Waking up in the middle of the night gasping and choking

[Careful1]

Curious to know if anyone else goes through this? I had a sleep study years ago when this happened the very first 2 times and my results were normal so no sleep apnea.
Back in 2010 I started to get dizzy (not room spin) spells rarely and around the same time also started these gasping spells.. They both were a rare occurrence happening once every several months but starting last year the dizzy spells started happening frequently and when they started so did the gasping spells. They scare me. Whatever is happening wakes me from a deep sleep and it feels weird like my heart had stopped. It scares me so bad that I end up fighting my sleep for fear that it will happen again or I wont wake up. It happened a couple nights ago and I am exhausted from lack of sleep now.
I have asked all my friends and none of them have had the experience before.

I had a loop recorder implanted last month and so I triggered a mark on the ECG trace the other night when it happened to see if it has anything to do with my heart but I'm here because I'm afraid and am just curious if this has ever happened to anyone else??

[Careful1]

Anyone???

[axolotl]

This is a scary experience but a common anxiety symptom, and you're not going to choke in your sleep. You've have sleep apnea ruled out so you're likely to be experiencing nocturnal panic attacks. Worth talking to your doctor to see if something like beta blockers can help keep it at bay.

I'm no doctor, but I would have thought the ECG spike was caused by the panic attack, not the panic attack caused by the ECG spike.

[yarodao]

I had this a couple of times. I open my eyes everything is blurry its ringing in my ears i gasp for air there is none, then i dont feel my heart beat a panic and sit up with a force and everythinh settles down. Just believe in yourself believe that you wont die.