So it's called a Lucid dream?

[catspang]

I think that I have been having lucid dreams for practically my entire life. As a liitle girl I remember that I could almost always tell when I was having a dream. As a teenager I did not remember many of my dreams but when I did they were always very vivid and I knew that I was dreaming. I am now in my early twenties and have been having very bizarre dreams every night practically!
My dreams have actually progressed to the point that I am almost always aware that I am having a dream. At first it was really fun. I was able to control what was happening in my dreams and do all sorts of amazing stuff. Sometimes I will realise that I'm having a dream but it will be one of those weirdly symbolic dreams that never make any sense-so I'll just change it. For example I once had a dream about a butterfly. I remember thinking,"this is soo stupid a butterfly? I mean how cliche can you get? Everyone knows that butterflys symbolize change" So anyway being aware that I was dreaming I decided to have fun. In my dream I went outside(it was like 3 am in socal-not a safe time to be out if your actually awake) and I started walking, I remember being very aware of the atmosphere and energy at night. It was so different from the smoggy, noisy daytime. So in my dream I suddenly decided that I was going to fly. I just sort of floated into the air and soared over the town. Then-this is funny, I got really cold so I went back home. So this post is kind of long. .
All of my dreams are super detailed- for example if I decide to fly in a dream, I now actually get dressed for the weather!
But .. more recently I have been having scary dreams and even though I am aware it's a dream and try to wake myself up I cannot. Some of the dreams relate to my childhood (which was not happy) but some are more futuristic. It is a totally terrifying experiance to be having this horrible nightmare and know that it is a dream but not be able to wake yourself up! I even try to change them or resolve conflicts in them but nothing works! Last night it was really weird because I was having this nightmare and was aware that it was a nightmare so I tried to splash water on my face to wake myself up. When I finally woke up, my hair was wet! So now I am thinking that I'm also sleep walking but my friend's mom who is a psychologist told me that when your dreaming you cannot actually move your body. Ahhh!
Does anyone else have similiar experiances or know someone who does? My friend suggested that I look for information on-line and her mom told me I should see a therapist! So please reply if you have any information!