Scared to sleep

[LAKEV]

TWIMC,

For a few years now I have had cycles of bizarre sleep episodes and have been told by every doctor that it is just "severe anxiety". When falling asleep sometimes, I gasp for air right before I go into the sleep phase. Sometimes I notice that it is accompaned by a startling "picture" or vision. It's like my throat is clinching as I fall asleep and I get startled awake gasping, and feeling like I seriously am blacking out, as if my own body is attacking me. Usually it would happen once-I would jolt awake- then fall asleep with no problem.

Nowadays, it will happen 5 or 6 times before I fall asleep. Needless to say it is very scary. The other part of this mystery is that sometimes I feel all my muscles around my head "clinch" so tight that I can hear it "crack". And I get this buzzing or vobrating sensation which seems like it,s coming from the core of my head. I try to take deep breaths when it happens, or massage my neck and shoulders, but it doesn't seem to work that well. Sometimes I can feel my head rumbling while I'm asleep and it physically vibrates my head.

Doctors have all attributed it to extreme anxiety so bad, that it has become a psychosomatic reaction, but I wanted to see if there was another reason. I had a couple sleep studies and they found nothing wrong. Curiously I didn't have these "attacks" when I was at their clinic. But these attacks happen almost every night and sleep is scaring me more and more. I don't think these are seizures because I'm fully aware it's happening and I haven't been diagnosed with anything major.

So what is happening here? Can anxiety really do all that? I notice it doesn't happen if I take a klonopin, but I don't believe in treating the symptoms, I'd rather treat the cause, if it is anxiety.

Has anyone heard of this? Could it be something neurological?

I also have been diagnosed with chronic pain and I have had a history with nervous tics and anxiety/tension.

[bo99]

I  it doesnt happen when you take klonopin it would seem like its anxiety.

[nancyBug]

Some of that - gasping for breath type symptoms - sounds exactly like Sleep Apnea.  I would think it possible to have that condition and not have episodes at the particular time of your sleep studies - but I am NOT a medical person so I'm not qualified to do anything other than guess.  I have sleep apnea and use a c-pap machine.

[LAKEV]

Thanks for the answers.

I just had an "episode" right now and wanted to include something I may have left out.

1) Feelings of "lightness" when it happens.
2) Tingling and buzzing around my scalp, nose , ears.
3)Body turns weak and I feel very agitated.
4) Stomach feels uneasy like I'm going to throw up.

Do Doctors or Neuros ever stop by here to answer? I know that anxiety ,if strong enough, can cause this. But I seriously went to bed feeling relaxed and tired.

This is affecting my life greatly.

[nastursim]

I do believe that what you describe is a symptom of extreme anxiety, and I only know this because a few years back I also had such a fear. I was absolutely terrified to go to sleep at night, and for at least a year my husband would have to go to bed with my to calm me down and convince that what I was feeling was not going to kill me. It was like I could feel the exact moment m  body would go into the sleep phase, and it is extremely scary and does seem like your body is shutting down. I use to take my oulse constantly to make sure I was still alive, sounds really dumb, but that us how bad I was. I ended up being hospitalised for extreme anxiety and major depression and placed on tranquilisers, but I could even fight the affect of them and still not fall asleep. I remember that I didn''t sleep for at least 3 days because I was so scared that I was going to die. I can not even say what curied this, although I did have recurring nightmares and was scared that I had some form of brain tumor, but I can now sleep. Maybe it would be helpful if you went on some form of medication for anxiety and find someone to talk to if there are issues you need to deal with.

[LAKEV]

Bump. Many someone else can chime in?

[medco]

i've actually experienced this stuff too. i have epilepsy and moderate anxiety. with my experience, i usually fall asleep, but fail to go into a "deep" sleep, and can sometimes hear what's going on around me, but I am unable to move the rest of my body. it freaks me out. at other times i feel as though i can't breathe properly right before i go into a "deep" sleep. this happens more often, though, right before i wake up. it helps to go to sleep in a comfortable area (i.e. a bed opposed to a couch). i never had the visions or vibrating sensations, though. keep in mind that as you go to sleep, and you go deeper into your sleep cycles, your breathing becomes more shallow. it's as if you are trying to resist the inevitable!

some of what you described sounds (i.e. the gasping) like sleep apnea, but people with the disorder rarely have these types of experiences. this doesn't sound like seizures, either.

your doctor is probably giving you klonopin to sleep easier, but you should wean yourself off of it and onto an SSRi, instead, because it is addictive.

in my opinion, this all stems from severe anxiety.

[ggreg]

Dear Lake,
Gosh you sound like me.  After years of what you describe, I accepted it was because I wasn't sleeping well.  Exercise helps this.  

[nastursim]

Maybe you are looking for a different answer to the obvious because your anxiety is telling you there must be something more serious wrong with you, when really, it is just the anxiety.

[LAKEV]

Yes,

Days when I exercise or sleep with a woman , I don't have it happen.

If I feel REAL tired and have absolutely no thoughts in my head from pure exhaustion, I sleep like a log. And no, I have never had a seizure in my life. And when I'm asleep I breathe fine, never gasp for air, I don't even snore.

So I think extreme anxiety may be the culprit. It's bizarre what anxiety can cause. Psychosomatic events are very real and scary.

I'll keep the anxiety approach in mind. Thanks for the input people.

[drdavidhartman]

Have you had a sleep study with an EEG?  This would help answer the questions of apnea, vs. anxiety, vs seizure.

[vega1318]

You should see a sleep specialist as soon as possible and have them do a sleep study on you where you spend a night in the lab where they monitor your every move.   You'll have your answers then.

[LAKEV]

I had a sleep study done a few years back. They said that everything looked fine. I didn't sleep that long when I was there, but they said they had enough data to make a study. Unfortunately, the "episodes" didn't happen the night I was there.

But they found nothing abnormal so I took their word for it. I think I'm going to try another study.

[tnorths]

My friend had that too, they took his tonsills out at age 40.  It wasn't very pleasant to say the least, but it cured him.  Good luck