Pretty strange stuff

Hello all,

I always try to share the unknown and strange happenings that I experience here on ATS gray area. Well, last night I went to sleep and woke up about 12 am thinking I had slept all night. No big deal, this happens from time to time. I remembered that I'd been dreaming about a friend of mine that passed away several years ago and we were driving in his parent's Chevy Impala ss having a good time. I went back to sleep.

I sleep with a CPAP device. Next thing I remember I'm dreaming that I'm dying. My wife and I were walking down a sidewalk late at night that was dimly lit by a street light and the sky was pitch black with a few scattered stars. I was looking up at the sky and noticed there was a word like quote in white set against the black sky but it was slowly fading to black. I knew this was the end for me but I wasn't scared or panicked. Instead, I was calm and had a very peaceful feeling come over me like it was gonna be okay and this was something very natural but not the end.

Next, my wife and I were sitting on a couch in a dark but dimly lit living room holding hands. I knew it was time and I was letting go. In my dream I had the feeling that we were both going to die together and move on. Everything was fading to black. We knew we'd be together again at some point but again I just had this peace come over me assuring it was okay. Then I felt it. My last heartbeat in my chest. My heart was strong until the end but then it proudly gave up its last beat and I knew it.

Immediately after this I heard my wife calling my name and my eyes opened. She said 'Eric! Eric you're not breathing, wake up!' She looked half asleep herself and feel right back to sleep after seeing I was okay. I noticed the right side of my CPAP mask had come undone and was no longer doing its job. It was around 4am.

So, what the heck was this?

Just a dream? A serious health problem? 'I have an implantable cardiac loop recorder so if my heart did go into some kind of arrhythmia or stopped they should be calling soon depending on when the data uploaded'

Some kind of paranormal phenomena of the dream state that involved my wife as well...somehow? When I told her about the dream this afternoon she said it sounded 'familiar' but doesn't know what exactly woke her up to alert me I wasn't breathing.

Was she having the dream with me?

Worst case scenario....Is my wife trying to kill me subconsciously or...consciously...? In the dream state? lol heck if I know...

Dont know and not willing to speculate but I'll give you a S&F for surviving your wife's attempted murder.

A2D

a reply to: Gumerk

Maybe just a near death experience?

Blaah.. i should also use the sleep apnea machine, but with insomnia, i just can not, so instead i wake up yelling or gasping for air 50 times every night.

originally posted by: solve
a reply to: Gumerk

Maybe just a near death experience?

Blaah.. i should also use the sleep apnea machine, but with insomnia, i just can not, so instead i wake up yelling or gasping for air 50 times every night.

I won't get one now if they make me!

Do you drink by any chance? Or take any opiates for pain?

a reply to: Gumerk

I've shared dreams with my wife before, so the idea isn't farfetched to me.

a reply to: ThankzgivingDinnerz

No, neither one. Wife takes opiates as needed but not I.

Sounds like you disconnected your mask flailing about from a dream. The physiological affect was real to your body but you were asleep. Your body tried to wake you but your asleep so the dream state (subconscious) gave you visual sensations (dreams) from the stimulus (breathing issues) instead . Good thing your actions woke up your wife!

Is it a full face coverage mask or just a over the nose type? I had some problems with sleep apnea before losing a significant amount of weight. I don’t think that the mask being partially off would be enough to cause your blood ox to get too low, you’re still getting more air than you would be without the mask unless the machine stops pumping if it doesn’t have a proper seal but neither of the machines I had would stop if not properly seated. Did your wife say how long she felt you weren’t breathing for? It may have been you jostling the mask around while asleep. I doubt that it was you were actually having a NDE if you were breathing was indeed disrupted her yelling at you shouldn’t have made a difference, perhaps if she physically jarred you but I tend to think the dream and situation were unrelated and just coincidence but I could be wrong. It’d be interesting to see if your heart monitor picked anything up. If you’re worried perhaps schedule another sleep study to see if perhaps your CPAP levels need to be adjusted?

could be a "wake up call" of some sort. wouldnt hurt to have everything checked over to be safe. i would check the machine itself for any signs that it needs a repair or adjustment, new battery or whatever, and check yourself as in just go for a checkup or whatever, have some tests run, that sort of thing. Couldn't hurt, right?

a reply to: BigDave-AR

Yeah it's a full face coverage. I've lost 26 pounds this year so far. From the way she can remember it, she woke up and just noticed I wasn't breathing...somehow. It's kind of spooky lol...like, surely she wasn't just watching me sleep right? I never got a call from the pacemaker lab so I'm confident there were no serious abnormal rhythms that night.

I'm thinking the same thing in that her getting my attention by voice or nudging me really wouldn't bring me out of...whatever I was speculating that was.

Definitely need another sleep study that's for sure. Every time I tell the doctor's about seeing the color violet/purple with my eyes closed as I'm going into, in between, or coming out of sleep they all give me the look of..."Um, what?"

It's also 'possible' I have narcolepsy without cataplexy 'or something similar' as I can go into REM sleep in less than a minute sometimes, but have never had the loss of muscle tone and collapse while conscious ' however I have felt it in the dream state but that's not a very reliable recall and can be confused or mistaken with sleep paralysis as well.' Thanks for all the input.