Waking in the Middle of the night gasping for air - Whatsup?

[Gazzas86]

Second time round writing this as I accidentally closed the window!! ahh!

PH Collective,

Anyone know why I wake in the middle of the night gasping for air, as if I'm being suffocated, I'm sure my Fiancé isn't holding a pillow over my head! It's happened before, it happened 4 months ago, then nothing until once last week and again last night. It's enough to wake me up out of my sleep, I need to swallow, then a deep intake of breath, the same you get when staying under water for as long as you can. It shakes me up tbh. Is it stress related? started a new job 3 1/2 months ago and have a big business trip coming up next month, or Illness related?, I was Ill the later ends of last week. It kind of feels like the flap in your throat closes to your stomach.. who knows, maybe in guessing. I'm 29, 6ft 4, Slim/lanky...

Anyone have any experience of this?

Cheers

[andyr30]

Sounds like you could be suffering from Sleep Apnoea - or obstructive Sleep Apnoea

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Sleep-apnoea/Pages/In...

The NHS said:

There are two types of breathing interruption characteristic of OSA:

apnoea – where the muscles and soft tissues in the throat relax and collapse sufficiently to cause a total blockage of the airway; it is called an apnoea when the airflow is blocked for 10 seconds or more

hypopnoea – a partial blockage of the airway that results in an airflow reduction of greater than 50% for 10 seconds or more

The NHS also said:

During an episode, the lack of oxygen triggers your brain to pull you out of deep sleep – either to a lighter sleep or to wakefulness – so your airway reopens and you can breathe normally.

[Crusoe]

Try sleeping on your side, most common if you sleep on your back and your tongue settles to block your throat.

[CAPP0]

Definitely sounds like sleep apnoea, get it checked, if it's bad you'll probably need one of those force-fed sleep masks to make sure you don't stop breathing and actually suffocate.

[GreenDog]

2 or 3 years ago my OH started complaining that my snoring was getting worse and disturbing her sleep so I visited my GP who in turn referred me to a sleep clinic at the local hospital.
After the initial visit I had to wear a monitoring device whilst I slept for a night and this gave them all sorts of information on my breathing, how often I woke and what position I slept in. It turned out I didn't suffer from sleep apnoea but they did give me a CPAP machine to try out and I've been using it since. I wear an oxygen style mask connected to the machine and it blows air onto my nose keeping the airways open.
Be aware that if you do have apnoea you'll have to inform the DVLA.

[Gazzas86]

Cheers for the replies guys, could it be Apnoea if I can go months of it never happening?, I Don't and never have snored whilst sleeping, I do tend to sleep on my back, I find having a raised pillow so im not flat helps. I'm in the process of signing up to a new GP surgery so will book an appointment for them. Because im conscious of it now it plays on my mind when getting to sleep. I've looked at the symptoms online, the only one is waking up Gasping for air, once that's over I go back to sleep and it doesn't happen again

Edited by Gazzas86 on Thursday 3rd September 11:52