When I read in the popular columns in weeklies and news papers someone interpreting dreams of others, I am really amazed. I wonder at the parochial abilities of the dream analyst or his clairvoyance! Dreams are something very personal and if anyone, at all, can interpret the meaning of those dreams, it has to be the person who has had that dream, none else. Because it is not just telling someone what you saw that would enable the person to interpret the message that the dream held for you, as it is the emotional response that you feel while you dream that sets the tone of the message. And no interpreter can feel for the emotions that the person experiences while dreaming.
To understand your dream you must know about the background or the factors that make you see that dream.
Some years back I started having a recurrent dream and this dream became an obsession with me. Every time when I will see this dream the intensity of the emotions would be more than what I experienced the last time. I would dream of having chewing-gum in my mouth and this chewing gum would get stuck to my teeth. I would try spitting it out but it would not come out. I would make much effort to spit it out but it would be a futile exercise. I would be frantic and in desperation would put my fingers in my mouth to pull it out but it would not even be pulled out. The more force I would apply, the more sticky it would seem. I would be sweating and would make one more last attempt and I would feel as something, a part of my food pipe would be coming out along with the chewing gum! I would get up from my sleep, drenched in cold sweat and would dread going to sleep again. This dream had become very recurrent and the intensity of the emotions surging within me would make me afraid of it.
In order to find an answer to my dream and what it was trying to tell me, I stated looking around and analyzed my life with some miniscule investigation. What I found was amazing. I saw my life and my dreams from some distance and found a deep relation between my dream and my life.
It was a time when I doing Ph.D. had become a professional compulsion for me but I was deferring it as I felt guilty for having neglected my kids foe a long time when I was occupied in other examinations. And now I wanted to give them my full time and energy. But it seemed as if in order to make a balance between my personal and professional life, somewhere on the way, I had lost something very precious. Though on the surface every thing looked cool and cozy but turbulence seemed to rule underneath. A turbulence that my own self was not able to recognize or see. I was happy but somewhere inside a feeling of an un fulfilled dream raised its head that my rational self would put down.
Looking at the totality of the situation, I was able to see clearly what my dream was trying to say. The chewing gum stuck in my teeth, was my creativity that I had stifled inside. I was trying to downplay my urge to do something worthwhile that I was capable of. The day I was able to listen to the message that my dream was trying to give me, I was honestly at peace with myself. I decided to start with my research work and do what I really wanted to do. The day I took this decision, the recurrence of this dream became very less and finally when I started with the work, it just vanished.
Since last many years I have not had this dream. I just wonder if I had written about this dream to someone who claimed to read and interpret dreams, would he had given me a solution for the problem? I am afraid he would not even have read the dream!
I am happy that I was able to listen to what my dream was trying to say!
Straight from the Heart..... 
WoW! I too keep having a similar reoccurring dream for the past few years.
I just typed into Google “dreams gum stuck to teeth” and your page came up.
It is uncanny in the similarities in our life too.
My dream is always in a different setting but the common thing is that I am chewing gum (which I almost never do in waking life) and I want to take it out but when I try to spit it out, it is stuck to my molars. I put my hand in my mouth and start pulling it off the teeth…but as I pull it off it seems like it is never ending…I end up accumulating a huge amount of gum in my hand but still a strong band of it is still coming out of my mouth and is still stuck to my teeth. It seems like no matter how much I pull out it is still stuck to my teeth. This disturbs me very much in my dream. Come to think of it it also disturbs me in my waking life. At least last night’s dream the gum was pink where as in the past it has been black!
I am also struggling with unfullfilled creative endeavors in my life and I seem to be repressing them out of guilt to be with my family more. I feel I have been given a talent which I do use in my work (graphic design) but I feel I am am not allowing the creative expression I would rather be doing (painting, illustration, puppetry) because of the extra time it would take to do this.
Thank you for your thoughts on your dream. It is something I will give much thought about in regards to my own dreams.
oh my goodness. i’ve had this very same type of dream the last 3 nights this week and it’s been driving me crazy thinking what it all relates to. i’m trying to get the gum out of my mouth and i keep pulling and pulling and get a huge lump out but there’s more there to get. someone (no face in my dream) is commented on the fact that i’ve got a problem and so is kind to me and leaves me to continue pulling goo out of my mouth as i’m doing it in public. first couple of times i pulled so much some of my back teeth came out with the force. but last dream my teeth didn’t feature.
similar to your stories, i’m currently reassessing how i spend my time between my family, work commitments and thinking about how i’d like to make time to go to the opera and live theatre again.
it’s a relief to read your dream interpretations as i was thinking i needed to go to the dentist and get my teeth checked (which i will do anyway).
Well, I logged on this morning looking for the meaning of my recurrent dream about pulling never-ending wads of gum out of my teeth. I am glad to see this is part of the collective unconscious, but the theouries about work/life balance and repressed creativity are not resonating with me.
I am still clueless about the meaning of this dream!
I also have this dream where my mouth is totally full of chewing gum. I can’t talk and the more I try to put my fingers in my mouth and remove the gum, the more I find in my mouth. It’s the weirdest dream ever – and a close friend of mine has the exact same dream !
Caroline, England
I’m another one with this dream – my mouth is full of gum, i can’t talk, I can’t move my tonge because my mouth is so packed full of the stuff. Finally I’m able to pull a little bit out, then a bit more, until I’m pulling endless amounts of the gum out and piling it into my other hand. The work/life balance thing isn’t a problem with me, I have no idea what the cause is. A search on Google brought one explanation from the Dream Dictionary…’
Chewing gum
http://tinyurl.com/uw9an
‘For several years now, I have been receiving similar dreams from people all over the world. The dreams are almost exactly the same and involve the dreamers’ inability to get rid of chewing gum. The more they attempt to remove it from their mouths the larger and more unmanageable it becomes. In the dream they become frustrated and panicky because the harder they try to pull, the larger the mass becomes in their mouths. This dream suggests that the dreamer may experience frustration in daily life due to a large scale or standing insolvable problem that leaves them feeling powerless. The dream represents an inability to digest or to process information or a dilemma. It also suggests that the dreamer is not able to express him or herself effectively and that repetitive and ineffective verbal expressions are typically used. Chewing gum in dreams may be a sign of childlike behaviors, vulnerability, powerlessness, and a need for nourishment.’
