What do snails mean?

While I don’t often have reoccurring dreams, I do have reoccurring elements like locations etc, specifically snails.
Many of my dreams take place either in my childhood house (all memories related to my childhood home are positive, nothing particularly bad happened there) or a mental hospital (spent a good while in the mental hospital multiple times after a psychotic break. I don’t remember much from the time but majority of what I do remember is not good. If further details are wanted I can elaborate.) and are over run by snails. Snails of all sizes all over the walls, from baseball sized shells to little tiny ones. In the worst of them I cough up and full on vomit out snails or feel snails in my stomach, climbing up my throat, or under my skin.
None of the dreams with snails are good ones. They aren’t full on nightmares but I always feel horribly anxious or paranoid, sometimes like I’m being watched or even guilty (guilt is a fairly common feeling in my dreams, before I was medicated and got myself sort of together I was not a good person. I had issues with compulsive lying and I still feel guilty about everything I had caused today.).
Why are there so many snails? What do they mean? Why are they taking over these locations? If any further information is wanted I will provide it, I just really want to know what is with all the snails.