Feel like I'm stopping breathing when I fall asleep

Hey guys, I know this is an older thread but I wanted to jump on here anyway because I’m sure there are a lot of you that are still pulling this up on internet searches for the first time in desperation trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with you (like I did) and I want to offer some hope and encouragement as to what is working well with me when it comes to beating these awful symptoms.

First off, CALM DOWN, it is not heart disease or a brain tumor.  99% of it is ANXIETY.  It is the common denominator for all of us that I have noticed as I myself have been reading through these various posts and website threads and this is a relatively common problem for those of us that have lived in a chronically stressed environment.  Your nervous system is basically shot because you have run yourself into the ground with a combination of anxiety, exhaustion, adrenal fatigue, bad diet, and an imbalance in either nutritional/mineral deficiency and/or hormonal imbalance.

Here is what I have been dealing with myself and how I am fixing it:

My symptoms were two fold-which started manifesting themselves over the past few months and line up exactly with the dreaded sensations that we have all be desperately searching the internet trying to understand.

1.  That awful feeling that right as you begin to fall asleep, you feel as though you forget to breathe.  It’s like your brain forgets to tell your diaphragm to contract, then you get a suffocating or chest/collapsing or sinking feeling/reaction and jerk yourself awake with the awareness that you forgot to breathe.  It is awful and it is scary and it leaves you in a panic because you wonder what’s wrong with you, if you’re dying, and you begin to fear the otherwise normal act of drifting off to sleep, which can then lead to a pattern of insomnia as it did with me.

2. The second sensation is a similar variation of the first.  This is where you start to drift off to sleep, and instead of catching yourself forgetting to breathe, instead you get a surge of adrenaline that shoots through your abdomen and chest area that feels almost like an electric shock.  It’s like your heart or lungs get zapped with a surge and like the first sensation, it jerks you out of the sleep cycle and sends you into a panic.  You get to a point that you literally want to cry because you’re so exhausted and you cant figure out why your body seems to have forgotten how to sleep, and how to give you the one gift of peace (a good night’s sleep) that you want so badly to experience.

These sensations, when occurring over and over again whether it's you trying to take a daytime nap or trying to sleep through the night, compound over weeks and months and sink you further into fear and depression as you fret about how you must be dying or will die since you have lost the ability to even sleep correctly anymore.  This also in turn further increases your anxiety cycle and keeps compounding your problem.

I personally, at the time of writing this, have been living out this nightmare myself since November of 2017 (it’s mid March 2018).  But just within the past two weeks I have found some extremely helpful answers that are making dramatic improvements that I’d really like to share to help some of the rest of you. 

The topics that I found in my research point overwhelmingly to adrenal fatigue and hormone imbalance as the primary cause.  Now I’m not a doctor, and in fact I still have an upcoming doctors appointment in a few weeks, but it is with an integrative doctor that actually specializes in Adrenal Fatigue and hormonal imbalance.  The reason I wanted to post this now, is that even on my own research I believe I have identified at least a major part of the problem and wanted to share the improvements with all of you ASAP because I know how awful it is to be stuck in this cycle and how urgently many of you(us) are desperate for some hope immediately. 

So let me lay out the steps of how I got here and how I’m now pulling out of this nonsense:

I am a 36 year old male.  I have owned my own business for the past 15 years, which has been successful monetarily, but is in a very stressful industry that has taken long hours and a ton of effort to build.  Last year especially I was putting in 14 hours days, not sleeping well, eating a ton of junk food, and exercise was sporadic at best. 

By November of 2017 I was starting to crash.  I was trying to improve my sleep, and some nights (before these horrible drifting off to sleep symptoms started showing up in late January of 2018) there were some nights where I would get 12 hours of sleep and I would still wake up exhausted and fatigued.

As I said by end of January 2018, I was starting to occasionally get these awful symptoms of “forgetting to breathe” right as I was falling asleep, or a close cousin of that symptom was the feeling of an electric shock shooting through my stomach and chest/heart area right as I would dose off.  My quality of sleep started to spiral downward throughout February 2018, as I was beginning to develop an actual complex or phobia about falling asleep.  By end of February I had managed to find myself with full-blown insomnia, where I was so exhausted during the day I’d have to go sit or lie down and “rest” even after completing the most simple tasks.  I was mentally and physically exhausted all the time, but then when I’d try to get to bed at a decent hour, I would wrestle with these sensations sometimes until 4 and 5 in the morning until I’d finally just pass out from exhaustion and somehow “push through” this barricade of sensations that were starting to hold me hostage in my insomnia.