Last night I dream my mother had a baby ( my mother is no longer living, and she was 84). During my dream I was wondering who did this to my mother.
In that same dream my sister was having a social celebration with
family, frienda, food and drinks. As she enter fron the room and I enter in I kissed her cheek. I picked up a relative baby and carried around.
WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?
I can’t believe I’m reading about so many people with the same chewing gum dream! I have had this dream so many times – when I wake up, I sometimes think that it’s something that has also happened in real life. I have this wad of gum that gets stuck to my teeth and I keep pulling and pulling this long string of gum – even wrapping it around my fingers like a spool of yarn. I think it started about 2 years ago – maybe more. Now I no longer feel frustration in my dreams since it’s become so routine. Sometimes in my dreams I feel fully relieved because I finally get the gum totally out of my mouth. Other times it’s just never-ending.
Anyway, I just woke up from one of these dreams, decided I’d look it up on the internet to find out the meaning. I’m not sure if the repressed creativity situation applies to my life, but I know that my work-life balance has been totally out of whack for the last two or three years, so maybe that’s the cause for my chewing gum dreams.
Thanks to all of you who wrote in about your dreams and analyses. It’s at least comforting to know that it’s common – and very very suprising that I’m not alone in this!
Amazing! Its nice to know there are a whack of people out there with the “chewing gum” dream! I first started getting this when I was working on my Phd – it was an endless recurring dream – and the gum was interchangable with thread – the other night – after almost a year of not having the dream – I had it again – always followed by a feeling of frustration and embarassment – I think it was triggered by a dream my wife had about me – sitting in a chair, crying, saying that nobody understood me…..I am very creative and the work/life balance does indeed get out of whack sometimes….
I am in shock to read that so many people have the same weird dream! I had it for months and it is one of those dreams that leaves you remembering the details. I would awake remembering the frustration and panic of not being able to get all the gum out to speak and needing so badly to speak and the never ending gum. I remember it being embarassing too…having to keep removing wads of gum (like floam) out of my mouth for hours and it never ended. Shortly after this 6-month period or so I left my 10-year career of TV advertising for ABC and started my own company so I could work from home and spend more time with my kids. I haven’t had the dreams anymore. I can’t believe the similarities to those who have experienced this dream. Before this dream, I used to dream I was sitting on a toilet in the middle of a shopping mall with no walls or stall, just right smack in the middle of the mall. Anyone for that one? Hah!
Wow I’ve had the toilet dream too. Often it’s just that i’m in a bathroom with no stalls and I have to pee in front of people.
Oh my goodness, I too cannot believe how many people have been having the same dream. I have read what people think their thing is, I think mine is that, I live by myself and have mentioned to one of my friends that I find it hard to wind down because there is no one at home to talk too, i have also started a new job where my travel time to and from work makes me get home later, and i have been feeling like there is no time for me or to do anything becasue it is dark, like walk my dog etc….. and maybe there is an underlying fact that i wish i had my own business or something. So strange…..
Remembered to google this dream today, I can’t believe that so many others are suffering with it too….at least I can take some comfort in the fact that I’m not alone!
I had this dream repeatedly just over a year ago. When I left my job which was causing me great frustration the dreams stopped. I have been in my current job twelve months and am again feeling frustrated. The dream is back. It is too much of a coincidence?
ford san francisco
I can’t believe I’m reading how many others this dream happens to!!! I don’t even eat chewing gum but in the dream when I try to take it out, as happens to so many others, it gets longer and bulkier and i am trying to get my fingers behind it in my mouth but still there’s more behind that!! I’m doing my MSc as well as work which is similar to the very 1st comment on this page!! it’s just unreal how many people could have such a similar weird dream!!
PS:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16338360/
You might be interested in reading the article “Sweet but dangerous” about the chewing gum being a warning sign for a life-threatening sleep disorder called sleep apnea
Blimey! not very happy about that “warning” thing. But I snore so it would make sense.
My chewing gum dreams have been driving me mad for about 3 months. Every night, the chewing gum gets stuck between my teeth and as many strands as I pull out I can’t get it all out.
I just had this dream this morning! I cannot believe that so many people have this dream too! In my dream, I was hiking in the woods with my sister and her daughter. We came to this store and my parents were there for some reason. I was frantically searching for this guy I liked (yet I’m married in real life) and couldn’t find him. All of a sudden, this gum appeared in my mouth. I leaned over a garbage and tried to spit it out. When I couldn’t, I began ripping it out of my mouth and the more I did that, the bigger and bulkier it became. I was so frustrated and I started crying and choking.
I’ve been at my job for about a year now but was discussing with a friend last night my urge to leave. But, despite how much I want to start a new job, I also want to have a baby and don’t know if I should stay at an easier job or start one with more responsibility. I think the dream ties in with that….
I decided to look up the meaning of the dream today as i have had this dream several times in the last couple of years. My chewing gum gets stuck in my molars then why I try to pull it out, it starts to pull my teeth out too. Then my mouth is bleeding and really painful. I wake up in a sweat, it is really quite distressing! I have recently changed jobs to something completely different but obviously this dream is still with me. I have been told that sometimes I grind my teeth in my sleep although there is no way i could do that when i’m awake, it goes through me.. Maybe it’s related to that or maybe it’s related to something in my social life.. I hope to find out soon because i want to lose this dream. Good to hear though that so many other people have such similar dreams..
Wow! I’ve had this dream for a long time as well! I’m a 30 year old Midwestern raised american man. I also researched it meant that you are having trouble expressing yourself or that you believe that you are not being understood or taken seriously. Typically when this dream happens, this is exactly the case. I do also feel tired alot and am a restless sleeper, so apnia may be an issue. I’m going to get checked right away!
