I may have central sleep apnea.?
April 18th, 2011
Sometimes when I’m falling asleep I forget to breathe. I know this because some part of my body jerks and I wake up feeling light headed and as if I hadn’t breathed for too long a time. Usually I can just roll over and force myself to think of random stuff to get my mind off of it and the problem goes away. However, it occasionally does not go away and I have to occupy myself with something for a while until I try to sleep again. Is this central sleep apnea and could this be caused (at least in part) by some sort of anxiety disorder?
It is called obstructive sleep apnea. You are not forgetting to breathe. As you are falling asleep the tissues in the back of your throat relax and fall back blocking your airway. Your body realizes that you are not breathing and wakes you up long enough to breathe 4-5 times then you fall back asleep and the cycle repeats throughout the night. You need a sleep study before you have a stroke or heart attack due to lack of oxygen during the times you are not breathing and the increased stress put on your heart.
April 17th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
It is called obstructive sleep apnea. You are not forgetting to breathe. As you are falling asleep the tissues in the back of your throat relax and fall back blocking your airway. Your body realizes that you are not breathing and wakes you up long enough to breathe 4-5 times then you fall back asleep and the cycle repeats throughout the night. You need a sleep study before you have a stroke or heart attack due to lack of oxygen during the times you are not breathing and the increased stress put on your heart.
References :
10 yrs as a registered sleep technologist