Posted 5/12/2015 12:30 PM (GMT 0)
I came to a scary realisation last night when, as I tried to fall asleep, I began to feel my tongue block my airways. My jaw became lighter, as did my chest and back, my arms hurt from the tension they'd been through and my heart began racing. Most importantly though, my breathing became completely compromised. If I didn't suddenly sit up, or adopt a forward-head posture, my breathing would get worse. For the record, IT IS NOT HYPERVENTILATION. I know how that feels, and it does not feel like this. I have fainted from lack of oxygen before, and I have numerous recordings of me gasping for air because air is not reaching my lungs.
This keeps happening during the daytime as well, and it's entirely related to posture. The very slightest change to my posture can undo the tension I feel in my back, chest, shoulders, neck and throat, but makes my breathing ability impossible. I can be anxious all day and not have any shortness of breath, or I can be enjoying myself with my friends and suddenly become breathless because I took on a certain posture. I know it sounds strange, because for most people, tension causes shortness of breath, but in my case, unless I stay tensed up, I cannot breath and my body knows it.
I'm worried that I cannot truly relax. I'm trying to chase up a diagnosis of Apnea, because I really don't want to die from that in my sleep, but I keep hearing of how people have Apnea in the day, because when they let their muscles relax, the airways collapse and their breathing blocks off. The same thing is happening to me, made worse by my swollen sinuses and LPR reflux.
I can't take much more of this; why do all these things happen to me? And how can I make it so I can relax but I can breathe? I've tried ignoring the symptoms, but my body eventually forces me to gasp because it isn't getting the oxygen it needs.