Yea my mom has this dream too. She just woke up because of it. She keeps pulling it out of her mouth but she cant get it out. In one dream she actually peeled the skin off of her tougne
I am amazed just like everyone else as to how many people around the world have this freakish dream! I have probably had it close to ten times, usually about once a month, and by now I am so used to it that I probably don’t feel as distressed as I should! I think the change/creativity thing maybe applies to me…like Naomi I am working as a graphic designer but as this is a day job, 40 hours a week, do not nearly do as much life drawing and painting as I should. Maybe this is a dream of guilt? Last night my chewing gum dream involved me pulling the gums out of my mouth on and on, until I had a ball of gum slightly smaller than a basketball on the floor in front of me. The weird thing was that I was reaching into the ball and searching for pens and pencils, like digging around in it for them. How weird is that? This must be my sub conscious telling me to balance my working salary job with more design/creative work that will help me continue to grow and learn independently as a designer.
I don’t think the ideas of repression and lack of ability to communicate etc really apply to me…maybe it is again though the lack of creative communication…I’m not sure, but it really is a great relief to read about other people’s dreams, especially weird as there seem to be a lot of academic/creative people having this re occuring dream.
( My gum is always light orange or colourless…any ideas about this? I must admit I have never had a dream where the gum was black as someone mentioned!)
Hi I am astonished so many people have written on this forum about the gum dream. I had it last night and it was so vivid i had to research it on the net. I am currently frustrated with my job and want desperately to leave. I am having conflict with a co-worker however feel as though I cannot say anything to this person – I am angry daily over our interactions yet never say a word. Work and not being able to express yourself seems to be a trend
I have this dream all the time. Unbelievable it is so common. I am not stifled creatively, as I work for myself and create tea blends, I am doing exactly what I love…but I am overwhelmed with wearing all the hats of owning two stores and not having all my time with my kids. So maybe it has some to do with the struggle of time…your damned if you do work, your damned if you don’t….this dream is wacky. Tonight I will pray about it..see what the good Lord reveals to me……unless that is the point and I am not getting it?
I have had that dream once or twice in my life and only last night my girlfriend told me about a dream she had the night before. In the dream she was doing something I cant remember but she mentioned she had chewing gum stuck in her teeth and couldn’t get it out, no matter how hard she tried. Then I realised this is not an unusual occurance. I don’t believe in any of the airy fairy theories about being stressed, worried about money, creativity being stiffled etc. I’m sure its just a common evolutionary dream that has been passed down to us, just like dreaming about monsters or not being able to run etc.
I’m part of the wierd mouth-dream click too. I don’t have this dream often, but I had it again last night. I don’t chew gum, but in my dream it’s gum or gum-like. Last night it was black and as I was pulling it out, i popped a tooth. Sometimes the stuffs tastes like some wierd flavor you get from choosing the wrong choclate in that big holiday mix box.
I hear what the last person said that our stress filled lives are not to blaim. That may be true, but I see it as too big a constant for everyone ingnore. I have also read the article about sleep apnea and I think that sounds very logical.
For me, I’m 31 with juggling a young family and a stressful sales job. In addition, I’ve been working on an addition to my house for the last 6 months and I’m physically and emotionally wiped out!
I’m not sure what the true trigger is for this dream, but one thing I think we all can agree with is that it’s associated with frustration. I think for some of us it’s two dreams in one (sticky mouth + loosing teeth), and this makes it even harder to process.
My addition is almost done, my family is very blessed, and I have a good job. 2008 is looking alot less stressful for me…I hope that it holds better sleep and dreams for all of you ( i like flying dreams myself).
I’ve had that recurring dream about sitting on a toilet in public. In every dream, it wold be in a different place. Sometimes it would be in a shopping mall, or a drug store, or in a restaurant. Just before I woke up this morning, I had another dream like that, but this time, I was actually in a public bathroom. (It was a one-seater.) The door was open just enough so that all these people came into the bathroom all at once. I tried to get them to go away, but they just went on with whatever they were doing and ignored me. I was like, “Hello! Lady sitting on a toilet trying to pee, here!” They still ignored me. I said to them, “Everybody go away! Go away!” Then I woke up. Man, I hate those dreams! The worst part is trying to figure how to get up off the toilet while everybody is standing there looking at you. So worrisome!
Well, here I am to join the same strange gum dream! I just had this dream last night!! I’ve had it off and on now for a couple years, but before last night it had been several months since I had it last. This time, I was pulling out the endless wad of gum, which turned into my actual gums eventually (and also turned black from pink). I looked in the mirror in my dreams and I had pulled out my actual gums so it looked like a skullish set of teeth looking back at me!!! I freaked out and woke up! I also tend to feel nauseous after the dream. Anyone else?
This dream is usually the same for me (before last night’s weird version of it). I usually am pulling out the pink gum and finally get it all out. I’m frustrated and feel nauseous that all that gum was in my mouth.
I think right now I am having this dream because I am in negotiations with a large company (a sort of dream job, if you will) for a new position and am worried like you wouldn’t believe. I have worked several jobs in the last 2 years, which may also explain the beginning and then the re-occurence of the dream. I work too much and rarely have time for things I love to do (working so much because I need to make ends meet). I think that life stress triggers this dream. And somehow it all seems to be tied in with your career / job stress as a trigger.
I’m glad to see upthread that someone mentioned sleep apnea as a possible cause for the sticky gum dream. I had figured that out on my own, somehow, and had mentioned it to several health practitioners, but they thought I was crazy. Nice to know that others have this type of dream, and that sleep apnea has been associated with it.
I have just recently started having this dream although nothing has really changed in my life. I have a wonderful Fiance’, I love my job but still with the dream. My mother has sleep apnea that requires her to sleep in an oxygen mask so I’m wondering if sleep apnea can be passed down. Gonna do some research on it.
