Yes you read it right. I have had sleep apnea for some time and on CPAP for last two years. About a year ago during a second polysomnography there were brain waves that showed I was no longer inactive during REM sleep but moving and muscle tension was noticed. I have also had vivid dreams for a number of years which I clearly remember next day. A few months ago during one of those dreams I dreamed people had broken into the house and I was trying to remove them. In this I managed to elbow my wife in the face.

In September I was dx with REM sleep behaviour disorder. This fitted well with my daytime exhaustion. Many days this totally stops me from functioning.

I thought it would be a one of, hitting out, but last night I was attacked, no point telling the whole scenario. Thankfully I only struck her in the side this time.

I was offered a medication but the consultant stated that the cost would be an increased daytime sleepiness. He recommended against it for now.

Has anyone else been in this position. How bad can it get?????????????

I've been on the receiving end for... almost 40 years.
Things we've tried with varying success:

Making a sort of bundling board out of pillows to absorb the blows.
Wider mattress
Twin beds
Separate bedrooms
Yelling really loud when hit/kicked
Hitting back (No, no -- not really )
Eventually I just developed a sort of radar to incoming strikes

Doc

Has your wife ever mentioned seeing you moving or making soft vocalizations prior to striking out? I ask because if there is any warning that can be seen or heard, and your wife happens to be awake, she might be able to gently awaken you before it escalates into unconsciously striking out.

When I sleep on my back, i always have nightmares, some of which lead to paralysis and attempts to scream on the way up. My dog comes over and noses me, which breaks the hold. Perhaps your wife nudging you would do the same.

Its not a cure, and your wife won't be awake every time, but when she is, it might cut down on the number of episodes.

Sam

Last night was somewhat better, crazy enough dreams of fires, storms and trying to rescue people. I question my sanity most of the time.

Like the Doc, tried a lot of things and one of the most successful and simple is my wife wearing her thick fleece dressing gown.

Often a precursor to the physical action will be an increase in my movements and incoherent shouting. The normal paralysis that should stop me can be partially there but it is no longer strong enough to stop me.

LOL Yes my wife does give me a thump or shout if I don't respond to her first gentler approach. Seems to work up to now but then I have to figure out where the hell I am and rationalise things.

By coincidence I watched a documentary shown here a few nights ago, Freaky Sleepers, Thank goodness I am not that bad. People throwing themselves out of windows, performing lurid acts after sleep walking into the street etc.

I am really against adding to the meds I take so maybe separate rooms will be the final outcome. Not what either of us want though.

One strange point though. When I can manage to keep the CPAP on the dreams are not so intense. Maybe a link between level of oxygen to brain as well. Who knows.

You may be on to something there. I get vivid dreams and lucid dreams (they can actually be fun) but I'm not parasomnic like my DW. She often talks in her sleep -- incoherent babbling, mostly -- but it's fun trying to converse with her to try & figure out what's going on in her dream...

Dude, that's some heavy-duty fleece!

I had a roommate in college who was a full-blown total somnambulist. He could get up, get dressed, go into town & go drinking, then come home & go back to bed, and never remember a thing the next morning. We once went to a hypnotist show, and this guy volunteered. The hypnotist had him pegged within seconds, stepped aside, and told the audience he only sees a guy like this once in a very great while. Then he proceeded to do things with the guy that blew the whole audience away... suspended between 2 chairs -- totally rigid -- and had a co-ed stand on his midsection.

Separate rooms seems harsh; I'd try some of the other things first, and graduate up if necessary.

I'd also adjust my cpap headgear. Every time I get a new mask it takes a few weeks to tweak the straps just right. If your mask is problematical, try another type -- more innovations come out all the time as people find their ways through this development.

Doc

LOL yes this is the fleece that signaled a no go area. (Thats when all my bits and pieces did what I wanted. LOL.) I thought all wives posessed one.

I think I have found the best mask yet for me, covers nose with a forehead support and full straps over skull returning under the ears. It would probably need stapled to my head to keep any CPAP mask on. I had to have the pressure turned up again as it wasn't keeping my airway open. Sounds like jet plane taking off at first.

Your friend had some issues thats for sure, what happened to him?

Today can hardly function with fatigue but am a stubborn pain in the **** and just keep going.

They do, but sometimes it's just cold.

That's the same style I'm using that takes me a while to get adjusted right, with 4 adjustment points plus the center screw (I just took the whole forehead pad off -- it was just in the way and causing problems, but that's a head shape issue.)

I have no idea what happened to the guy, but I've often wondered. He was vet school-bound someplace in the south (LA/MS?)

I hear that.

Your filmmakers make some awesome comedies. DW collects them.

Doc

The neurologist that both me and my dad go to prescribed clonazepam. He says this is the only drug that helps control this sleep disorder. It must be controlled because everytime it happens it is brain damaging you. It is a sign something is wrong in your brain. It is called a precursor for parkinsons disease which my dad was just diagnosed with. I don't have enough of the symptoms for a Parkinson's diagnosis. Sorry for the bad news. You need to see a neurologist/movement disorder specialist. My dad has hurt my mom several times accidentally of course and I have no relationship as people are scared to sleep with me. Good luck.

My goodness you have so much going on with your health. yes even since my last post things have become more challenging. The focus at the minute seems to be on possible Lewy Body Disease LBD. I am still waiting for another review with my Neurologist as my medical consultant who carried out Sleep Studies stated that REM sleep disorder is highly suggestive of this and recent researchers have been trying to get Neurologists to recognise this as an indicator. Did you do a Genetic test to establish a link between you and your fathers illness????????

This weekend has been among the worst as far as Vivid Dreams go, just where the heck does all this rubbish come from?????????? And yet when it is ongoing it is so so real. I was so exhausted yesterday morning I literally could not move or get out of bed. Eventually near 6 in the evenong my wife helped me into the bath, as you know too well sweating and the aroma of it doesn't help.

But today is another day, the rain is off yehhhhhhhhhhhhh and Spring is in the air. Just taking a strong coffee and meds and then have another go at the family history search on line. I feel it is vital to keep my old brain ticking over, or whats left of it LOL

You take care and I hope there is light at the end of the tunnel for you.

P.S. The reason for not starting the Clonazapam is that it can also increase my daytime sleepiness which at the minute is the last thing I need.

Water willow,
Yes I just had blood taken as well as my dad to try and establish a genetic link between our illness's. Yes I am a mess. I have been going through a Neuropsychological evaluation and am still doing more testing on March 11th. I am hopeful that I may be able to find more answers and where I need to go from here for treatment. This lady I am going to is very good and is looking at all my medical records and the whole picture. So I am hopeful. I will let you know what I find out. The Clonazepam is really helping me and my dad with the sleep disorder. I know what you mean about day time sleepiness but I have severe anxiety so it is good for me.
Hope you are doing well today.
Brain