Just starting this journey

Hello to anyone who is reading this.

I'm currently extremely frustrated with no diagnosis after attending several visits with my PCP and two months of terrible sleep.

What seems like after every REM cycle, I wake up with a fast heart beat, a sore throat, and muscle twitches. A couple months ago, a friend had told me I wasn't breathing in my sleep for a short period of time and subsequently took a huge gasp of air. From what I've read, this seems like CNS sleep apnea, though my PCP is telling me its "anxiety". I was prescribed an anti-anxiety medication, which seemed to make symptoms much worse.

I've bought new pillows, a humidifier, and a lower jaw mouthpiece, none of which seem to be alleviating any symptoms either (though the humidifier and essential oils help me pass back out each time I wake). I'm in the process of finding a new doctor in the LA area who is more familiar with sleep apnea and welcome any suggestions if anyone reading this is in LA.

I also welcome any other suggestions with how to approach this. I am confident its not anxiety and I am frustrated with not being able to get help. I want to live!

As a starting point you may want to do a self evaluation to see what your potential is for sleep apnea. See links below. There are two tests that are commonly used:

STOP-BANG

ESS - Epworth Sleepiness Scale

If the tests indicate a high potential for sleep apnea then they next step would be to show the results to your doctor and ask for a referral to a sleep clinic for a formal sleep test.

What you describe are classic signs of sleep apnoea. A sleep study is harmless (although can be expensive in the US I hear) and it will give you some reliable answers.

Thanks for your responses. I scored an intermediate on STOP BANG and a low on ESS, though my symptoms seem to be getting worse - new headaches in the back of my head, waking up more often, etc. I have some new appointments scheduled, but no sleep study referral yet - I think thats the goal of my next appointment regardless of STOP BANG/ESS results.