Jane91

If your onsets are caused by Central Sleep Apnea, then your best bet is to see a sleep doctor who specializes in neurology. Also, I definitely feel for you. I'm happy to help research and find you a solution. I know you'll get relief from this in time. This can't last forever.

In the meanwhile, you might give L-Theanine a try. If anything, it is extremely relaxing. My first night on it, I fell asleep with little trouble.

Southafrican, I'm sorry to hear about your struggles and how long they've persisted. One thing that's worth mentioning, that my specialist told me, is that a lot of doctors look at sleep apnea as a "one sickness, one cause" sort of problem. On the contrary, sleep onsets and apneas during REM sleep can occur for a variety of reasons. In me, the sleep onsets (I experienced the same, 2-3 second pauses before transitioning into sleep for a long time) were driven by stress. I was at a time of great change in my life.

While stress may not be the precise trigger that causes the onsets in you, it could very well be the reason the problem has persisted for so long at such intensity. That's just my two cents, from my experience. I found great relief from changing my mindset, diet and activity level over time.

Anyway, one thing that may be worth exploring with your doctor is Remede System by Respicardia. It's a phrenic nerve stimulator. Your problem may be originating from a neurological disorder. Central Sleep Apnea - the most common culprit behind onset events - is often a misfiring between the phrenic nerve and the brain. The Remede System is supposed to basically do the stimulating for you.

I did some forum searches primarily because I remembered how frustrating it was for me, when I was going through it, when people would never respond after providing promising updates. I believe a part of that was because they probably didn't want to relive the frustration and trauma of going through this. They just wanted to move on. But still, when you're on the raft it's frustrating.

I just wanted to pop in and give everyone here some much needed hope by sharing my story. We all sound startingly similar because I think we're all cut from the same cloth, in terms of our propensity to worry about health.

I first started suffering from these odd transitional apneas when I was a senior in high school in 2010. Over the years they would come and go, only intensifying when my anxiety over them would increase. After noticing the correlation, I started focusing on relaxing exercises for my diaphragm (you can easily find such exercises on YouTube), as well as taking a mild homeopathic calming agent (L-Theanine, 200 mg strength). After just days of doing this, I noticed a sheer drop off in the number of transitional events (something like 10 or more to 1-4). Eventually, after conditioning my mind not to fixate on the events, accept their presence during sleep, I went years without experiencing them at all.

Fast forward to this past January, I started experiencing them again. I didn't feel overtly stressed so my mind started jumping to the worst case, like full-out Central Sleep Apnea. Would I have to live my life on a CPAP? Would I ever sleep and feel rested again? I punked myself into near-hysteria and ended up not sleeping for several days.

DO NOT MAKE MY MISTAKE. After seeing a sleep specialist, she concluded what I knew in the back of my mind: I was making a normal reacting to latent stress a lot worse than it needed to be. I explained my history to her and she nodded and agreed with me that this isn't pathological sleep apnea. If it were, I would not be able to find effective relief without serious medical intervention (e.g. a BiPap, ASV, medicine to regulate the nervous system, a diaphragm pacer, phrenic nerve stimulator, etc.). I was able to treat this obnooxious bullshit myself when I was a teenager to the point where I eliminated it from my life for years.

It turns out that transitional events can be triggered by stress. Even a little can set off a firestorm of hell, with regards to this. So I decided that I would treat it again. This is what I did:

(1) L-Theanine (200 mg increments to calm down, your needed dosage will vary)

(2) Clean diet. I eliminated anything with extra stimulants lik added sugars. Only fruits, vegetables, lean meats and oatmeal as a complex carbs source.

(3) Exercise. Exercise. EXERCISE. I know this can be a tough one on those days where you got no rest but do it anyway. Studies show that exercise greatly improved the recovery and quality of life in people with CSA. Do it. There's nothing that brings on a good sleep like falling into bed exhausted from a good run or weight lifting session.

I really do think for the most part, our common problem on here is anxiety. I don't doubt these are true transitional events but again, transitional events can be normal. We are making it worse by fixating and clinging to forums. Use this place as a support resource, but I would encourage you to not google your symptoms.

Relax. Trust that you can overcome this and don't be discouraged. It can be quite a process but you can recover and have your good quality of life and rest again.