My wife has Lewy Body Disease and on occasion has a nightmare that I need to calm her down. She never wakes up or remembers them. Recently the nightmares have been severe. On one occasion I was severely elbowed trying to calm her down. Last nite, I was bitten badly during a nightmare. Is this a normal progression of LBD?

REM sleep disorder involving acting out one's dreams is a very common LBD feature. Sometimes separate beds are necessary.

There were many violent dreams. We were joking about how I was getting beaten up sleeping next to him because I would receive swings from his arms flailing about during the dreams. Several times Ted fell out of bed--once a very black eye with a cut above it because he hit the nightstand so hard next to it. Fortunately, the VA issued us a hospital bed, which helped tremendously. They placed it upstairs and then I just switched out our queen bed with one of my daughter's twin beds. I pushed it close to the hospital bed, which helped. It was another kind of a blow, but I was still able to hold his hand and calm him down because I stayed close. I also was able to sleep better myself--kind of a tradeoff when I missed feeling him get up when he wasn't supposed to. Now he's at the NH, but I haven't turned in the bed just yet because I can't bring myself to do it. It's all a balancing act, but you adjust as you go. Hope this helps.

Welcome Phoenixman,

Sorry for your need to seek out the LBDA group but glad you found us, The nightmares are often common and can become very violent and also sometimes early in the morning even if they appear to be awake are still in that dream state !

Thanks to mockturtle, jeanted and Irene for your responses. phoenixman