Sleep issues

Cooper, our three year old, has always been a wonderful sleeper. Slept through the night from 3 months on. Slept in his own crib. Woke up laughing and cooing. Then he had his first nightmare. Something about a white witch trying to get in his throat and a monster coming out of his belly. And in this awful dream, Mommy and Daddy were too scared and couldn't help him. Pretty awful stuff for a 3 year old.
That's the point he started having trouble sleeping all night. Now, my husband (aka Hubbin as I like to refer to him), works the night shift, leaving me to handle all bedtime issues. So if a baby needs feeding, a child needs medicine, a soiled sheet needs changing, or a scared little boy needs comfort, I'm all there is. There's been many sleepless nights in the last few months. But the last 2 weeks have been awful! Cooper has been waking up at least 4 times each night. Add to that Brody's 5:30 wake up and Chloe's 6:00 AM wake up for school, and I'm one pooped out momma!
Now, we've tried lots of remedies for this...everything from nightlights to flashlights to a good dream necklace (one of my necklaces that will keep bad dreams away and happy dreams there...I hope). We've tried skipping naps, moving his bedtime, changing from a lullaby to a story before bed, talking about all the happy parts of our day, talking about what's happening tomorrow. We've tried it all. I let him in my bed, but that usually doesn't last long. He's not a good sleeper when other people are around. He doesn't like cuddling and wants to be able to toss and turn all night. The poor kid is not scared of monsters under the bed or in the closet. He's scared to sleep, scared to dream. He just can't understand for the life of him why these dreams...so realistic to him...didn't really happen. He can't understand why Daddy and Momma don't remember what happened when we were there in his dream. It's so frustrating! How can I help him? I'm starting to think that it's just a phase that he'll have to get out of, but will my sanity survive the wait?
But then last night, he did sleep! From 8:30 to 7:30! And may I just say...
WOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!! I feel like a new woman! And I'm crossing my fingers that maybe this will be the start of a good stretch of sleep.