Over the past few years, this weird occurrence has happened to me occasionally.
When I am laying in...
So I had exactly all of this start happening about 4 years ago every single night, all night long, and it lasted for about 6 weeks, which is when after trying everything, I found something that worked for me to 'overcome' this awful sleep problem. I figured I'd share this here to help others who might be struggling with this. I did tons of internet research for weeks, circling around various physical problems it could be but eventually the people that I found had the most similar symptoms eventually discovered it was anxiety/stress related. At the time I did not make the connection, but I realize now that this terrible life-ruining sleep issue started shortly after being sexually assaulted by my black-out-drunk boyfriend when he came home late one night, I had been fast asleep. At the time I "brushed it off" and sort of forgot about it for 4 years so that trauma was being expressed by my body in a way I guess.
I thought it would never stop and I was convinced that if I didn't die in my sleep one night, I would eventually die from lack of sleep. For 6 weeks I was lucky to get 1 hour of sleep every night. I never saw a doctor about it since I have a severe medical phobia. I decided to eventually accept that it was anxiety/stress related (I attributed it to being in school at the time) and was able to slowly get better.
Obviously I'm not a doctor but it would seem that this kind of thing could be caused by just about anything that gives you anxiety or stress, and maybe even more so if that thing is sleep related, because then it forms a feedback loop, which is why perhaps a lot of people find that they experience this as part of other medical disorders that affect sleep. I think this could definitely be something experienced as a symptom of someone's PTSD based on my own experience. Once I was able to recognize it as a stress reaction and tell myself that I was safe, and I wasn't going to die, and that nothing bad was going to happen in my sleep, I was slowly able to overcome it. I also used weird techniques of 'brain distraction', as I call it. I slept on the couch for a while and listened to music I knew the words to while trying to sleep or I would play video games until I passed out. It seems like if I kept my brain distracted while it was trying to go to sleep, it would just do it without over-thinking it and panicking. Avoided caffeine, sugar, and weed like the devil until it resolved - anything that makes your brain think more than normal. It took a few weeks but eventually I went back to our bed and had 1 night that it didn't happen at all. From then on, I knew I was going to be okay and was able to move past it. Today it still happens 1x a week on average but only like 5 times before I'm able to just go to sleep, mostly on nights where I am anxious for whatever reason.
