Lucid Dreaming causing sleeping problems?

So, yesterday, for the first time, I started trying the mantra part of DILD/MILD ("I am lucid dreaming." as I go to sleep, and "I look at my hands and realize I'm dreaming." as part of reality checks) and I noticed last night it was making me have some trouble going to sleep... For example, first, I couldn't get myself to fall asleep normally while saying it, (I tried breathing it to myself, mouthing to myself, and just thinking it to myself) so I decided I'd just say/think it to myself in the last moments before I fell asleep. However, then what happened was either I stressed about it and couldn't relax enough to fall asleep, or I remembered about it as I was falling into medium (whatever the second stage is called) sleep whether I wanted to or not and without even giving myself a chance to think about it, woke myself up to say the mantra. I woke up from deep/almost rem sleep at least three times last night and had each of these problems multiple times on each occasion.
Also, when I DID manage to fall asleep, either with or without the mantra, the split second I was at all aware of any activity in my mind, whether it was entering a dream or waking up for no reason, the first thought to cross my mind was that I could be lucid dreaming right now (as in have the opportunity to), so I immediately did a thorough RC, and woke myself up by doing it prematurely and not having a chance too actually connect to the dream. Once, I somehow kinda felt the dream forming and became pretty lucid before it even started, but then woke myself up by forcing consciousness on myself before fully transitioning into REM sleep...
I think I had a few FAs, but in those, I either accidentally woke myself up from doing too fierce a reality check, (stretching all over the place to see my clock, digging my fingernails into other fingertips to count them, flinging the covers off so I could see my hands, practically smacking myself in the face to pinch my nose shut, etc.) or, as morning approached, simply ignoring the fact that I might be am probably dreaming, and just going back to sleep due to sleep deprivation.
I've already considered that maybe I could or should lay off the RC's or anything else for LD for a day or two, but I'm almost sure that if I do, then I'm gonna end up sitting around paranoid that I'm losing progress for every second that I'm not thinking a mantra or doing an RC. So, uh, anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this?
PS: I've never done really aggressive RCs like I described. I have no idea why I was doing that during FAs, but my guess is that I was just frustrated at the fact that I missed out on a lucid dream/some sleep, and that my covers and pillows were being really unmanagable.

I somehow just now realized how daunting that text wall is.
TL;DR: Using mantras either keeps me awake or makes me wake myself up near the end of light sleep. Also accidentally waking myself up by forcing consciousness on myself before connected to the dream. Now I'm groggy and tired today.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to prevent this?

It seems like you are focusing on your mantra too much, I usually just say mine 5 times while counting it on my fingers, after that I got to bed as usual. If you think you need to be practicing your mantra more often, do it while you are awake, not just before you go to bed. If you insist on thinking about your mantra right before you go to bed, as soon as you start to mess it up ("I will lucid dream tonight" turns into "I will lucky dark Tuesday" or some thing similar) that is when you can stop thinking about it and fall asleep. Focusing to much on it will keep you awake, so its better just to do it until it gets difficult, forget about it, and let your subconscious do the rest. Best of luck :)

Like Ksero said, don't let your mantra preventing you from falling asleep. Relax after a certain amount of repetitions, and make sure the message sinks in. Then, just let yourself go and fall asleep. Even WILD require you to fall asleep, so there's no good to try to make yourself alert during the middle of the night :)

The others pretty much said it. The goal of doing MILD is to fall asleep with your mantra as your last thoughts. You shouldn't try to stay up just to keeo doing your mantras. Just do them for a bit, and if you start falling asleep, just go on and sleep. Soon enough you should start drifting off and perhaps get some hypnagogia in there, which is completely normal.

Ok, last night I fell asleep ok, but still accidentally woke myself up by becoming conscious too early. Has anyone even heard of that problem before?

I think that's a pretty common occurence. Is this what you mean: You start falling asleep, but somehow at the last instant or so, you kind of 'snap' awake?

If yes, then yep, happens to me (and to a lot of people) all the time. It would be best to just relax and not fret over waking up. Perhaps shift into a more comfortable position and try to sleep again. The thing is, if you worry yourself or think 'oh crap i just woke up damn it what do i do now', it will really only keep you up even more.

Or perhaps you're just a light sleeper? Not sure how much it'll help you but I've heard some people say drinking milk before bed helps you fall asleep better. Good luck~

Actually, what I was trying to say is that I can fall asleep fine, and I stay asleep til late deep sleep/REM, but then as I'm transitioning into REM, I realize I'm doing so, and I get too excited to control myself, and try to become conscious before I'm immersed enough in the dream, causing me to wake up, since that's the only way to become conscious at that moment.
Also, although I am a pretty deep sleeper, I'm also an insomniac in some senses of the word. Sometimes I'm in bed and asleep before 10, and on some occasions, I can't even feel sleepy and end up staying up the whole night with no negative consequences in the morning. Also, when I wake up (and actually notice the awakening) in the middle of the night, there's a 50/50 chance that I A) Don't even get a chance to try opening my eyes before falling back asleep or B) Become and remain wide awake for the rest of the night, no matter what time I woke up at. That's really the only reason that being woken up like this is an issue. Even if I weren't an insomniac, I would assume that waking up via forcing consciousness on yourself would leave you a bit more awake than completing a sleep cycle.
Also, I can confirm that milk is good for sleep. I've been using milk to counter-act insomnia since I was 3 years old.