That is when I started learning about adrenal fatigue, and hormonal imbalances, and how they can create these problems.  Also, I want to note that while I have not yet had a sleep study done, I have had my heart and other things checked out which are fine.  But I don't believe this issue of forgetting to breathe or getting jerked awake right at the moment you cross into sleep is sleep apnea, because I don’t snore and I have no issues once I am actually asleep.  Perhaps it could be a form of what is called “sleep onset apnea” (nothing to be feared) which is different than traditional sleep apnea which affects you all throughout the night.  And what I have found is that with the right application of supplements, what I am about to tell you is that even this sleep onset sensations can go away quickly and completely!  So again, I’m not a doctor, this is my free opinion, but I am really hopeful this will be an encouragement and an answer for those of you that are still suffering from this:

1. Read up everything you can online about Adrenal Fatigue so you understand what is going on with your body.  I found Dr. Berg’s Youtube video series to be extremely educational and it gave me a lot of hope.  He discusses the nutritional deficiencies and other stress factors that can lead to and keep you stuck in a cycle of adrenal fatigue.  Just get on Youtube and type in something like “Dr Berg adrenal fatigue” in your search and it will get you right where you need to go.  He has several videos on this topic. 

2. Adrenal fatigue and sleep onset apnea are both caused and intensified by deficiencies in magnesium, potassium, calcium, and amino acids in your body, which are required by your body to turn off the “flight or fight” anxiety response switch.  When you are burned out from a chronically stressful lifestyle, your adrenals get stuck in the cycle of dumping excess cortisol into your system.  My understanding is that these cortisol surges are literally the main thing that can cause those unpleasant sensations right as you are trying to drift off to sleep.  The moment I started using these supplements, which I am going to go into detail about in a minute, within the first night or two those horrible sleep onset sensations reduced dramatically and by the 2-3 night they have already disappeared!  I am sleeping through the night and am able to get very restful naps in during the daytime now.

3. Diet and nutrition are absolutely imperative if you’re going to pull yourself out of this.  And it’s already the usual stuff you would expect.  Cut processed foods, increase veggies, and stay away as much as possible from sugar and caffine because they are stimulates that tax your adrenals even more.  Coffee, tea, chocolate, sweets, carbs…they could literally be keeping you held hostage within this awful adrenal/cortisol cycle that is ruining your quality of life.

4. On of Dr. Berg’s videos on Youtube, he highlights an acupressure massage tool that he developed.  Be sure to check out that video.  He goes over pressure points in the back of your neck as well as your abdomen that you can focus on with this massage tool right before you go to bed at night.  He explains it beautifully in the sense that the neck pressure points are like the brake to slow down your stress/anxiety surging through your body, and then the pressure points in your abdomen are like taking your foot off the gas pedal by slowing down the flow of cortisol into your system.  I have been doing this simple routine every night before I go to sleep and it is helping significantly in addition to the other supplements I am taking.

5. I ordered Dr. Berg’s acupressure massage tool, as well as his Sleep Aid natural supplement and a liquid essential mineral blend that helps restore your potassium, calcium and magnesium levels throughout the day, which in turn really help you sleep at night. 

6. Get on amazon and check out “Cortisol Manager” supplements by a company called Integrative Therapeutics.  I take two of these every night before bed.  I also ordered from amazon something called “5-HTP” from a place called Arazo Nutrition.  It helps regulate your brain, mood and sleep.  I take two of these every night now before bed along with the Cortisol Manager, and again those two things together really help shut off the flight or fight cortisol surges that I believe could be actually creating those terrible sensations of shock or not breathing right as you are drifting off to sleep.

7.  Also on Youtube there are relaxation videos that deal with sound frequencies.  Dr Royal Rife did a ton of research on healing sound therapies back in the early 1900’s and it is legit!  Do a youtube search on “Rife frequencies for insomnia” or “Rife Frequencies adrenal fatigue”, sleep apnea, whatever you want just make sure they are Rife frequencies.  They have videos for just about any ailment you can think of and they are awesome including blood pressure, anxiety, even sore throat, thyroid problems, etc.  So definitely check them out.  Again it takes several trips through those sounds videos in some cases before you notice an effect so don't be discouraged if you listen to them once and don't feel any different.  It is a cumulative effect so just stick with it. 

8. I want to say a word about state of mind through your healing process.  It took you a while to get yourself this burned out, it might take a little while to climb back out.  So be patient with yourself and your body and be kind to yourself.  As I mentioned at the start of my post, I have seen dramatic improvements within a few days of implementing these different supplements and protocols, but it did take a few nights for it to start taking effect.  One other thing that really helped me is that I tried to stop stressing myself out by telling myself “I have GOT to sleep.”  I know that’s what you need and want, but the first few nights I told myself “ok you don't HAVE to sleep, just relax.”  If you just relax in the dark without putting added pressure and stress on yourself that you HAVE to sleep, its amazing how your body will come down from the stress and you will fall asleep eventually anyway.

9. Get back on Amazon and order the book “Hope and Healing For Your Nerves” by Dr. Claire Weeks.  Chances are if you are experiencing this sleep symptoms you are probably suffering from anxiety and panic attack/nervous system issues elsewhere in your life.  This book is a life saver when it comes to helping you understand what your body is going through as well as practical steps to help you pull out of this cycle of suffering. 

