Bruxism

[Guest]

I'm not even sure what to call this, however it happens to me frequently and always just as I'm about to fall into deep sleep. I, all of the sudden, get this overwhelming feeling that the building is crushing me, I can't breathe or move and the only way to snap myself out of it is if I wake up. It's like I am half-awake and half-asleep. It happened to me pretty strongly last week and I began screaming because I thought that I was dying, but nobody heard me scream because no voice came out. I have no idea why this happens to me, except that maybe it represents me being overwhelmed in my conscious life. I would like to stop it from happening to me though. Any advice as to what this is called and why it happens would be extremely appreciated. Thanks.

[Guest]

this could be a symtpom of several things like sleep apnea, panic attacks at night, angina, stress, etc. A full evaluation by a physician should be a good place to start
[quote] I'm not even sure what to call this, however it happens to me frequently and always just as I'm about to fall into deep sleep. I, all of the sudden, get this overwhelming feeling that the building is crushing me, I can't breathe or move and the only way to snap myself out of it is if I wake up... [/quote]

[Guest]

The same thing happens to me and has been going on for a long time. I finally had a sleep study done and was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, bruxism and nocturnal myoclonus! At least I have an answer now for the strange things happening to me during the night!

I do encourage you to have a sleep study at a sleep diagnostics lab if at all possible.
[quote] this could be a symtpom of several things like sleep apnea, panic attacks at night, angina, stress, etc. A full evaluation by a physician should be a good place to start
[quote] I'm not even sure what to call this, however it happens to me frequently and always just as I'm about to fall into deep sleep... [/quote]

[Guest]

I've had that happen many times, in fact almost any time I sleep on my back it happens. It's nothing serious, its probably "sleep paralysis". When people dream, their brain sends a chemical to paralyze your muscles so that you dont really act out your dream and jump out of bed or scream or whatever. 99% of the time you never feel the paralysis because you're asleep! But what's happening with you is your conscious mind is semi-awake, but your brain forgot to shut off the paralysis chemical. I know the exact feeling, its very scary, like youre being possesed by demons or youre dying or something, but you're not. The reason it feels like you can't breathe is because your conscious mind can't control the breaths, but your brain already has that covered and is breathing automatically for you. The best thing to do is just fight the feeling of being afraid, and just remind yourself that nothing serious is happening and just go back to sleep, dont try to awaken yourself because usually you can't.

Just a note for you, I had sleep paralysis for years and eventually I started having panic attacks while awake during the day. A panic attack is a very similar feeling and its very scary too, so you just have to identify it and realise you're not dying and manually calm yourself down and really just think about something else, because the more you concentrate on the panic attack the more you get scared and the worse it gets.
[quote] I'm not even sure what to call this, however it happens to me frequently and always just as I'm about to fall into deep sleep. I, all of the sudden, get this overwhelming feeling that the building is crushing me, I can't breathe or move and the only way to snap myself out of it is if I wake up... [/quote]

[Guest]

Greetings.

I haev had the same problems adn I just introduced myself over in the narcolepsy forum.

Feel free to read my history there.

I just realized this may be a bigger deal after reading a few threads over there.

It made me angry but I think I have recovered at this point.

We need to keep this place hopping. There are far more of us than we realize right now.

Many of us have no idea what this experience is or how to describe the chest crush to a physician.

The fact of the matter is that I had myself convinced it was something supernatural.

My challenge now is to take this disease to the next level. I want to have dreams about 5 hot women that cant speak english or the same language (Just so they cant bicker back and forth). They are holding me down and having there way with me like the succubi they are. Then I transfer the dream over into my waking state and I hallucinate about them there.

Get up take a shower, and set off to another great day.


[quote] I've had that happen many times, in fact almost any time I sleep on my back it happens. It's nothing serious, its probably "sleep paralysis"... [/quote]