sudden waking up

[nighthawk658]

Hi all

please note this could get long and please excuse and bad spelling

i am looking for some answers to a sleeping problem that i been facing the past few nights ( note this has happened in the past )

the past few nights when settled to sleep i have been waking up suddenly with the feeling i had stopped breathing some times during these sudden waking up i have like gasped for air not so heavily this can happen at least 3 times in the night maybe more

the first time this ever happened 2 years ago it was lasting pretty much every night for 3 or 4 months and on at least 2 times  i felt like i woken up unable to move and believed i was calling out for help i had believed my sister inlaw came to my door but then nothing and this happened about twice feeling like i was unable to move and believed i called out and someone appear those times felt very real and i did ask my sister inlaw the next day and she said she didnt hear me calling out for help or even come to my room and this kinda scared me

apart from those 2 times feeling pinned down calling for help there has been other things like my moth rapidly moving and my legs or arms kicking out even my whole body jerking i know some of these movements are real

but as mentioned above the most common issues i am facing is the sudden waking up like taking in some air but i get the feeling i am dying in my sleep and as can be imagined that feeling is quite scary

i must mention that sometimes i feel numb headed a little dizzy and this can sometimes appear in the day  i also do get sime minor twinges in my left arm or if i am reading a medical article for example on heart problems i kinda get a dizzy feeling

then last night around 3am i suddenly woken up with what i consider a seriously fast heartbeat this is the first time in all the times i suffered with this level of heart rate i slowly sat up and the best way to explain the situation is i was in the middle of a fast paced earthquake

it took about a minute to slow down and i was dizzy for a while but i kept my self sitting still for the moment

the whole situation has made me worried because of that fear of dying in my sleep and was made worse with the rapid fast paced heartbeat

after some time i can finally drop off to sleep and wake up at normal hours and not feel anything between the last sudden wake up till the moment i wake so i am assuming this is at the first stages of sleep

my current state of mind i have been a bit stressed on both times this has happened to me my mind always thinking so much

so i want to get to the root of this and be armed with information for the doctor because if where i live its best to go with information or they will charge out of the nose for whatever

i did read tho that some of this could be caused by something called night terror and the sudden heart race last night could of been caused by a panic attack

so i am hoping with my own post about this i can get the information of the causes and what possible solutions i can to prevent or at least slow the problem down

just a quick note about me

i am a male of 37 years old i am a little over weight and i do drink alcohol only beer but a few maybe 1 or 2 a week i do smoke tho i am cutting it down trying to quit... and as mentioned above i am quite stressed the first time this ever happened to me  i am stressed now but not as bad as before

i thank everyone in advance for reading my post

good day to you all

[PMV50]

Hi,
The following is a general response which I posted to another thread which may throw some light on your condition and may give you some measures  to try which may be of help.

I suffer from an un-diagnosed sleep condition (for more than a decade now) which manifests itself in a variety of ways. One of the ways it manifests is in the form of a type of hypnic jerks similar to what many people describe in this thread. For me these tend to occur later in the night, after sleeping for a few hours, and may then continue to the morning. They involve jolting awake from dreamless sleep for no apparent reason. As and where they occur repeatedly they are major sleep disruptor. Another way my condition presents is in the form of more traumatic waking episodes whereupon I become partly awake or aware with an intense feeling of something being very wrong (like I'm not breathing or I’m simply dying) and struggle desperately, in a panic, to wake fully…not pleasant!

I've had this all checked out with various sleep studies, tests, etc. Although, the sleep studies have confirmed that the episodes are real, they’ve ruled out all the various medically recognised sleep conditions including sleep apnoea. In fact, all the tests have showed that I’m in good physical health and condition. Moreover, I exercise frequently and I am near ideal weight. I have suffered in the past from anxiety but I’ve been relatively stress and anxiety free for some years now. I am male and in my late forties.

However, in spite of the lack of any medical diagnosis, the good news is that I have this condition largely under control. I have achieved this primarily through my diet. To make a long story short, I have discovered, formally by chance, latterly through research, that the following dietary approaches provide a means to greatly reduce the symptoms (and probably the cause of)  my condition.
These approaches are, in order of effectiveness;  A) A gluten free diet, B) the Paleo diet and C) The AIP (Auto Immune Protocol) diet.

If you check these out, you’ll see that these diets, A to C,  get progressively more stringent (the AIP diet in particular is pretty difficult and time consuming to follow, but is very healthy and has lots of additional health rewards). Whichever way, I find that the more I stick to the AIP diet the less symptoms I get and the better I sleep….essentially a real life changer for me.

Notwithstanding, the need to rule out more obvious, possibly dangerous, sleep conditions, such as sleep apnoea (with a medical professional), I would suggest anyone suffering from hypnic jerks or other similar undiagnosed sleep conditions could try the dietary approach as described above. That is, try first a gluten free diet (without processed substitutes), then if needs be try the Paleo diet and/or then the AIP diet.  In spite of what some mainstream medical professionals might advise, these diets are perfectly healthy and nutritionally balanced. However, they do take some effort but if it helps in any way with the debilitating sleep issues described in this thread then they can only be well worth the effort.

If you’re curious as to why these dietary approaches might work, you can check out the research and thinking behind the Paleo and AIP diets on line or in various books which you can find in the health section of good book stores (essentially, I believe that I have some sort of gut related autoimmune condition which manifests itself in sleep disturbance).

Hope this is of some help. P.