Welcome to DV, Mercia!

I'm sorry to hear about your nightmares. Lucid dreaming is definitely a great way to turn those around!
Are they general stress dreams or is there a specific recurring theme?

Stress is a common dream sign for a lot of people. I often have stress dreams, so I remind myself that whenever I'm feeling stressed, I could be dreaming! I also do reality checks when I'm feeling especially stressed, and that habit has crossed over to my dreams sometimes and helped me to become lucid.
A mantra might help reinforce the idea that when you're feeling stressed, you will realise that you're dreaming. I'm not very experienced with mantras, so maybe you'd like to ask for suggestions in the nightmares subforum:
Nightmares and Recurring Dreams

If there's a recurring theme, PercyLucid would be a good person to talk with. He helped me to overcome my recurring nightmares a few years ago using MILD (mnemonic induced lucid dreaming) practices.

I hope that your dream life will be more peaceful soon!