I find that when I'm starting into an episode, my dreams start getting more and more intense, and detailed. This is happening over the last 2 weeks, so i'm trying to brace myself to try not to go off the rails in real life. When it gets bad it's dysphoric, lucid dreams, often of waking up repeatedly thinking the dream is over, only to still be in it. It can get to the point of not knowing if i'm awake or asleep. So i've made up tricks to check. Like if i'm not sure i'll drink some water, but if i'm in the dream my mouth stays dry. Weird, but it works. Then i can try to take some control, and try to change it from being a nightmare to being a fantasy. The movie Waking Life is about dream states, and I totally recommend it for people who have vivid dreams.