Quote Originally Posted by CFTraveler View Post
Sometimes a physical stimulus will create a dream image- it's not that it's not happening, it's that something else is happening that your subconscious is reinterpreting and giving form. One time I was dreaming/being in paralysis that a beautiful butterfly was in my ear. It was so uncomfortable it made me wake up. When I woke up I realized it was a mosquito. So the bug 'was' there, but it was not what the image was.
The physical stimulus did happen because I woke up with the same feeling in my neck. Same happened in a sleep paralysis not long ago in which I had a jaw ache. Difference with you is that my subconscious asssociated both with a negative aspect.