Causes of REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

[ZoomZoomLover]

I recently had a fairly major surgery.  Since that time I seem to live in a fog.  I fall asleep for a short period only to wake later and stay awake for several hours.  When I sleep I talk out-loud, punch, and kick.  My nightmares occur every night (that part isn't new).  I also have problems sleeping due to severe leg aches, which result in me getting up to rub my legs, stretch, and walk about.  My poor husband isn't getting any more sleep than me and gets the brunt of my defensive punches and kicks to my 'dream' attackers.

I thought that this problem was the result of my surgery but after some thought I remember that a few days before my surgery I slipped in the shower and fell out, smashing my head on a ceramic toilet bowl holder.  The ceramic was shattered.  I was disoriented for a bit.  My vision was poor for approximately an hour and I had problems speaking clearly.  Later that day I went to work and had a problem typing.  Strange as it sounds, I was typing phonetically??  

I never had my head injury checked since I didn't throw up or go unconscious. My surgery was unrelated to my head injury.

My question is, could smashing my head have caused my sleep issues?  I also take paroxetine but I've been taking that for a few years now.

I appreciate any thoughts you may have.

[huls]

did u ever find out? my husband had a cycle accident and fell off his bike in a race and hit a mountain side bounced off and then was biked over by two cyclists, he to after the accident has been having "live dreams" basically acting out his dreams, anywhere from talking to running around in the house, waking up and turing the lights on and talking jibberish in his sleep. He has been for 2 sllep tests, 1 sleep deprived test and a reg. eeg test.  So far nothing abnormal, he is soon going for a full night sleep test with video and hooled up to everything. THe doctor only recently suggested that it may be connected to his biking accident. but this was 6 monts ago.... so yes answer to your question, I have googled this and head trauma is linked with sleep disorders/ sleep problems. So i would get it checked out.

[ZoomZoomLover]

I forgot to mention that I also have a spasm or major twitch, the kind some people have when falling asleep, but I get them frequently and sometimes while I'm awake.