I've been having really similar episodes to this. I'm going to the doctor today. I've done some research and thought I was probably having seizures but I have no way of knowing yet.
Also, mine didn't start until after I took Yaz and I have read a lot of complaints from women having seizures after they've taken or stopped taking this.
Hopefully I can find out something definitive about whats causing my problem, because like you I'm scared to sleep at night.
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
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.
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.
Have you had a sleep study with an EEG? This would help answer the questions of apnea, vs. anxiety, vs seizure.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bump. Many someone else can chime in?
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.
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.
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.
I it doesnt happen when you take klonopin it would seem like its anxiety.