I just had a reaccuring dream about having globs of pink gum stuck to my teeth. In the dream I can’t talk and I’m trying to pry the gum out with my fingers. There is alot of gum and it’s taking forever. When I woke up the dream seemed so real like this had actually occurred many times in my past but it must have been that I was having so many dreams about it. I find the connection people are making to creative endeavors interesting. For the past couple of months I have been feeling unfullfilled. I have plenty of friends, family, and a great career. I often felt like something was missing. Recently I have begun playing guitar and thinking about drawing and dancing. I feel happier. I feel that this dream was trying to tell me something.
I’ve been having the same exact gum-cannot-pull-it-all-out-of-my-mouth-for-the-life-of-me dream for the past couple years. Gosh, I must really not have my career/personal life balanced! 😛
But that’s all I strive for in life…balancing it all. Getting married this week, just finished grad school, taking a 5 mo break before starting my fabulous new job, love my family… what else is there? I feel like I have everything. Am I missing something else in my life?
And by the way. I’ve actually had this gum experience in real life before. Lesson learned: don’t chew gum too long in your mouth. Depending on the gum, 1) some get hard and become unchewable, 2) some get “liquid-y” and stick to your teeth where it becomes like in the dream. Fortunately, in real life I was able to finally get all the gum out of my mouth. In my dreams, however, I can never get rid of all the gum…
So strange! I’ve had the same dream over and over the past few months. It’s so bad that I can actually feel the pressure on my teeth when I wake up.
It makes sense now, we have been dealing with infertility for more than a year and my life has definitely felt a bit overwhelming and that there is something missing.
WOW !! A recurring dream. I wrote an article on the same in my blog too!! Ma’m we’re telepathically connected. !! http://arnav.bookrum.com/wordpress/?p=171 feel free to comment… 🙂
i also have had this dream two times now. i don’t have gum though, its now and laters. same diffence though. i am a creative person who graduated with an art degree a few years ago and have not yet used my degree and have had a creative block for months now…it all makes sense now. im SO glad i found this!
i have this very annoying dream too. i’ve been paranoid that something is wrong with my health such as maybe a thyroid problem since the gum keeps coming out of my throat. it does come when i have more frustration in life probably combined with not enough exercise which would usually helps my frustration. the sleep apnea may be true too, but why does it happen more when i am frustrated? when it happens, sometimes i do wake up and think maybe i was choking on my tongue–i even get the feeling that i was just snoring. i have been grinding my teeth and have tmj for years–since teenagehood, but this neverending gum or string or sometimes hair that gets stuck in my throat has only been happening on occassion for the past year.
i did make a career change to something i love with more creativity, but i am stressed about getting my career going. i do not feel that i keep my emotions stuck inside–i speak my mind. so not sure.
does anyone have any particular health problems that they would be willing to share with us? i wonder if there is any commonality in that area.
btw, i was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian sydrome at around the time the dreams started.
so strange – i have been having this recurring dream now very often for the past 2 or 3 months. i want to speak or say something, but it all comes out garbled and inaudible because i have gobs and gobs of gum in my mouth. i try to take it out, but it just keeps coming and coming. the more i take out, the more is in my mouth. i’ve also been having a somewhat suppressed coworker conflict and general work frustration, and lots of complicated stuff happening in my romantic life. very, very bizarre dream.
I have this same dream! close anyway. i have something stuck in my throat and when i try to pull it out it just gets bigger or more of it. it started with a dream where i was asked to dance and smash a guitar and when i did smash it a piece of it was stuck in my throat. when the patron came to thank me, i could not speak because i realized i had a spring stick in my throat from the guitar. i pulled on it and it started coming out in a long thread then i woke. then a week later i had the gum dream now every other night i dream that i am trying to speak or casually visit with an old friend (different “friend” everytime) i cannot speak to them because of wads and wads of chewed food or other nasty stuff is stuck in my throat. i try to cough and get it out, then with great effort, i can dislodge some then it just keeps coming. it fills my mouth and throat and i scoop it out with my fingers and more fills my mouth from my throat. I sometimes dump it on the floor or in my herb garden.(!) there is always an unseen person (my real life sisiter i think) making excuses to everyone as to why i am having trouble. i am a retired dancer and i think it may have something to do with creative expression but i am not entirely sure. HUGE suprise that so many people have had the same dream! Are we being collectively prepared for something that is going to take tremendous communication, love and creativity to deal with?
I have had this gum sticking to my throat and tongue and teeth ongoing for over 3 years. My analysis of my life suggests a very clear relationship between watching pornography for sexual release and the frustration that results from doing this. Each time my sexual energy gets unbalanced and expresses itself through the avenue of pornography the sticky threadlike gum dream returns.
It seems like most agree that this dream is indicative of feeling a repressed creative expression whether it be in work, family or like in my case of a sexual nature. I am comforted to understand that many other people report the same dream and that there is an ongoing discussion about it.
I am still trying to find an effective way to re-channel my sexual energy (as I imagine are many men in the world) so that I am not faced with this ongoing frustration and this very uncomfortable and painful frustrating dream. Be the light that you are, I remind myself.
I have the gum dream too. I’ve been having this dream for years, sometimes several times a month. Today is the first time I thought to Google it, and how funny to see it is a common dream! My dream is much like everyone else’s. The only twist I can add is that I have this dream so often that I know it is a dream even while I’m dreaming. I’ll be pulling the gum out of my mouth and everyone will be worried or disgusted or surprised, and I say, “oh don’t worry. I dream this all the time.” But then I keep fighting to get the gum out of my mouth all the same, so it is just as annoying.
I also have the toilet in public dream although much less frequently, and in my dream the toilet is really disgustingly filthy and stinky.
The gum dream is certainly about on-going frustrations. It sounds like everyone is dealing with some sort of frustration- be it ineffective communication or unsatisfying work, etc. But the stinky, filthy, public toilet? I don’t know. The smell is unlike anything I have experienced in real life, and it’s always the same. I’ll take the gum dream over the toilet dream any day.
