Jolting awake gasping for air

At one time i was having the same issue. It was sleep Apnea. You should get a sleep study done. Apnea can be very serious. You may need a CPAP to help you breath at night or an oral guard that keeps your air way open while you sleep.

Hi Jane,

It does sound a bit like sleep apnoea. It might be worth asking your doctor if you can be referred to a sleep clinic.

However, many doctors still insist that no one under the age of 50 can get sleep apnoea, and women of any age can't get it at all! I'm pretty sure I've had it ever since the menopause, but I keep hitting this particular barrier.

Even if you do manage to get a referral, there's no guarantee you'll demonstrate sleep apnoea during the night you spend in the lab. The fact is, most of us get it occasionally, especially from middle age onwards, but without getting it repeatedly every night.

I wouldn't worry unduly about it. I've been having the same thing as you for nearly 30 years now and it hasn't done me any harm. I've always had a tendency to fall asleep easily during the day - right from childhood - and I can't say this has got any worse since I started having these episodes of waking up gasping for air.

However, if you drive a lot and you find yourself nodding off easily, it could be a problem. Sleep apnoea can also drive up your blood pressure, though it hasn't had too much effect on mine.

Take sensible precautions. Try and train yourself to sleep on your side rather than your back if you can. That being said, I get it when sleeping on my side too, though it is worse when I wake up on my back. Avoid any sedative medications in the evening, ditto too much alcohol.

It would be preferable to get a sleep study done if you can persuade anybody to do it, but there's really no need to panic about this.

I have had this for many years, it got to the stage where I was frightened to go to sleep.  I think it's in the mind and it becomes a vicious circle.  I felt as if I had stopped breathing then wake up with my heart racing.

Once in a while. I use a mouth splint for tmj so sometimes i think its from that. Sleep apnea asks about that too, i have done that i messed it up once when they set me up for that test. I apparently removed it all in my sleep. So that was that, and when i, getting a cold sometimes. Could be thick mucous sliding down too. Reflux too can do that. So theres a few explaination outside the realm of anxiety.