Sleep Problems #2

[NotCool]

Hello.

I've been writing about this already, and regarding health anxiety in general, I believe I started managing it better overall, or at least trying to. However, I still have serious sleep problems, and maybe someone can offer some input or an opinion regarding my situation, eventhough it's perfectly clear to me that nothing equals a proper medical diagnosis.

First of all, I believe I have developed central sleep apnea, and possibly had it for a time, with flaring up in the last months. Arguments: no matter how long i've been sleeping in the past, i've never really felt energized, same goes now, when situation is worse.
I keep waking every 2-3 hours, sometimes with shallow breathing, sometimes having to inhale deeply, and the feeling that there's too small amount of oxygen in my blood, leading me to fear of suffocating/experiencing heat failure in my sleep, since my heartbeat is either slow or fast - I frequently fall into the mild anxiety attack right there, when I wake up. Regarding heart problems, I don't think i have anything unusual, since I had an exam/stress test 2 months ago, and a holter 1 week ago (granted with no results).

I wake up frequently with dry mouth, I feel my sleep is very shallow, not restorative, don't even know if I properly reach the deep stage, I have extremely vivid and mostly negative dreams. Also, the thing that worries me the most are strange head sensations, sort of like buzzing/tingling (not the needles tingling, more mild) and strange pressure on top and back of my head - that happens ONLY when i'm just about to fall asleep - in the middle of wakefulness and sleep, and I feel that my head blood pressure raises at that point as well, because I start hearing the pulse in my ears.
One last bit of information: I've had nose injury 10+ years ago, resulting in my nose being crooked, and I read about deviated septum and possible problems, and I feel that my nostrils are too congested usually, but I never had problems before.

I guess my best bet is to just write this all down on a piece of paper and head to the doctor to take a sleep study. What do you guys think? Has anyone any experience with this? Thanks.

[NotCool]

Considering lack of any replies, I obviously wrote too much of a novel. So let me shorten it up. Suffering from following sleep issues:
- occasional waking with trouble breathing, not enough oxygen.
- when that happens pulse is either slow or fast, sometimes leads to anxiety attack.
- tingling/buzz on top and back of the head, weird pressure but ONLY when in state between wakefullnes and sleep. (this especially worries me since I don't see anyone having these symptoms).
- waking up every 2-3 hours.
- can't reach deep restorative sleep. Feeling tired during the day.
- suspecting central sleep apnea.

[Lilharry]

I think you probably answered your own question in some ways - take what you wrote here to the doctor.

I have experienced exactly those things also and it's horrible. The things that have helped me have been a huge lifestyle change including diet. I've also just posted in the natural remedies section of this forum about sleep and how to help your body produce more melatonin at night by not exposing yourself to screens and bright lights. You need to wind down at night and give your body the best chance possible to sleep.