falling asleep and cant breathe

[traciec39]

Does any one suffer with this, when you are just drifting off to sleep all of a sudden you cant breathe and its as though your heart has changed its beating routine. Its so scary and instantly wakes me back up, my tummy churns over and over but somehow after a while and pure terror i manage to go to sleep. Im dreading trying to sleep now. my throat is feeling strange and pulled.
any advice would be lovely

thanks
tracie

I CAN, I WILL , I AM

[**whenwillthisend**]

tracie im suffering bad with this at minute, as im drifting off to sleep i am suddenley startled, cant catch my breath, then worry im gonna stop breathing in my sleep...the worrying then of cause feeds the fear, last night i had a moment of sleep paralysis too..so scary i could not move...i always check my heartbeat as i think its gonna stop..shall we put it down to another anxiety symptom?
sorry i cant give you any advice as its a problem for me too
take care

[polly daydream]

Hi Tracie, I suffer with this aswell and yes it is frightning but harmless apparently.

Take care,

Polly

[ceecee]

hi tracie yes i,ve had this at times too!what a relief i thought it was just me!!!!try lots of relaxation before you go to bed as i find this often helps
take care
rachelx

[jackie]

tracie i get this sometimes and i know it is so hard to say it is just anxety but i have been told many times it is

take care

jackie

[langlim]

hi there,

Yes I get exactly the same, just as I'm about to fall asleep I feel like I've missed a breath and jump up, and then of course panic sets in and can't sleep which then brings on the anxious thoughts, worrying i'm going to not wake up if i fall asleep.

What i think it is where our bodies are so tense all the time with the anxiety, as soon as our bodies start to relax panic kinds of sets in, like our body isn't allowed to relax, I think its like a automatic kind of reaction??

Normally I don't sleep well, and lie for quite a while tryin to get to sleep, but the other night I found listening to some of my favourite music for an hour quietly really helped. I slowly unwound and slept really quite well.

Laura

[nomorepanic]

I have done this too.

Scarey isn't it

You are just drifting off then can't get your breathe. Weird and very annoying.

Nicola

[Piglet]

Me too!

Love Piglet x

[dorabella]

I get tbis every now and then when I'm staying overnight away from home. Its amazing how quickly doze off again afterwards - must be getting used to it.

One thing I have noticed is that when I occasionally go to sleep lying on my back I invariably wake up feeling breathless. I always end up sleeping on my stomach - I think it compresses the diaphragm and forces you to breathe properly rather than hyperventilating with upper chest breathing.

Anyone else sleep this way?