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Big Breaths wake me up every five minutes


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Insomnia is bad enough, but a month ago I started having these Big Breaths that wake me up, occurring from five minutes apart to three hours apart. I jumped 20 months ago after a long and difficult taper with all possible symptoms, never improved, and now I'm tapering off progesterone (I'm postmenopausal). The breaths are one Big Breath that jerk me awake. It's not sleep apnea, as they happen when I'm awake also, day or night. My blood oxygen level is good. I'm going insane. Has anybody had these? My doctor and therapist have no clue. I'm desperate, can't live like this any more. But I have my husband and son to consider. I take clonidine and melatonin, which helped in the past and do make me drowsy, but whenever I start to doze, I get a Big Breath, like a spasm in my lungs or diaphragm. Please help.

MirandaJane

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This actually may be a good sign.

 

I didn’t sleep more than 0-2 hours a night for over two years, and those long breaths began to happen to me around the time natural sleep began to return, along with jerking of my feet, and violent hypnagogic jerks that made my arms fly into the air and then crash back down onto my face.  :o

 

I began to notice, as things settled down more and more, that just before I fell into a deep sleep, I’d get a couple of foot jerks and one of those long breaths. I began to welcome them as the beginning of my sleep, and still have them today.

 

No more horrible jerking, just those two now-small cues, and I fall asleep for hours, no more nasty wake-ups.

 

These days I’m sleeping 7-14 hours, drug-free, and I literally thought I’d never sleep again. You might be in the phase now where the stuff that wakes you up evolves into gentle pre-sleep cues. :thumbsup:

 

 

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LeslieAsh - Thanks so much for your response. I hope you are right. But I don't go to sleep after these breaths occur. I simply lie there, wide awake, until the next one happens. Last night, this happened all night long. No sleep.

 

My recovery is complicated by progesterone withdrawal; after missing a dose of progesterone last year and having horrible panic and other symptoms, I learned that progesterone is a "soft" benzo, so I'm going through withdrawal all over again. So I don't know whether I've jumped from benzos or not. I've cut my progesterone half way since October, and have been holding my dose since these Big Breaths began a month ago. Should I move forward with withdrawal or not?

 

MirandaJane

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Hi:

 

I suggest you should move forward with your withdrawal. When I went to my gynecologist about three years ago inquiring about HRT, she refused to prescribed it. I am glad she did because I was in the middle of trying to taper other drugs and I didn't know then that progesterone and estrogen or any other hormone replacement therapy does affect the same gaba receptors as benzos do; so what you are feeling are the withdrawals symptoms from this. It is better not to add another drug top of this either that more likely you will end up  weaning off as well. By the way, I took Melatonin four about fours years. I went from 6mg to 1mg because my holistic psychiatrist told me is better less. When I decided to quit it finally, I did have some minor withdrawal symptoms but nothing like a benzo. My sleep is good now, I can sleep from 6 1/2 7 hrs a night and I feel functional again. You will too. Hang in there. When I jumped I also felt hypnic jerks while trying to fall asleep. It lasted for two months and then they faded away never to return, thank God.

 

Best wishes,

 

Solyluna

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Solyluna - thanks so much for your response. My therapist, who was helpful during withdrawal, suggested the progesterone to help with symptoms, and it did help. Now I know why! I had no idea it would be as strong as benzos and take so long to withdraw. I thought that holding my dose would relieve the Big Breaths, but now I doubt it, so I might as well move forward, though some other buddies say to go really slow with progesterone withdrawal. This is all so complicated - and difficult. I've had jerks and muscle spasms and twitches ever since starting withdrawal. I'm used to them, but the breaths are horrific.

 

Thanks again, and I hope you are well.

 

MirandaJane

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have them too I've spent 2.5 months trying to taper off 7.5mg Zopiclone after switching to Zopiclone alone. I'm now at about 0.75mg Zopiclone. I call them myoclonic involuntary aspirations (if you're having what I think you're having). They happen along with jerks of hands, neck and legs as well as what I call 'myoclonic involuntary swallowings' in shallow sleep or wake-sleep transition. Mine could be as frequent as every 5 seconds if I'm really sleepy but haven't had enough Zopiclone to suppress the jerks.

I've found a few things other than a benzo, Z drug or alcohol that'll also suppress the jerks. Valproate is very effective at 10-30mg/kg. Cyclobenzaprine 5-10mg works wonders and will let me sleep at half my usual daily dose of Zopiclone, but itself is addictive so I only use once to twice a week. Bromide helped me tremendously thus far but correct dosing is a little complicated, and in the end I'm not sure if it's really a withdrawal aide or merely a drug substitution. Bromide as a drug historically was replaced by phenobarbital which was replaced by benzos. I haven't been able to find documented cases of bromide (or valproate for that matter) tolerance addiction though.

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Insomnia is bad enough, but a month ago I started having these Big Breaths that wake me up, occurring from five minutes apart to three hours apart. I jumped 20 months ago after a long and difficult taper with all possible symptoms, never improved, and now I'm tapering off progesterone (I'm postmenopausal). The breaths are one Big Breath that jerk me awake. It's not sleep apnea, as they happen when I'm awake also, day or night. My blood oxygen level is good. I'm going insane. Has anybody had these? My doctor and therapist have no clue. I'm desperate, can't live like this any more. But I have my husband and son to consider. I take clonidine and melatonin, which helped in the past and do make me drowsy, but whenever I start to doze, I get a Big Breath, like a spasm in my lungs or diaphragm. Please help.

MirandaJane

 

That sounds like something that a  youtuber called airhunger. He said that he would wake up and feel like he was sufficating  and that he needed to take big breaths.

 

There have been times when I feel as if i couldnt get enough air but not to the extent you are talking about.

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