Can "air hunger" (diff getting to the bottom of each breath) cause sleep apnea?

Hi,  I'm 8 months off Remeron and 23 months off Klonopin. Several months after stopping the Remeron last Sept, I noticed that breathing at night was becoming difficult where I felt like I had to inhale much deeper with each breath to finish the breath.  Felt  sort of like I was suffocating.    This continued to get worse and I now have this the worst when laying down at night, but also now all day long.

This has made any sort of sleep pretty impossible as every breath feels like it needs attention.    I finally did a sleep study test expecting it to be normal, but it showed that I had mild to moderate Sleep Apnea !!

I never had any troubles with breathing at night or in the daytime before I jumped from the last dose of Remeron.    HAs anyone else had this?  I know that the air hunger is a common symptoms, but mine has persisted and gotten much worse so that it is no longer ocassional, but all the time, and now I have sleep apnea?  I also now seem to have trouble with my swallowing, as if my throat is closing off.

Is it possible that the withdrawal has caused muscle constriction in my bronchi, lungs, etc. and that this will go away when this nightmare is over, or am I now stuck with sleep apnea for the rest of my life?

I haven't slept a wink now for several nights and even the MJ I use for sleep no longer is effective.  Once up and around this deep deep queasy, nauseating dizziness sets in which last the whole day and evening.  My world is getting smaller and smaller.  I have not had any windows at all , just the same intense dizziness, nausea, GI stuff, insomnia,  and anxiety all day every day.  When will some of this abate?

I appreciate any comments about this air hunger issue, which apparently is pretty common, but I would really like to hear from anyone who also developed sleep apnea from the air hunger  during this awful journey.

Many thanks.  BT

You describe my situation precisely. I hope you’re well now.

xo sila

You describe my situation precisely. I hope you’re well now.

 

xo sila