Greetings everyone , newbie here.
It's difficult to put in words what I am describing.let me try.
I'm in late 40, obese male. I have these bouts of breathlessness in sleep which I am going to talk about, point wise.
1) I never sleep on my back , since childhood I have habbit of sleeping on my stomach, that too on my right cheek.
2) I get this episodes of breathlessness very sporadic, say once in month or so.
3) I have observed the frequency slightly increases in winters or when I have lots of mucus in my nose way. Like couple of days back, I must have caught some allergies or so, my nose is full of mucus, and I keep swallowing it. Yesterday night I had the attack.
4) here's how I feel exactly during the episode. As if I am totally paralysed, not able to move my body, to breathe I try to lift my neck-it feels like Im trying to move a mountain.(remember, I m sleeping on my cheek). Somehow after repeated attempts I move it and manage to breathe. There is a dull ache in my right neck muscles after waking up.
6)my immediate thoughts are this is the end, I am going to die unless I move my paralysed body. There is a dream sequence triggered wherein I am clawing, hitting , screeming at my wife sleeping besides me to shake my paralysed body so I can breathe.
7) weird but the actual feeling of breathlessness is quite pleasant, almost intoxicating, like sinking.
8) besides I remember very often the apneas are triggered when my wife, who is on heavier side, say puts her leg or arm on my body during sleep. I still remember when my kid was small, I was sleeping as usual on my stomach, she was playing , she sat on my back and I stopped breathing and paralysed. I was like screaming at her in dream to move, trying to shake her off. If she had sat for more time I would certainly have died.
I know my experiences may sound weird, but that's what I go through when I run out of breath sleeping. I have read many content on sleep apnea, yet to come across anything similar to me.
So is it sleep apnea or something else.?
