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.