Oola
11-05-2008, 11:12 AM
Here's another one that's puzzling me.
It's probably down to stress, but it still really bothers me. For about 5 years I've had this thing where when I'm falling asleep, it's like my body forgets to breathe. My chest goes up and down as normal but it feels like my lungs don't take the breath in and it rips me out of my almost-sleep stage and I wake up. Sometimes I gasp and sometimes I just wake up and have to take a larger 'in breath' than normal.
For a few split seconds I feel really awful, like I'm suffocating. It was really bad a few years ago but I found that sleeping with a fan on (yes, I have to sleep with my fan on all year round now) helped stop it. Having a breeze on my face definitely helps.
However lately it's been coming back with a vengeance. Last night was dreadful, the more I got stressed about it, the more it happened. It's like the back of my throat closes, my body won't breathe and I have to wake up to do the work it should be doing. Also sometimes when my throat is in contact with the pillow it feels like it's being crushed slightly., like it's not strong enough to stay open.
I don't think it's sleep apnea because it doesn't happen when I'm sleeping, it's only during the falling asleep phase. It wrecks my sleep patterns and stresses me out more than usual. I just don't know how to stop it, sometimes it even happens if I'm nodding off during the day now.
Has anyone ever experienced this? I think if I go to the doctor he'll just say "you're stressed, relax before you go to bed" but I've tried that and it doesn't work.
It's probably down to stress, but it still really bothers me. For about 5 years I've had this thing where when I'm falling asleep, it's like my body forgets to breathe. My chest goes up and down as normal but it feels like my lungs don't take the breath in and it rips me out of my almost-sleep stage and I wake up. Sometimes I gasp and sometimes I just wake up and have to take a larger 'in breath' than normal.
For a few split seconds I feel really awful, like I'm suffocating. It was really bad a few years ago but I found that sleeping with a fan on (yes, I have to sleep with my fan on all year round now) helped stop it. Having a breeze on my face definitely helps.
However lately it's been coming back with a vengeance. Last night was dreadful, the more I got stressed about it, the more it happened. It's like the back of my throat closes, my body won't breathe and I have to wake up to do the work it should be doing. Also sometimes when my throat is in contact with the pillow it feels like it's being crushed slightly., like it's not strong enough to stay open.
I don't think it's sleep apnea because it doesn't happen when I'm sleeping, it's only during the falling asleep phase. It wrecks my sleep patterns and stresses me out more than usual. I just don't know how to stop it, sometimes it even happens if I'm nodding off during the day now.
Has anyone ever experienced this? I think if I go to the doctor he'll just say "you're stressed, relax before you go to bed" but I've tried that and it doesn't work.