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Originally Posted by dragongirl253

Actually, what I was trying to say is that I can fall asleep fine, and I stay asleep til late deep sleep/REM, but then as I'm transitioning into REM, I realize I'm doing so, and I get too excited to control myself, and try to become conscious before I'm immersed enough in the dream, causing me to wake up, since that's the only way to become conscious at that moment.

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Is it possible, that by REM you mean WILD?

If so, it's normal to get excited. The key is to learn how to keep your cool. That comes with experience. You just need to tell yourself that you will stay cool and when you get excited, return to being just a passive observer as soon as you can. Don't worry about it too much though, just do your best.

After having more attempts, you may be able to stay in that transition state little longer, until you are deeper in the dream. Practice is the word.

No, I don't mean WILD. I probably should've pointed that out earlier. I mean that I fall asleep normally, w/o any techniques other than MILD, and then when REM (Also, I'm kinda using "REM" and "dream" interchangeably. Whoops.) starts, and the dream starts forming, I just instantly go for it due to a combination of excitement and fear of losing lucidity once I'm actually IN the dream.
Thanks for the tip anyways, because learning to keep cool is still what I need to do anyways. It's just so hard when you go to sleep all excited and telling yourself that tonight's gonna be the night you LD, and then the second you become conscious, you know that you're about to be dreaming, you just naturally are like, "Ok, right now right this second's my chance to LD!"
Also, it's hard waiting an entire day just to fail 3-5 chances at a LD that night, AND possibly lose some sleep over it. OH, the woes of being an impatient lucid dreamer! =P

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Originally Posted by dragongirl253

No, I don't mean WILD. I probably should've pointed that out earlier. I mean that I fall asleep normally, w/o any techniques other than MILD, and then when REM (Also, I'm kinda using "REM" and "dream" interchangeably. Whoops.) starts, and the dream starts forming, I just instantly go for it due to a combination of excitement and fear of losing lucidity once I'm actually IN the dream.

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Ok, now that makes sense. You mean when dream starts, not when REM starts. And you mean not just any dream, but lucid dream. And as soon as you realize you are dreaming, you get excited and that wakes you up.

Yup, same thing about not getting too excited applies here. Tell yourself before sleep, that when in a lucid dream, you will not get excited. You will celebrate later, when you wake up.

Then just take your time after you realize you are dreaming. Slow down, look around, walk slowly, touch nearest objects or the ground, if nothing else is there and feel the texture and other properties. Marvel at the details and colors. Breathe in and smell the air, stomp your feet and notice how it feels, clap your hands and listen to the sound, talk or sing to yourself. All this will establish you inside of the dream world.

Welp, at least I like a challenge =/
I should probably add another week to when I expect to have my first LD, (I don't count it if I wake up due to and/or upon becoming lucid) because I get giddy and and and giggle like a fangirl meeting anime David Tennant just thinking about what it'll be like lucid dreaming. =p Thanks again for the advice, even though I'm not sure it'll help in my situation. (Being woken purely due to being too eager and gaining lucidity before the dream has taken hold seems to be a rather uncommon problem...) I'll be sure to give it a shot next time I get a chance. :)

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Originally Posted by dragongirl253

Welp, at least I like a challenge =/
I should probably add another week to when I expect to have my first LD, (I don't count it if I wake up due to and/or upon becoming lucid) because I get giddy and and and giggle like a fangirl meeting anime David Tennant just thinking about what it'll be like lucid dreaming. =p Thanks again for the advice, even though I'm not sure it'll help in my situation. (Being woken purely due to being too eager and gaining lucidity before the dream has taken hold seems to be a rather uncommon problem...)

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To the contrary. Waking up due to the excitement is a very common occurance. I'm not gonna say problem, because it's not a problem. It's part of a learning process. I still wake up sometimes, because I start to laugh hysterically from happiness. And frankly, it's such an otherworldly and incredible feeling of happiness, that I don't care if that wakes me up.

And why in a world you would not count lucid dream as lucid if you wake up due to excitement? You are sabotaging yourself. Telling your mind I want a lucid dream, and then when it helps you get one, you say thank you but no thank you. That's not what I want. By gaining lucidity you reached your goal of having a lucid dream. Consider that done. Now set yourself another goal of reaching stability. You can learn in steps. No need to master it in one sitting.

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Originally Posted by gab

And why in a world you would not count lucid dream as lucid if you wake up due to excitement? You are sabotaging yourself. Telling your mind I want a lucid dream, and then when it helps you get one, you say thank you but no thank you.

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Huh. I never thought of it that way. 0.o I didn't count them because it's like, I don't even get to actually experience being lucid for even a split second when I wake up literally upon I becoming lucid. But I guess you're right; waking up as I realize I'm dreaming kinda is a thing that I need to work on. (Now I'm suddenly wondering if maybe I wake up like that because I'm kind of afraid of seeing how the dream world might've distorted some things... hm...)
Well. I've actually learned more from this thread then I intended to. Cool.