I stop breathing the moment I fall asleep, but I don't think it's apnea?!

I stop breathing the moment I fall asleep, but I don't think it's apnea?

For the past month or two, I've had this really bizarre sleeping problem. The very moment when I crossover from being awake to falling asleep, I completely stop breathing and violently wake up gasping for air. It feels like that "falling feeling" you get in bad dreams, only much more intense. This usually happens about 5-10 times each night before I finally fall asleep successfully. Once I'm asleep, I'm just fine. I wake up plenty rested and don't have any other breathing problems throughout the night. Hence why I don't think it's apnea. During these episodes, I have to monitor my breathing while I fall asleep, which is very annoying.

I've found a few other people online having the same problem, but nobody seems to have an answer other than "go see your doctor." That's the obvious answer and that's not what I'm looking for. What I'm looking for is if someone has any more info about this. A name for it? Something? I dont have insurance so a doctor isn't possible right now.

I am a sleep lab technician and your condition does sound like apnea. I think one of two things could be happening. You may either have apneic episodes only with sleep onset (beginning of sleep) or you only notice them with sleep onset and sleep through the rest of them. I see it all the time. I have patients who wake up choking the first few minutes they are asleep then they usually sleep the rest of the night (most with continued apnea, some without).

Since going to the doctor is out of the question right now, the only thing I can suggest is purchasing a pulse oximeter and having someone watch it while you are asleep. They are kind of pricey, yet still cheaper than going to a sleep lab. The pulse oximeter is a probe that sits on your finger or ear and monitors your oxygen saturation levels. If you have sleep apnea, your oxygen levels should rise and fall repeatedly throughout the night. Although, this will be a good indicator, the only way to truly know if you have it (or what type you have) is to have a sleep study done.

Hope this helps.