I have the gum dream, although sometimes it’s not exactly gum, but a thick disgusting wad of something terribly nasty tasting. Other than that, the details are much the same.
The toilet dream is simple for me. I always wake up having to go to the bathroom, and the more vivid the dream, the more urgent the need.
I just woke up from having this dream. I dream my mouth is full of gum and it is stuck to the roof of my mouth. I usually can get some of it out but never quite all of it. I feel like I’m gagging and can barely breath unless I slow down. Usually in the dream, I am trying to say something but I can’t because of the gum. I never can get the gum out. Last night’s version of the dream, my boss appeared at a hotel I was staying at with my parents and brother. I was able to introduce her but then my mouth was full of gum and I couldn’t talk. My dad began criticizing me for not being able to talk.
Last time that I had had this weird dream was some 6 years back and over this long period I never had any such dream though I would be reading my account of this dream and also of so many others almost everyday.
But quite unexpectedly I had this dream last night. But the strange part is that this time I knew for certain in the dream that it was not chewing gum but was my intestines that were being pulled in a vain attempt to get rid of the sticky material stuck to the walls of my mouth! I could even feel my apprehension at the loss to my intestines as I was making an attempt to cut the meshed material with my teeth. And I was worried that I would not be able to ask my hubby about the damage it would do to me as I didn’t want to make him upset on account of my sticky problem.
Now looking back at the dream and analyzing it in the most honest manner I am able to see a pattern at work behind this dream! My husband is recovering from a very severe head injury. On the other hand I am going through some bad phase in my work life. There are some papers that are to be answered and it is timebound. I cannot discuss the matter with my hubby. Leave alone discussing I can’t even broach up the subject in front of him as I know how much tension it would cause him, especially when his health still is fragile.
This balance between two compulsions when both of them are important, one for my family life and another for my work life, I am at a loss to balance myself. The withheld and suppressed feeling of not being able to say all that I want to has made me sick at heart and more so when I have to pretend a casual and carefree person in my home. This pressure is having its toll and I had this weird dream.
I am writing it so that my readers may gauge how suffocating it must be for all those who have such a dream. The words unspoken, the feelings unexpressed, the creativity un-channeled and the real self unmasked—all lead to such a weird dream!
It seems I am not the only one who has this same dream. I dream that I have gum stuck in my mouth. I pull and pull and pull and it just keeps filling back up. Sometimes it’s like vile gum, tasting aweful. Sometimes I pull and pull and pull and I know if I pull any harder it is going to pull my teeth out. I can feel my molars coming out because of the force. If I do manage to get rid of the gum either it comes back in a few minutes when I try to talk or I pick up another piece and put it back in my mouth all the while thinking why the hell did I just do it again!
It seems I am not the only one who has this same dream. I dream that I have gum stuck in my mouth. I pull and pull and pull and it just keeps filling back up. Sometimes it’s like vile gum, tasting aweful. Sometimes I pull and pull and pull and I know if I pull any harder it is going to pull my teeth out. I can feel my molars coming out because of the force. If I do manage to get rid of the gum either it comes back in a few minutes when I try to talk or I pick up another piece and put it back in my mouth all the while thinking why the hell did I just do it again!
I’ve had this dream for at least 3 years now and well over 200 times.
I’ve had this dream many times too, I’m a musician, but i was forced to work for awhile and i think that is when i was having these dreams for awhile, I’m currently doing music full time under my own direction and haven’t had it in awhile, had it probably 10 times total, fucking hate this dream.
Wow! To read others have had my dream is weird. For as long as I can remember I have the reoccurring dream of gum stuck to my teeth and stuck in my throat. Like some other posters here, in my awake life I never chew gum. In my dreams I often seek out a men’s room to privately pick out the gum with my hand. A giant wad of gum is in my hand but I never get it all out of my mouth. In my dreams I am choking on the gum. Often there are people around me watching me unsuccessfully trying to get rid of this gum in my mouth. Nobody seems to question what I’m doing though. Often I look for a sissors to cut it out. Sometimes the more I try to remove the gum my teeth will fall out with it. I have been having this dream for years.
Ditto! I can’t believe how common this is…I think that it is something to do with being unable to express feelings clearly. I don’t want to upset anyone or have confrontation so I will do anything to avoid that, hence the lack of expression….i am feeling pretty bad in my relationship at the moment, and communication is not my strong point, we are just living in same house but not actually talking. i need some help!
I’ve been having this dream off and on over the past few months. It seemed so bizarre that I didn’t think looking it up would help. Strange that it’s so common.
After reading everyone’s posts I feel a little bit better. I have my dream job, but I’m currently going to night school too. A couple months ago, I was really having a time management issue. I cut back on my number of commitments and decided to not take classes over the summer. I still feel like I don’t know how to manage my time though. I have more time now, but I goof off when I shouldn’t.
Also, on the sleep apnea thing… I do snore and grind my teeth. I wear a guard at night to protect my teeth. I wonder if that has something to do with it all.
I also grind my teeth and wear a special mouth guard and I get this dream!
My dream is a bit weirder than other people’s dreams here. I’m in the car with a friend and we’re somewhere exotic on holiday. I’m eating these tiny thin lifeless grey snakes and they turn into the sticky neverending grey gum
Oops I pressed publish.
So they turn into the grey sticky mass in my mouth and I chew and chew but can’t swallow or seem to get it out. Then I realize the snakes are alive and biting my gums and I can’t pull them out because they’re hanging on so I start freaking out and tugging and spitting. Really scary! Then I wake up.
I’m an extremely creative person but I am spreading myself very thin across work and volunteering so haven’t had much time for creativity. I’m also quote nervous about my health. I get blood test results today and fear I may have strange food intollerances or maybe chronic fatigue. Apnea could be an interesting correlation though?
It’s important to question what the symbol means to you though. What does the sticky gum represent to you? And why are you afraid or frustrated that you can’t get it out?
For me, I think it’s the lack of control and the feeling of being stuck and getting nowhere, even with maximum effort.
