Yelling and Physical violent movement

I am a 57 year old man who has had this problem for at least 20 years. It varies in degree and severity.
I will be asleep and have some sort of dream where I react by yelling out, fighting (with actual movement) in defense, actually singing, or yelling profanity. I DON'T cuss in my everyday life.
Rarely do I remember the dream after waking. Sometimes I wake myself up, sometimes I won't know about the incident until someone tells me. I can go several days without an occurance, then it will happen every night for weeks. I cannot figure out the ryhme or reason.
I have been taking Effexor for depression for several years. I also take meds related to my age, but my "nightmares" were occuring long before these meds were started.
It has ruined a couple of relationships. (Who wants to wake up to a screaming fool who is swinging fists and feet trying to beat an imaginary foe in the middle of the night?)
It has caused innumerable times of embarrassment. I don't go overnight fishing, hunting or camping anymore. I am tired of bothering people and I am tired of being the brunt of cruel comments and jokes.
Is there anything avaialable to me to fix this affliction? DESPERATE.....
-Peprman

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Understand your predicament.  But the symptoms described by you can occur in sleep disorders called “Nightmare” or "Night terror" disorders. Here the person experiences symptoms of bad, frightening dreams and sometimes may act out these dreams. This may interfere with his sleep schedules. This is usually assessed by a set of questionnaires and the therapy is based on the severity of the disorder. I would advise you to discuss your symptoms with your primary care physician who may then refer you to a sleep specialist for further evaluation.

Hope this helped and Do Take Care.