Restless sleeping.

This isn't really that embarrassing but I decided to post this as anonymous because the whole thing requires a bit of personal information that I wouldn't really like the entire forum knowing about me. :blushing:

In the middle of last year I noticed that I often woke up to find a few bruises spread out around my body. At first, I thought I was just going through a restless sleeping phase and occasionally hit the wall since my bed is set against it, however, some of the bruises showed up in strange places such as my collarbone, which would need a very awkward position to hit the wall and would probably make me hit my face against the wall too.
That only lasted a month or two so I stopped worrying after that.
Lately though, about 3 months or so ago, I've been finding the same bruises when I wake up and after talking about it with my mum we realised that I was actually hitting myself in my sleep. After that she came into my room out of curiosity and said she saw me do it, not actual punches or anything but suddenly hitting my shoulder with the back of my hand before turning over in my sleep.

Now the sillier part of my problem, I have a new boyfriend and am thinking about sleeping with him but I'm a bit embarrassed and wouldn't want to scare him in the middle of the night by doing something like that - or worse, hitting him. I've spoken to my therapist about this and she thinks I might be avoiding other normal fears of sleeping with someone new by focusing on this. I can see how that would make sense, however recognising that possibility doesnt make me worry any less.

So I guess this splits up into lots of questions: Have you or anyone you've been with ever had a similar situation? If so, how was the reaction to it? If not, how do you think you'd react to it, in both my situation and my partner's?
And lastly, do you know anything about sleep clinics? How do they work?

Thank you.

Reply 1

love2learn

No idea, sorry!

But I wanted to post and say that I hope things work out for you really sad.

My guess is that worrying about it is going to be affecting your sleep even more.

Reply 2

My friend has this.... she hits her bf and stuff in sleep
however am drunk right now and will proably sound like a freak.
soi. i will pm you tromoorw,
xmuch love, Eb x

Reply 3

Juwel

You are in all likelihood going to hit him in your sleep. Talk to him first, he'll be rather understanding if he's worth his salt. Find out what he's like about his bed space. Personally I despise compromising my bed space and would get irritated if someone was both infringing on my space and hitting me but every person's different. And speak to a doctor; if they don't have their own professional advice they can refer you to someone who does.

Reply 4

WokSz

I think your best bet is to speak to him before you two sleep together, as you'll most probably hit him too. If he's really understanding, there should be no problem. :smile:

Reply 5

Anonymous #1

I've been planning to talk to him about it, I do think he'll understand. At first.
That's the thing, I wouldn't blame him if he gets tired of this problem with time and I have no idea how long it might last.

Anyway, thanks people, I guess just knowing that no one said "How strange!" or "how horrible!" (yet) or anything similar helps a bit.