Weird feeling when trying to fall asleep

[anxietylord]

I get this really weird feeling once in a while when I'm trying to sleep, it's very hard to explain but I'll try. When I lay in bed and close my eyes, after a while or if it feels like I'm about to fall asleep, I get this numbness/faint feeling/dying feeling and it makes me jolt awake right away. I usually feel it in my head, but tonight I'm feeling it in my chest too. It usually goes away as soon as I open my eyes, but sometimes it feels like I have to "shake it off" (literally shake my head sometimes), and it can sometimes feel like I'm in that state for some seconds after opening my eyes.

I know this sounds weird, but it's really hard to explain. I hope someone else knows what I'm talking about and have something to say, it's really scary and annoying. When I get it I also end up not sleeping the whole night because it is so uncomfortable and it doesn't even seem possible, it makes me jolt awake.

[Annaboodle]

Hi. It doesn't sound weird to me at all. I get this and it's very unsettling. For me it is a feeling like you're going to faint/die if you drift off and that you should try and stay awake. I get hypnic jerks as well (didn't know what they were until Server posted something naming them). I have chronic insomnia and spend a lot of time in that strange limbo land between sleep and wakefulness, so I always put it down to that. Apparently hypnic jerks and so I think likely the kind of sensations you're talking about, are more common for people with irregular sleep patterns. Might be worth thinking about your sleep pattern (keeping it as regular as possible), sleep hygiene and all that? Though I think this is "one of those things" and definitely nothing sinister. I've had it all my adult life.

[Kingdawson]

I get this really weird feeling once in a while when I'm trying to sleep, it's very hard to explain but I'll try. When I lay in bed and close my eyes, after a while or if it feels like I'm about to fall asleep, I get this numbness/faint feeling/dying feeling and it makes me jolt awake right away. I usually feel it in my head, but tonight I'm feeling it in my chest too. It usually goes away as soon as I open my eyes, but sometimes it feels like I have to "shake it off" (literally shake my head sometimes), and it can sometimes feel like I'm in that state for some seconds after opening my eyes.

I know this sounds weird, but it's really hard to explain. I hope someone else knows what I'm talking about and have something to say, it's really scary and annoying. When I get it I also end up not sleeping the whole night because it is so uncomfortable and it doesn't even seem possible, it makes me jolt awake.

A form of hypnic jerks. Very common but very bloody annoying. I get it as well and it sucks.

Stress/anxiety/irregular sleep patterns cause them and make them worse.

[Carys]

Hiyer, it doesn't sound odd to me either, it happens exactly at the point your body is 'letting go' to fall asleep and your mind wakes you with fear. I have insomnia periods, and if I'm anxious I have exactly what you describe. I have to say, that this happened the worst for me after having a medical diagnosis a couple of years ago that really worried me, and I had night after night like this and it felt like my brain just would not allow me to sleep. I eventually resorted to low dose lorazepam, but I don't often use it nowadays.

[MarkyMark88]

This EXACT same thing started happening to me within the last couple of months. I start to drift and then I jolt awake feeling that I was about to stop breathing once sleep starts to set in. I get up and get some water and then go back to sleep. Sometimes it takes a few tries to actually get to sleep. If I am really paranoid I sometimes feel dizzy/lightheaded when I'm on my way to the kitchen to get some water and then I take a klonopin. Could be because I'm groggy and tired. Also, sometimes my heart rate is elevated.

I notice that this happens in spurts and on certain days (kinda weird). Like this week it's happened that last three days, but before that I hadn't had these sensations for over a month. These never happen when I sleep over at my girlfriends house and never happens on weekends. This leads me to believe it is completely anxiety related.

You're laying there alone, just you and your mind, in the dark, thinking about things, you have to work the next day, maybe your benzo is starting to ware off....

When this started I would think it's because my heart rate or breathing is becoming dangerously low, and I catch it before I go into a deep sleep. I noticed when this was not happening to me I was of sound mind and my anxiety had been quelled for that time period. And that's the thing with anxiety, you're good one week and can have a laps the next. But you are not alone friend. I actually kind of feel better knowing this happens with other people lol.

Mark

[anxietylord]

Thank you guys, it's definitely reassuring to know I'm not the only one. Last night I ended up just staying awake until morning and i got so tired I just passed out, as I usually do when this happens.

Hi. It doesn't sound weird to me at all. I get this and it's very unsettling. For me it is a feeling like you're going to faint/die if you drift off and that you should try and stay awake. I get hypnic jerks as well (didn't know what they were until Server posted something naming them). I have chronic insomnia and spend a lot of time in that strange limbo land between sleep and wakefulness, so I always put it down to that. Apparently hypnic jerks and so I think likely the kind of sensations you're talking about, are more common for people with irregular sleep patterns. Might be worth thinking about your sleep pattern (keeping it as regular as possible), sleep hygiene and all that? Though I think this is "one of those things" and definitely nothing sinister. I've had it all my adult life.

It's a dying/faint feeling for me too. I've read about hypnic jerks and I don't think I would describe this feeling as that, though I do get those sometimes too. My sleep pattern is pretty messed up, so I'm gonna try to get in order.

[Sturek]

I think this is what I am having more or less, just before i fall asleep get a weird anxiety sorta feeling well up in me and my heart is racing and keeps happening until i am just to exhausted and just pass out.

[melfish]

I get this too, and have since I was a kid