REM Behavior Disorder

[rachaelalyson]

Last night my boyfriend of 4 and half years sort of punched/slapped me in the face while he was sleeping. My lip and cheek are slightly swollen this morning. This has never happened before so obviously, I was shaken. I yelled at him and tried to get him to wake up and all I could get out of him was laughter, gibberish like speech, or sentences that were formed incorrectly (i.e. "shhhh. keep the down yell quiet"). I tried for about 15 minutes to get him to understand what was happening (I was crying this whole time, he hit me pretty hard and I was scared; never heard of RBD until I looked up "punching in sleep" last night) but all I could get out of him was some confused looks, gibberish, and even singing.

The speech stuff doesn't seem to be a listed symptom that I've found related to RBD. Can anyone who has lived with someone with RBD tell me if this is common? In the past he's spoken loudly and in a similar style, minus the gibberish, about vividly strange dreams while he was having them, and I've been woken up by a bit of thrashing or him sitting up in bed, but nothing like this has ever happened that I'm aware of.

Another worrisome factor is his age. He's only 24. Does this seem like an isolated incident or should he seek the help of a neurologist?

Thanks in advance for any help.