Hello. Currently I am terrified of falling asleep due to something happening almost every night now.

When I was younger (ten years or so ago), I occasionally got sleep paralysis as I was waking up, it scared me a bit but not terribly, and gradually went away.

The last couple of weeks, as I'm falling asleep this happens:

I can feel myself getting more and more tired and falling into sleep mode, then suddenly it's as though my breathing has stopped and I need to fight hard to get my breath. I struggle like crazy to be able to breathe, SEVERE panic sets in and after a few seconds (though it feels like way more) I take a massive deep breath.

I also have a feeling of falling into the bed very weird and hard to explain. And when I do get my breath I have a tingling feeling in my hands, almost like an electric current.

I mentioned it to the doctor last week, she just said "Oh its just your anxiety", which she says to every symptom I ever have.

Last night this pattern repeated about 10-15 times before I eventually sat up and must have fallen asleep looking on Facebook on my phone at 5am-ish. It got to the point where I was too scared to try to sleep so tried to keep awake all night.

I am now so exhausted and feel stressed :(

Can anyone shed any light?!

Oh P.S - I am on Sertraline, Propanalol and take codeine for pain - am worried these are all interacting, especially because I also take a triptan for migraine and was very scared to do this due to Seratonin syndrome. Am worried sick that this cocktail of particular drugs is doing something sinister to my brain.

Sorry that was so long!!