stress avoidance), I noticed that my recurring nightmare would occur less and less. Nowadays, it's practically completely gone.

Were my adrenals trying to use my biggest phobia - the eating of human flesh - to trigger a stress reaction in me, leading to boosted cortisol production (which they were desperately having trouble producing)? Or was it the other way around - was my cortisol chronically elevated, leading to nightmares?

Either way, one thing that is clear to me is that dreams are not merely reflections of the psyche. They are also very chemical in nature, and hormones and neurotransmitters can affect and influence them greatly. I imagine with malabsorption problems would have trouble digesting protein, and therefore, have lowered absorption of crucial amino acids like Tryptophan (a precursor to serotonin) that greatly influence one's mental state. Something to keep in mind when interpreting your dreams. Tweet