PTSD or Sleep Apnea or just Anxiety - breathless in the night

[Bounce]

Dear people,

I've been waiting a bit for this thread. I am afraid of getting an overwhelming amount of advice and then feeling even more helpless. On the other hand, maybe there is someone who can help.

About my background: I am diagnosed with ptsd.

I've always been able to live okay with my symptoms.

Recently there have been a few conflicts to do with my housing situation, my mother and a new woman I am opening up to, which causes a lot of anxiety in me, but I know she is worth it.

About my problem: for the last three weeks I have been waking up at 1am and gasping for breath. After that it happens again and again as soon as I am in the falling asleep episode. It is cruel. Sometimes I still manage to sleep from about 4am to 8am, but you can imagine how I feel throughout the day.

I had this symptom years ago, but only occasionally.

At the moment I'm supplementing:
- 250-500mg thiamine (I have also read that the respiratory centre is closely linked to thiamine).
- 800mg potassium
- 300mg magnesium
- 600mg calcium
- A multivitamin
- sometimes taurine

I wrote to Chandler Marrs and she recommended I take b2 in the same dose as thiamine.

I saw a doctor and because it was particularly bad one night I also went to hospital.

ECG looks great, blood was fine and when they did the lung function test they said "it's not getting any better".

At the moment, my thoughts only revolve around sleep. And of course about my conflicts, which are there now. I am afraid of not being able to sleep properly any more. And of course I want to live again. Get up in the morning, do sports and be happy as much as possible.

If it goes on like this, I'll make an appointment at the sleep lab.

Should I try taking thiamine in the evening?

I am looking forward to your advice.

Regards from berlin

 

[chrstn4o]

Dear people,

I've been waiting a bit for this thread. I am afraid of getting an overwhelming amount of advice and then feeling even more helpless. On the other hand, maybe there is someone who can help.

About my background: I am diagnosed with ptsd.

I've always been able to live okay with my symptoms.

Recently there have been a few conflicts to do with my housing situation, my mother and a new woman I am opening up to, which causes a lot of anxiety in me, but I know she is worth it.

About my problem: for the last three weeks I have been waking up at 1am and gasping for breath. After that it happens again and again as soon as I am in the falling asleep episode. It is cruel. Sometimes I still manage to sleep from about 4am to 8am, but you can imagine how I feel throughout the day.

I had this symptom years ago, but only occasionally.

At the moment I'm supplementing:
- 250-500mg thiamine (I have also read that the respiratory centre is closely linked to thiamine).
- 800mg potassium
- 300mg magnesium
- 600mg calcium
- A multivitamin
- sometimes taurine

I wrote to Chandler Marrs and she recommended I take b2 in the same dose as thiamine.

I saw a doctor and because it was particularly bad one night I also went to hospital.

ECG looks great, blood was fine and when they did the lung function test they said "it's not getting any better".

At the moment, my thoughts only revolve around sleep. And of course about my conflicts, which are there now. I am afraid of not being able to sleep properly any more. And of course I want to live again. Get up in the morning, do sports and be happy as much as possible.

If it goes on like this, I'll make an appointment at the sleep lab.

Should I try taking thiamine in the evening?

I am looking forward to your advice.

Regards from berlin

I would recommend looking into EFT/tapping first to deal with the emotional aspect. Then look into Patrick Mckeown and the Buteyko Breathing method and use the breathing reeducation exercise. Game changer. Then 500 to 1000mg of GABA before bed, tou can stack it with taurine, glycine and other things you like. But the the first couple of things are game changers. You will learn how to deal with panic episodes using simple breathing techniques and repattern the memories so you don't feel the unproductive emotions associated with them. DM me if you need help with the buteyko stuff, I studied with Patrick Mckeown and can point you to the right exercises.

 

[Bounce]

@Bounce

I would recommend looking into EFT/tapping first to deal with the emotional aspect. Then look into Patrick Mckeown and the Buteyko Breathing method and use the breathing reeducation exercise. Game changer. Then 500 to 1000mg of GABA before bed, tou can stack it with taurine, glycine and other things you like. But the the first couple of things are game changers. You will learn how to deal with panic episodes using simple breathing techniques and repattern the memories so you don't feel the unproductive emotions associated with them. DM me if you need help with the buteyko stuff, I studied with Patrick Mckeown and can point you to the right exercises.

thank you my friend.

to be honest, eft doesn't help me at all - maybe i'm doing it wrong.

i am a huge fan of buteyko breathing and patrick's podcasts. the gentle breathing also helps me in strong ptsd episodes, but unfortunately it doesn't show any effect at night yet. maybe i should practice longer.

