Feel like I’m dying when falling asleep

Ive had similar issues as everyone here. Spark through the brain while trying to fall asleep, sudden feeling of doom coming over my body, and the jumping up and walking around like its going to stop death from taking me. I'm so discouraged to see so many people not have gotten help from their doctor. I don't ever want to experience it again and have no idea what to do about it.

i came across this post wondering about my sleep issues i face almost every night so will explain mine

for at least 5 to 7 years now i have been on and off mostly on been having this feeling im dying in my sleep normally this would happen i guess within the first 10 mins of when i fall asleep when it happens i am suddenly woken with a feeling of aomething isnt right at first wasnt sure of anything

later on i got the feeling either heart stopped or i stopped breathing

when im starting to drop off within seconds im suddenly wide awake again with that feeling of my heart is going to stop

this generally only happens at night tho and rarely happens if i take an afternoon nap but lately even the odd nap gets the odd sudden wake up

but also over time i had noticed that some of my sleeps is like a sudden falling asleep as if i just blackout and not the normal slowly doze off

there was something someone else mentioned that kinda sounds similar to what i experience is a sound can be anything like a bang big or small but in my case a mouse can fart or a dog can park but sudden unexpected noises i get a strange nervous like sensation

there has also been 3 or 4 times i suddenly woken up in the night with ny heart racing so fast and if i stand its like the ground is shaking first time this happened i did see a doctor get wired up on an ECG and that episode was detected but doctor said nothing to worry about

there was also 1 time i had sat having a conversation with a friend over a beer and i suddenly passed out flat on ground only happened once not sure if its related or not

there is some other symptoms again not sure if this is related or not but could be the cause

some days if not most i do feel like i got like an acidic fluid in my chest like around the heart and maybe lower part of my lungs more so left side.. suspected the acidic feeling because the odd burp seems to bring up that acidic sensation .. i should also note lately i have been burping a lot more than normal

other things to note is i often get like a numb feeling in the head like someone sitting on my head and i do feel like i have high blood pressure sometimes if im laying or even sat feels like a mini earthquake under me tho every time a medic has put one of those stats monitors on my finger BP seems normal as well as heart rate and blood oxygen levels are normal

so thata best how i can describe what i experience

any pointers would be most appreciated

Has anyone found out what is causing this?? Some forms say anxiety or adrenaline rushes. I have had this happen almost every night the past 2 weeks and its really getting me down. i stayed up all night last night after having it happen so many times.

i just wanted to say that ive been experiencing this for a few years but its been getting worse i signed up today because i was desperately searching for answers on the web

Today i was trying to fall asleep but i was drowning.

literally drowning.

i saw and heard water gurgling up

and it would fill up and i would be under water.

seems like this is a safe space to sound insane

it happened about 10-15 times.

I called my husband and told him i was afraid i was going to die in my sleep.

i was paralyzed every time

im up now..

been afraid to sleep for hours

i havent seen anyone up here who described this

so i just wanted to share my story for the next sad sleepy sap..

last night was the 3rd time it gas happened to me... its so scary. and i feel like its such a difficult thing to explain that no doctors would even get it.. but its so scary and sometimes my arms feel all weird in the inside. i just wish i knew what it was and why it is happening it just started out of nowhere. ill even be fine all day and evening and even be fine while im laying down but as soon ad i go to fall asleep i can just tell its happening.. before i even try to sleep ... i just want to figure out whats wrong.. thank you !

i found this topic as im laying in bed 6am unable to sleep once again. i relate to almost all of your comments and i thought i was alone

no one understands what i feel like and i cannot even explain it very good, its just like... my body is scared of sleep. it manifests in different ways, other times its palpitations, others twitching, irregular heartbeat, too slow or too fast by my perception, dizininess, trembling, jaw clenching, inability to focus on anything, vertigo, falling feeling, numbness in limbs lips tongue, stomach convulsions. and they all start when i decide i wanna try to sleep, like ill be watching tv feeling sleepy and chill and once i decide its sleep time its just hell. and when i purposely exhaust myself to make sleep easier exhaustion only makes it harder somehow, my body is tired but my mind doesn't wanna let go, like there's a fear of the "loss of control" that sleep entails. i feel suck a deep panic, makes me feel all frozen inside. i don't have the words to explain it correctly but after reading your comments i know you all go through the same, i feel better to know im not alone in this paranoia.

It is actually a relief to finally see that I am not crazy after reading all of this. I've been feeling things like these for years now, I've never been diagnosed with anything, but every trip to the ER always ends with absolutely no answer to what? or why? Each and every response I'm reading is exactly the same things I feel. The newest symptom is suddenly being woke with a feeling that I stopped breathing and it just seems like it's getting worse. It's extremely scary for me and it's affecting my day to day life now... any insights or help is greatly appreciated.

This solution worked for me

Potassium Gluconate 595 mg

Magnesium 500 mg

I was feeling the exact same way and i did a lot of research went to a lot of different websites and discovered across many forums that the reason i was feeling like this was because i wasn't having enough potassium or magnesium

bananas are a great source of potassium, problem was I was already consuming one a day and I still felt like this. I ended up ordering some on amazon to be delivered the next day and it did the trick for the next night and I no longer have these symptoms

symptoms: not being able to sleep - on the verge of falling asleep i felt like dying and not being able to breath and it would wake me up - thought it was isnomnia - it wasnt - sleepy teas didnt work it just made me super tired - anxiety - feeling of drowning - weird pulsing in head -

all of this for 2 weeks -

so ive been experiencing this for months but its gotten worse the last couple of weeks. i feel light headed and i dissociate throughout the day. i have diagnosed anxiety and i tend to take a nap almost everyday. with my afternoon naps i have some mild anxiety but i am typically able to fall asleep within 30 minutes to an hour. going to bed at night is a completely different story though. I HATE going to sleep at night. I lay there and i check my heart rate every 30 seconds, i feel like i am breathing funny, and i toss and turn. when i finally do relax and my body is almost asleep, i get this sensation where i feel like im not falling asleep, but dying. my mind wakes me up and im filled with anxiety all over again. my body gets numb and i end up feeling like if i let myself fall asleep I am not going to wake up. its terrifying. i dont even stop myself from falling asleep on purpose. its like im 30 seconds from being asleep and my brain is like NOPE IF U SLEEP YOU DIE. and im wide awake!!!!! its very stressful and im scared of why this is happening!!!

hey just want to share how i am feeling as it is super similar to others replying here it is actually making me feel a little bit nicer knowing i am not alone.

most if not all nights when i try to go to sleep i feel as if i am slipping away into some sort darkness/ death my heart will often start palpitating and sometimes i will often wake up to what sounds like a bang, i also will often wake up during the middle of the night suddenly out of breath and sat right up i dont usually remember how or why if it was from a bad dream or what,ive had a few instances of almost like a sleep paralysis where i will wake up but not be able to open my eyes or move anything i am not dreaming but simply laying down with my eyes closed unable to move. I often get terrified of sleeping and stay up as long as i can until i crash which isnt ideal as i am a builder that starts at 7am which makes me extremly tired throughout the day, i suffer alot of depersonalisation and i wonder if this is connected as throughout the day i often feel like i am dreaming or even on a drug like acid, i hate feeling lime this and want it to stop but idk what to do, i have a great fear that i will one day just not wake up