9.  Lastly, go to the doctor!  Not because you have to freak out that you’ve got heart disease or brain tumor because you don't.  But go in order to get some blood work done to check your nutritional panels and hormone levels.   Again, when you have adrenal fatigue, your calcium, potassium and magnesium levels are likely very low. But for myself personally, I had/have no interest in going to a general practice family doctor.  They will likely just force-feed you sleeping pills or some other nonsense prescription meant to cover up the symptoms, but which really do nothing to correct the root cause.  Find an integrative doctor in your area that actually specializes in adrenal fatigue and bio identical hormone replacement therapy. 

You are not dying!  You’ve just worn out your nervous system.  So take a deep breathe and stop worrying.  It just takes a few corrective measures to get yourself back on track.  You WILL get your old life and old self back even if you don't feel that way at the moment.  I really hope this post can bring some relief and hope to some of you.  It is definitely a miserable prison to be stuck in when you can’t quite figure out what seems to be the problem and you feel like your sleep and your health is spiraling out of control.  It’s like a bad dream you can’t wake up from and you can get very depressed very quickly when you want so badly to just get your old life back.  This is a blessing though.  It’s a warning sign from your body that you need to start taking better care of yourself and correct some lifestyle habits now.  Again, just be kind and be patient with yourself and check into these protocols I’ve outlined and that should help put you on a path out of this. 

You’re strong and you’ve got this!!! - Paul

 Thank you for posting all that information! It's happened to me several times back in 2016 when I had a job that caused  me too much stress, and those symptoms started...  I would be a wake up until 4 and 5 AM afraid to go to sleep. Once I quit my job very strangely the symptoms went away but they started again  on and off around the  Time I was building my hair salon, my son was getting married so I felt very anxious to begin with and their symptoms came back. When I would drift off to sleep and felt like I forgot to breathe but I had a feeling it was my nervous system because it felt as though my brain was very active even though I was so tired, that crossing over and falling to sleep I was aware of falling asleep and kicking on to the shallow breathing that  we do when we  are asleep. But my brain seems to be so active I was aware and that's what made me jerk, so I thought… Long story short I started taking some vitamins called Sarovital...  and all they are is a combination of amino acids plus I started taking extra L glutamine that helps with anxiety and helps you relax, as soon as I started taking them by day asap it was amazing! I can sleep and I don't have a problem anymore. I've posted this information as well for others to start taking amino acids especially L glutamine. It also caused my anxiety to go away. Having anxiety and that feeling is not fun, and I'm amazed how quickly that feeling went  away from just taking amino acids.

Sometimes it will happen every night, then other times it will disappear for a few weeks. 

One thing for certain is drinking alcohol and smoking makes this 100x worse. 

2 weeks ago I was eating healthy and I did not get any episodes. Then last night which was a day after consuming lots of alcohol, I literally felt like I was going to die. I have overcome my fears and it’s very rare that I will get worried as I know it isn’t going to kill me. However, last night was different. 

I have gone out today and bought some L glutamine after hearing good things. 

I have been to the doctors lots of times, with no success. 

I don’t know what this is but What I do Know is that a healthy diet, exercise and no alcohol or smoking drastically improves the likeliness of an episode. 

It's happening to me now every single night. Also my blood pressure is quite high. It's been 155/123 and my heart feels like it's missing beats all over the place. I'm so tired but I'm terrified to fall asleep.

I had a post somewhere on here when it was bad.  Well I can say now that one cause was strep throat hitting my heart.  Took antiobiotic and was fine.   then a few weeks later a chiropractor cracked my neck wrong and then the nerves were all inflamed so I had trouble breathing, heart was HURTING, and  ears were ringing off the hook.  L-glutamine doesnt do anything by the way.  Does your throat hurt at all could be strep getting into your heart.  also, possible causes are tight/twisted muscles do to a short leg/flat foot; these muscles can mess up your diaphragm which also screws up your heartbeat.  Could still happen without short leg.Try hunching over the side of a couch where you are  lying on your belly but standing up...help at all?    Have you seen a chiropractor that cracked your neck the wrong way?  Could be inflammation along nerves that control breathing/heartbeat.  Try a bunch of muscle relaxers for a week or 2 and see if it does anything.  Could be inflamed or knots in your deep chest muscles too.  If the hunch over helps you might want to see an osteopath doctor who specializes in musculoskeletal problems since they know how to fix those problems, but they are hard to find since most doctors nowdays just want to prescribe medication.  Slippery elm tea or Formula 303 helps loosen everything up but u gotta be consistent and do it every day.   Try yoga stretches where you twist alot but again need to be consistent for 2-3 weeks to see a difference.  The littlest thing can throw a muscle or tendon out of whack and that messes you up good-- speaking from experience here.