I've also had trouble with staying lucid once I realize I'm dreaming. One thing you can try (which I've recently been working on) is being more aware of how your dream body feels than your sleeping body. The biggest thing is to remain calm, but when you become lucid you can try rubbing your hands together to increase your awareness in the dream, but I've been working on just focusing on my (usually standing) dream body. It's just an idea, though.

As for OBEs, I don't really have a stance on them but you've got the right idea posting in the BD forum. Let us know if we can do anything for you. Welcome to the forum!

-Amé