I too have had this same dream. Im very talented and ive been working for a company that i feel has been hindering my creative ability. Ive found a common ground to all of these responses. There something more we suppose to do whether its with a talent or spending more time with family. Its not at all by accident weve all had this same endless gum dream. Im ending my job in three weeks and will start my own company something ive wanted to do since a child. ITS TIME TO TAKE ACTION!
I’m just amazed that so many other people share this strange dream . . . . thought I was the only one! I’ve had it off and on for probably about 20 years. In it my mouth is full of very sweet pink gum, and I’m trying desperately to get rid of it. But there’s so much gum that I can only pry out a little at a time, and if I leave even a little behind, the mass re-grows until it fills up my mouth again. And usually I’m trying to throw away the handfuls of gum in public, with others watching, and I’m embarrassed. I find everyone’s “life balance” readings of this dream interesting; I do tend to have it when I’m stressed out.
HI All –
I looked at this thread and see how long it has been going on for. I have been having this same dream – a few times in the last 3 months. In my dream, the gum is pink, very sweet but then it gets bland and old tasting. I go to pull it out and can only break off a bit at a time. But then I keep thinking it is gone and there it is again – now tastes worse and gets harder to pull out. Like the last poster – I am embarrassed that I keep having to find tissues or something to put the gum in. Plus when I talk to people, it is like they can see the gum is stuck. I wake up very stressed out and tired as if I hadn’t slept. I do see that this could be a sign of creativity being stifled – but I am at the point where I don’t have enough time in the day to turn it back on. It is very frustrating on so many levels!! Thanks all for sharing – I am amazed how many people have had this dream!
Wow. This dream was so frustrating!! I am walking around chewing gum, it then becomes flavourless, so I try to spit it out and can’t. I start pulling it out, but it’s stuck to my teeth and toungue and the strands go on and on. When I finally pull the last bit out it hurts my teeth or tears skin of my toungue. A couple of minutes later the gum has suddenly appeared again. Same process again. After a lot of times I finally manage to take the gum out before it sticks to my teeth and see it has a dissolving layer of something over it and know that if I kept chewing it until it disappeared it would stick again.
I have been in a verbally abusive relationship where my talents are often put down and belittled. I have been unhappy for a long time. I changed jobs and fell in love with my supportive boss. We began an affair, which resulted in me having the strength to tell my boyfriend I was leaving him. He does not know about my affair. He finally wanted to do something about his behavior and has been seeing a psychologist and reading self help books. He wants me to stay. I have not made up my mind yet, consequently I am stuck between the two men. I am finding it impossible to make a decision. Sticky situation I do think!
Same dream. Have had it for years. Gum stuck to molars and i pull never ending strands of it out of my mouth. I don’t ever feel panicked. But usually I’m in the middle of a conversation and I am embarrassed by the fact I have to pull out lots of gum in front of them. Sometimes I’m able to leave and find some privacy and find myself annoyed and rushed to get it all out so I can get back in the conversation. I don’t think I’m ever able able to pull all of it out. Wish I knew what it meant. Any ideas?
I had the same horrid dream last night! It was after a very long time that I had this drream so am trying to see the patterns in its occurence and the happening in my life that triggered this dream.
I saw a leech was stuck to my mouth and was suckiing blood. I wanted to get it out but did not want to toufch with hands. I wondered how ocduld it get in my miuth and thought whetehr I had slept wit hopen mouth that it could slip inside. It was slippery and loathsome to touch it!
Next I had the same dream in the very early hours of the morning when I was between a stage between waking and sleeping. This time I saw a number of woem sending their kids to school in a vehicle and my vehicle was parked there and I was watching these women. My mouth was full of that sticky material bjut this time instead of anything else I could feel it to be muscles, raw and sticky, that I was tearing apart to get them out of my mouth. God my old dream seems to have turned into a real nightmare!
Now looking back at the events of yesterday or days preceding to the re-occurence ofthis dream I find some factors that triggered it and also can read some meaning in this dream. I am writing these, some intimate, factors so that others who see this kind of dream may also analyse the dream their ownself
The breaking news, flashed on all TV networks, about a man awarded six months punishment for misbehaving with a girl, might have triggered my craving for a similar kind of punishment for someone who has been responsible for myplight.
The leech sucking blood from my mouth symbolized this man. He was sucking my blood, my peace of mind and the very being of my potential. I had to get it out but it was so loathsome that touching it with my bare hands was just not possible for me.
The women sending their kids to school is a daily scene that I see from my window during early hours of the day. But this scene alongwith my effort to pull out something sticky from my mouth stood for the sense of frustration that I must be having for not being able to bring to justice all those responsible for causing me pain!
I have written all that this dream has tried to speak to me and now I am trying to do what I did earlier to get rid of such dreams–to write about all those feelings that resurface time and again and I stifle them inside, waiting for a more appropriate time to pen them. I think it is the time to write it all and get rid of this horrid dream!
Ma’am,at least you are able to pen your feelings, gifted as you are. It does have cathartic effect , we so badly need at times. I wish it were possible to find solution to problems as well, through these dreams.
Me Too! Me Too! Me Too! I’m usually very good at looking within and solving problems, but i don’t understand this gum dream i have. It’s so bad that i WON’T EVER eat real gum of any kind in real life!! I just can’t! i hope we all find the answer to this one, it’s a terrible dream!
So listen to this. I’ve had this dream on and off in the past. Sometimes it’s chewing gum I’m pulling out, and sometimes it’s slime. But last night (this morning) something different happened. I was in the middle of another recurring dream, one where I’m continuously delayed from doing something. This time I was in an airport terminal, carrying at least two bags and my guitar (I’m a musician), and I’m walking through the corridor looking for my gate, but I keep getting stopped for some reason or another, and when I get going again I realize I’ve left my guitar behind, and I have to run back and get it. It happens about three times and I finally get to my gate, and I walk up to the attendant and I’m exploding with luggage and papers, and I’m completely disorganized and the woman says I don’t have the correct documentation, so i go searching frantically through my bags. Finally I get the right piece of information for her and give it to her, but it seems that in the process of looking for all this stuff I’ve stuck my ticket in my mouth to hold it. When I take the ticket out it multiplies in my mouth and I start pulling tickets out of my mouth, trying to get all the tickets out endlessly until I wake up. Maybe things just multiply in the mouth when you dream? Just a thought.
