I surely don't have any magic answers for you. I have been experiencing really odd and strange dreams myself.

I do think it has a lot to do with diet and at what times we choose to eat....I know...that sounds ridiculous....but I think it is true. If we eat late, it seems that our bodily functions seem to interfere with our rest patterns and create really odd dream images.

I have woken up from dreams and checked my pants pockets for things from the dream....so real feeling. I don't have a clue. I do believe dreaming is extremely important as it is our subconscious mind trying to tell us something...something we might need to know.

I have experienced the odd feeling....it's hard to describe but I think I get it....like I said...when I started checking pants pockets....I knew my dreams were "different"...I still don't know what I was supposed to learn.

I was about the same age, maybe 5 if that. I had either a dream or something strange happened. I remember a large needle, almost freakish in size and what I can only describe as something looking like a big tire. That is the only dream/nightmare I remember from that age and I remember bits and pieces to this day that scare me and I am at the ripe old age of 43. I would say I was utterly confused and I think I wet myself!

On the lighter side, I have been married for 27 years and I have been totally confused for getting into trouble with the wife but not having any idea of what I have really done wrong! She is American Indian and I am a white man from Norway so I am sure between her "Woman time" and my ancestors perceived wrongs against her people, in her mind I am well deserving when she wanders from the reservation with tomahawk in hand!

Edit to add, I thought you meant you were 4 at the time. My bad... Anyway, that's my crazy story about a strange dream from my childhood.

Eleven years ago I woke up from a nap and was utterly confused. A couple of months before I had a baby, but when I woke up I couldn't find her. I also had a son, who was at the time 4 years old. I ran around my house, searching for my kids, crying like mad, because I coudn't find them. My house felt surreal, really empty, like I was the only one being there. I knew it was not possible, my kids had to be there too. I felt like my feet weren't touching the floor, like I floated or something.
I went outside and suddenly spotted my son, playing in the garden. I called to him, but he didn't respond. I went back inside looked again in the baby's room and suddenly she was there. Lying in her crib. I had looked several times in her room. Went back outside to call my son and now he reacted.

I was scared out of my mind and coudn't stop crying. I called a friend (it felt like talking was new to me) and she came over, gave me a sedatitive and took me and my kids to her home, where I spent a couple of days.

It never happend to me before and, thank God, it never happened again. And no, I never mentioned it to a doctor. I always experience weird things. and the only thing a doctor tells me is "ït's just stress".

I think it has to do with sleep deprivation, suddenly waking up from a deep, comatose kind of sleep. I remember I woke up with a start, because I had fallen asleep while my son was playing unsupervised around the house. I have learned since to ground myself in my body, after waking up suddenly, before getting out of bed.