I'm 51 now, and was diagnosed with RBD about 3 years ago. I'd been suffering from the symptoms (punching, kicking, yelling, and even jumping out of bet a couple times) for about 5 years prior to the diagnosis.

I'd like to address something someone said here about Parkinson's being "inevitable" if you have RBD.

That's not true.

Unfortunately, there IS a very high correlation between RBD and eventual Parkinson's, but it's not a 100% guarantee you'll develop PD. This, coming from my neurologist at Mayo Clinic. It's in the available literature as well.

I have childhood trauma from growing up with an abusive, alcoholic father. A therapist I saw (to deal with my worry of possibly developing PD) told me that RBD can manifest in people with childhood trauma like mine--and this kind of RBD never leads to Parkinson's. So, I'm hanging onto this + what the Mayo neurologist said as my only glimmer of hope.

My RBD actually peaked about 3 years ago, which is what led me to seek help. I was having episodes 15 - 18 nights a month (I kept a journal). They had me take melatonin nightly for it, and once I dialed-in the right dosage--6mg in my case--my episodes completely stopped. Didn't even talk in my sleep.

I took melatonin nightly for about a year and had zero RBD episodes during that entire time. I then decided to stop--just to see what would happen. I generally don't like taking stuff like that if I don't absolutely have to.

After stopping the melatonin, I made it about 1 full month without a single episode. Eventually the RBD episodes came back but, interestingly, they're much less frequent now. I only have 1-2 RBD episodes per month, and some months are completely RBD-free. Been that way for over a year now... completely melatonin-free.

I don't know what this means, but I'm hoping it's a good sign. I'll take any good news/signs I can get at this point.

That was a lot of info about myself, sorry. Let me know if you have any specific questions about RBD and my experiences with it over the years. Happy to help if I can.