I have this dream so many times for the past 3 years! I’m not really a superstitious person, but when the dream keeps repeating itself (pulling something out of teeth and neverending), I cannot ignore it. Also I have recurring dreams about tornadoes and trying to hide from it. These are the only two recurring dreams that I have. Still wondering what it could mean. Weird because I realize now that I started having these dreams after I moved out from my parents house and bought my own house 3 years ago. Dont know if that was the cause.
I have the same thing a lot as well, although with me it’s wire, stuck between my teeth like metal dental floss about the same diameter as a paperclip (although my teeth are not at all gappy).
I’m not sure if I buy the whole career/sexual repression causality thing though, it seems to me that the vast majority of people suffer from either one, the other, or both, so it could well be coincidence, in my eyes.
It is interesting it seems to affect everyone as well. I find it always tends to happen during an otherwise pleasant dream scenario, invariably a wake up slightly and roll over causing the whole thing to be ruined.
Crazy to see so many people with the same dream! I will try and explain a lot about my personal life so maybe people will see similarities (like I have with all of your comments)
I had this dream a lot when I was studying and when I had finished; the dream stopped. I would get it every now and then afterwards when I was unemployed, but got it for the first time in a while after almost a year of being employed.
I sometimes feel stiffled with my work, I am able to use my degree to some extent (graphic design) but there are other tasks that are very monotonous. However the weekend just passed and I met up with some friends. A couple were there and I am very close with the girl, whom if she was single, I would make advances. I’m almost certain she would recripcate (there have been a few pleasnt/awkward moments!)
I tell you this as it seems to frustrate me that there is something I want but I can’t have. be it the girl, my want for more creative work (I am/try to be a very creative person)
I always have day dreams of being in a band an playing in front of my peers, but can’t find anyone to jam with!
I feel this frustration could be mirrored with the dream of a task I can never finish or is impossible to achieve (removing infinte gum from my mouth and teeth)
The more I try, the more gum that appears to the point where I am removing parts of my gum (never teeth) and the gum begins to stick stronger.
I awake very stressed and almost feel like I have the chewing gum still in my mouth.
Whilst I feel better knowing I am not alone, it sucks that we have to go through this. Chances are I’m going to have this dream a few more times.
I feel like I should take control in my life much like the people here who say that the dream stopped after doing so.
Anyways thanks for giving me a place to vent! And I hope this helps someone even if only for the fact that we share the same dream!
Had the chewing gum dream last night which was more like a nightmare. In my dream, I was chewing the gum and felt as if it was engulfing my whole tongue, I started to panic in the dream and tried to pull out the gum, which felt like tight latex on my tongue…. no matter how hard I tried to get the gum off my tongue, no matter how far back in my tongue I tried to pull off the gum, it would not budge!… I was losing breath and suffocating on the piece of gum. I then woke up … crazy!
After 2 February, 2009, it has been almost 2 years that I again had this horrid dream. This time it was not gum but some hair that had got entangled somewhere beyond my gums and when i tried extracting it. wow, it turned into small metallic pins of dark blackish grey colours. This spike like pins were in big bundles, held together the way a magnet holds together iron pins to its poles. It was so horrible. I don’t know why I had this dream? My life these days is not very bad if it is not good also. Somewhere inside me I am keeping all those feelings subdued, feelings about being stabbed in the back by colleagues I trusted at my work place. Or could it be that the case of the Haryana whistle-blower that I read yesterday had something to do with the dream as I related my situation with that of Sanjiv Chaturvedi. Or is it my mom’s health that is y chief concern these days that triggered this dream. Can’t say for sure but am writing this all to keep a record of my feelings.
Just woke up and compelled like everyone to find answers to this very strange dream. I know its at least the third time I have dreamed about this, but in a weird dejavu way I think its happened in real life and perhaps this a memory of some sort. My dream starts where I am sitting in a board room with 6 of my colleagues when I decide to discard my gum. As I reached for my gum and start to pull it from my mouth I only get half of it. I begin to pull, and pull…and pull. I am not in a panic or choking just shocked that I can not seem to complete this task. This goes on for what seems to be 35 minutes of endless string (blue in my case) it appears to be latched on good to my back teeth and in endless supply. It won’t break or give way to the end, my hands covered in strings of gum. I’m an known for being a work alcoholic and never even having time for lunch, I always feel as though I need to “get through” the week. I can never see the end of my work as more projects, fire drills and challenges seem to pile on daily. The “hey what’s up for the weekend” comment makes me laugh, as I have really not thought that far ahead, and sleep sounds ideal. Thank you everyone who shared there similar stories and coinciding work/life struggle. I am taking a vacation!
I keep having this same dream. I am in random places and have a wad of gum in my mouth. I keep trying to pull it out and it keeps coming and coming. It’s a never ending supply of gum. I have huge wads of gum in my hands that I discard, but there is still more in my mouth waiting to come. I can barely talk and get so scared and frustrated that the gum won’t come out. I think this dream has to do with my wife and I are getting ready to have a baby and the baby is “stuck” to us and can’t rid of it, just like the gum. I am very excited about this baby and can’t wait for her to be here, but I think it’s the constantly her being there is why I am having the dream. I have had this dream I think 4 or 5 times. Last night when I had this dream, I could actually get all the gum out of my mouth but about 10 mins later it is there again.
Hi there, I wonder if you can help! I know this sounds rather odd but last night I dreamt about excreting my intestines. I was using the toilet and there was so much pressure I had to “pull it out” and it was something that was all folded up and then I threw it in the toilet and it was the shape of my intestines there floating. And then I say to my friend, ‘it’s my intestine’ I pulled out. But don’t remember what happened after then. Think I just got on in my dream.