 

[mostlylurking]

At the moment I'm supplementing:
- 250-500mg thiamine (I have also read that the respiratory centre is closely linked to thiamine).
- 800mg potassium
- 300mg magnesium
- 600mg calcium
- A multivitamin
- sometimes taurine

I wrote to Chandler Marrs and she recommended I take b2 in the same dose as thiamine.

Are you taking thiamine hcl, or TTFD (allithiamine)? I chose to take thiamine hcl, 1 gram, 2Xday. That is the recommended dose for my size/weight, according to Dr. Costantini here. This dose works wonders for me. I also take 3/4 teas. of magnesium glycinate which equals to 400mg. And I take around 50-75mg of riboflavin (b2) 4Xday and 90-100mg of niacinamide 4Xday. I just drink orange juice for the potassium, I don't supplement with it because there is a chance of taking too much and causing problems. I've been taking high dose thiamine hcl (2grams/day) for 2.5 years and am doing well on it.

I have no idea what big doses of riboflavin would do for/to you. That big dose of potassium is a little troubling.

 

[chrstn4o]

@Bounce

thank you my friend.

to be honest, eft doesn't help me at all - maybe i'm doing it wrong.

i am a huge fan of buteyko breathing and patrick's podcasts. the gentle breathing also helps me in strong ptsd episodes, but unfortunately it doesn't show any effect at night yet. maybe i should practice longer.

Yes I would try both more, but also look into limbic system retraining. Search for: Gupta limbic. The course will come up. It is the missing link for some people that resolve the physical imbalance but the mind doesn't follow suit.

 

[Mathgirl]

I think you'd like the work of Dr Stasha Gominak, a neurologist. Several videos with Mike Muntzle and Dr Gominak on Youtube. Worth a deep dive. She got me sleeping again. Her website has it all if you search and do the research.

 

[Deadpool]

I seem to get the exact same thing from thiamine and magnesium.

Haven’t had it in a few months but got it really bad last night. I think it’s about mineral balance, co2 and paradoxical reactions. Like magnesium should help, potassium too in theory but for some reason they even trigger it. It might be oxalate dumping or something overloading the system causing not enough calcium, I don’t know.

B2 in small doses definitely helps sometimes but I am not sure about it yet.

 

[Bounce]

Are you taking thiamine hcl, or TTFD (allithiamine)? I chose to take thiamine hcl, 1 gram, 2Xday. That is the recommended dose for my size/weight, according to Dr. Costantini here. This dose works wonders for me. I also take 3/4 teas. of magnesium glycinate which equals to 400mg. And I take around 50-75mg of riboflavin (b2) 4Xday and 90-100mg of niacinamide 4Xday. I just drink orange juice for the potassium, I don't supplement with it because there is a chance of taking too much and causing problems. I've been taking high dose thiamine hcl (2grams/day) for 2.5 years and am doing well on it.

I have no idea what big doses of riboflavin would do for/to you. That big dose of potassium is a little troubling.

Yes, i was reading the article and will stop not with the potassium supplementation.

Yes I would try both more, but also look into limbic system retraining. Search for: Gupta limbic. The course will come up. It is the missing link for some people that resolve the physical imbalance but the mind doesn't follow suit.

Thank you - i will check it out

I think you'd like the work of Dr Stasha Gominak, a neurologist. Several videos with Mike Muntzle and Dr Gominak on Youtube. Worth a deep dive. She got me sleeping again. Her website has it all if you search and do the research.

Since your posting i was listen to two interviews and her work is stunning. Thank you. I immediately feel, that she understand her topic. I will do a D3 test. But maybe symptoms was starting when i came back from greece, where i had sun for two weeks (and i almost never wear suncream. But yeah, maybe thats not enough.

 

[Funnywhensunny]

You could also be dealing with issues from POTS. The nervous system is often triggered at night when the circulatory system is not getting blood to the brain. It can set off a cascade of adrenaline, Cortisol and blood sugar dysregulation.
Also, consider that you may have Mold present, which can elicit an excitatory response