Thread: Is this considered Lucid Dreaming?

Okay I am new to this dream forum. I have been having lucid dreams for years - since I was a child. And I have been a nightmare sufferer since I was 5 with at least one nightmare per week (sometimes many - many more). Most often my dreams are all nightmares. I have never had a GOOD dream. All my lucid dreams are nightmares too. I am currently taking a psychology class in college and am doing a research paper on dreams, that is what has brought me here and I am learning tons about myself.

My question is this : Often when I am just falling asleep at night, I am not even asleep yet and I start to dream. I know I am awake, I see all these "mini-movie style dreams" (that's what I call them or mini-movie clip dreams) going on in my mind. They are often short, under a minute or so, and they merge one into the other. All the characters are different, all the scenes are different, but all are bad and nightmarish or just plain bizzare. Thing is, when I start to dream like this I can't stop myself, I can't pull myself out of it. BUT I can sometimes start to talk aloud about what is going on in my dreams. I can "narrate" them aloud for my boyfriend to hear me. Or I can come up for air (that's what I call it) in between dreams very briefly and say a thing or two about them before being pulled right back down again. I dream like this right before I fall asleep, and right before waking up fully in the morning.

Is this considered lucid dreaming? When I do it before I fall asleep I know I am dreaming, but in the morning when I do it I often talk aloud and ask my boyfriend questions as though the dream is real - I have a hard time telling the difference between what is a dream and what is reality in the morning. Like one morning I asked him how many piggies I could fit into a box before they started climbing out - b/c at the time I was dreaming about trying to save piggies in a box so they wouldn't climb out and plumage to their deaths - and I thought it was real. Or the other morning when he kissed me goodbye before he went off to work I was terrified that the run-away tire that was roaming the streets (in my dream - it was a huge monster truck over inflated tire that was as big as a vechicle - it dropped down from the heavens and was running people and cars over) would come after him and crush him (in reality). Or the other morning before I even knew what was going on I rushed outside to ask him if we could keep a baby kola bear in louisiana (i was outside on the steps mid-question before i even awoke) and when he told me he didn't think so I replied "Oh man Noah's going to be disappointed". Noah's my son. I was awake when I made the reply, and I knew (remembered) asking him the question, but it's a blur between the dream world and reality.

I know the frequency of these dreams in the morning are due to the fact that my boyfriend gets up super early for work (between 3 - 4) and it's disturbing my normal sleep pattern a bit (we just moved in together recently). But I have dreamt like this all my life, just most of the time I only had myself to talk to aloud in my sleep. lol

I know this is long...and probably confusing.. But if anyone can shed some light on this, I'd grately appreciate it. Thanks.

p.s. i know this is the wrong place to ask...but how do i add a pic to my name? lol