Stop Breathing After Deep Breathing

Hi @brittni79. That has to feel pretty scary. I think this is a good subject to bring up with your primary care provider. Have you been checked for sleep apnea?

There is a well-known syndrome called 'sleep onset central apnea'. This is a case where you might over-oxygenate as you fall asleep, but then your central nervous system doesn't keep you breathing because your blood volume of CO2 is slow to rise and to trigger the breathing reflex,

In case it's news to you, you don't breathe to keep oxygen levels up in narrow range. You breathe when your blood CO2 rises above a high limit and when that happens, your diaphragm kicks in to make you breathe to flush out your lungs with fresh air, which helps to strip the erythrocytes of their burden of CO2.

Often this phenomenon doesn't persist for more than a few days or weeks, and then it goes away. It might be related to meds, new meds, stress, physical exertion during the day, or even to foods or alcohol. If it persists, consult a respiratory therapist or the physician that may have prescribed your PAP therapy if you're on it. Or, try reducing your EPR on your machine (if you're on PAP therapy) by one cm H2O.

Sounds like you may have sleep apnea. You stop breathing for a few seconds to minute and you end up gasping for air. That was happening to me so my pulmonologist did an at home sleep study by attaching a unit by strapping it around by chest and it monitors your breathing.
It’s painless and you unhook the little box in the morning and bring it back to your pulmonologist and he takes the information and decides if you need a c-pap machine to stop the sudden stop of breathing and it pushes air into your lungs and then get a c-pap prescription and you will have to attach it to your nose area and you should stop your breathing from stopping.
You just need the machine to push air into your nose or your nose and mouth mask.
You need to see a sleep doctor. Talk to your doctor and ask for a sleep study.