Can you give any interpretation?
I wonder if you can help! I know this sounds rather odd but last night I dreamt about excreting my intestines. I was using the toilet and there was so much pressure I had to “pull it out” and it was something that was all folded up and then I threw it in the toilet and it was the shape of my intestines there floating. And then I say to my friend, ‘it’s my intestine’ I pulled out. But don’t remember what happened after then. Think I just got on in my dream.
Can you give any interpretation?
I agree that asking someone else to interpret your dream out of context is the same as cutting a half inch square out of a painting and mailing it some where to have the piece of art analyzed for you. The very best authority for interpreting your dreams is you, but you have truly got to sit down and analyze what is going on in your life and mind. A recurring dream sent me to Jungian analysis many years ago. After the analyst and I reached a good working relationship I started having recurrent dreams about opening my mouth very wide and something like a never ending (pardon my crassness) turd kept coming and coming and coming out of my mouth. Nasty!! I’m sure the analyst knew what it meant and after several more months of analysis the nastiness did come out of my mouth – I finally told him about being sexually molested by an older male relative at a very young age. I think every person should be in analysis.
I get the sticky gum dream a lot. It usually comes out of no where and starts small then builds up in my mouth where it isn’t even gum anymore but part of my mouth has become sticky. I would be embarrassed and fraustrated while looking for a bathroom or secluded area to dig the neverending sticky stuff out. Everything else around me is still going normal and no one mentions it. I believe this dream had a lot to do about my life right now as I’m struggling to go back to school and filled with debts. My family has no idea that I haven’t graduated and that I owe money to CCs. I feel really guilty for messing up my life and its hard to start up again. After losing the one I loved in a 3 year relationship, I couldn’t express myself anymore and still really stressed out. As each day past I worry about my future and what lies ahead. Ill try to stay positive and hopefully come up.
I’ve been having this same dream off and on (more on that off it seems) for some time now..and like many glad (and interesting) that so many others have to. It’s the same as most describe.. you’ve got gum in your mouth (also not a gum chewer) and your trying to pull it out but there’s more and more. In mine I’m around people and am trying to cover my mouth or turn away so they don’t see what’s happening. There’s a variation on this with string, rather like dental floss (or the scarf clown trick) with the same scenario that I’m trying to pull out the string from between my teeth.
A few posters mentioned the bathroom dream of finding yourself in open stalls. I have that as well as a shower variant of the same thing.. either can’t find it our it’s open or inappropriate..like the shower is in your closet between clothes and there’s no drain.. so that it’s unusable. There’s also a reoccuring pulling pins from my hands and feet that’s really bizarre… like pulling splinters. I have a therapist who’s into dream analysis and says bathroom/shower one is a ‘frustration dream’ that you’re trying to do something (I’m assuming in life) and you can’t or don’t think you can. I suspect they are all variations on the same theme and I need to really look at my life and I’m not listening to my dreams..big surprise. 😉
So funny…I have had this dream twice now in the last week..with green gum..except mine haven’t been as stressful as yours were…this last one I had I was pullinglittle pieces off at a time…and it felt cool…but what you said makes sense. Thanks. Just thought I would share
It is 12:47am and just had the “endless stuck gum” dream. It disturbed me so bad I had to look it up. I specifically had grape “Big League Chew” gum. I pulled and and pulled and tons of it came out but more kept coming. I held over my trash can and quickly filled it up. After the can filled fragments of my teeth started coming with it. I ran out of my house and ended up at a college campus, I spoke to a group of kids and professors and they asked me to spit out my gum, I pulled out a chunk the size of a basketball and showed the group that there was more in my mouth still. A few kids started grabbing pieces from the chunk I pulled out since they could smell the grape (and I could smell it very strong in the dream as well). I tried to tell them and show them that pieces of my teeth were in it but they didn’t seem to care. I don’t remember the rest but I am very unerved and don’t want to go back to sleep…
I too have had this dream a few of times over the past year or so. Amazing to find this place with all the similar experiences. I am quite sceptical of dream interpretation and think one should look for a more “simple” and physical explanation before starting to draw conclusions about one’s mental health and life situation (although I am too in a job which I find boring and unrewarding). I notice that my mouth is dry when waking up from this dream, usually because I have been drinking alcohol. Could a dry mouth be causing this? Also, the sleep apnea theory is interesting and scary. Has anyone checked if they have sleep apnea after having the gum dream? What were the results?
Thanks for finally talking about >I Listen to What My Dreams
Say | Straight from the Heart….. <Loved it!
Hi there, I enjoy reading all of your article. I like to
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i dream of chewing gum in my sleep and it gets stuck to the roof of my mouth, im putting my fingers into my mouth trying to pull it out as i do that there,s no ending to it ,it is so disturbing for me i have had this dream a few times now, what causes me to dream of this.
I can’t believe all the people who have had this dream! I have been having this dream the past few months and again last night. It’s either gum that’s stuck in my mouth and I keep pulling it out and it gets stuck to my guns and I keep trying to pull it out. I’m always trying to do my work it in the middle of something important and I’m hoping the people around me don’t notice. They never seem to notice because they have other expectations for me at the moment but i just can’t get what I need to done because of what’s in my mouth! It’s crazy! I’m Christian and don’t usually believe in dream interpretation but this was so weird I had to look it up. I work nights as a nurse and have a demanding schedule…. I don’t know what to do to change things I can’t really. It’s been a year and a half and I keep pushing Myself. I’ll look into what everyone posted. I just bought s wrangler to have fun in and want to put pink in my hair, when I drink I black out! Think I’m trying to relieve stress!!! Need a change.
“Dreaming of sticking Gum in mouth, while chewing represents hyper state of emotional turmoil within where in all desperateness one is trying to free him or her self from a binding situation of real life, which is subjectively just not to one’s innate liking… or urge”
This is just my thought…as a dreamer and I am not an expert….