hello forum,
my name is empty, and i just turned 25, my father was diagnosed with sleep apnea and hates his cpap.  about a month ago i noticed when i slept on my back i would wake up gasping for air. so i sleep on my stomach and side.
now i feel like i cant breathe When i fall asleep, and if i keep enough awareness (i meditate alot), i can see my breathing slow down, and it jarres me awake with panic.
a few weeks ago i noticed i had heart palpitations and they come and go. i havent had a sleep study done, i dont have the money for it, but im thinking of just buying an autopap machine.  im tired during the day and take naps, usually at night i have to stay up until late so that i am exhausted enough to fall asleep without jarring awake panicking about my breathing.
on top of things, i have out of body experiences and i know its not a mainstream common experience, it runs in my family.  they can be disconcerting without the proper training and perspective and i havent quite reached the proficiency level to where they are no longer disturbing as far as some of the sensations go.
just thinking of wearing a sleep mask makes me feel like my partner wont accept me, i would feel like a freak or something.  does the machine make alot of noise?
im not overweight, im inshape, i eat good, do yoga, go to college, and have two great jobs.
im just looking for someone(s) to relate to, and i know with my out of body experiences that makes me a little outside the box.  
any guidance is welcoming, thankyou for your time,
namaste,
empty

You really need a sleep study to determine if you need a cpap/bipap/autopap.  It could be dangerous for you to buy one yourself and start using it without knowing your pressure(s) or you might not even need it.

The machines are very quiet.  My wife doesn't even notice it. If you need one it could solve your breathing problems. You should see you doctor about the heart palpitations.  They may be simple PVCs or something worse.  You could also ask him about a sleep study.  There are ways to get one fairly cheaply.

As far as lucid dreaming, it's funny you should post this now as a couple of nights ago, I had the longest lucid dream I've ever had.  I even woke up a couple of times during the dream, went back to sleep and rejoined it. (For those who don't know what a lucid dream is, it's where you become completely aware of yourself while you're dreaming.  It's exactly like being awake except you're still in the dream and can do anything that comes to mind.) I have had lucid dreams before but usually when I become lucid in a dream, I get so excited that I wake myself up.  This time I told myself to stay calm and the dream lasted all night.

In some lucid dreams when I'm not happy with what's happening I jump up and down in my dream and that usually wakes me up.

I haven't had any out of body experiences, although I've read extensively about them.

Hop


_________________


Acronyms and Often Used Forum Phrases
Respironics? M-Series Auto w/ HH & C-Flex; Flexfit? Hybrid? Mask, Encore Pro 1.8i

Before my sleep studies I use to have dreams that I was rising up backwards out of my body and I could see everybody from above.  This started happening quite frequently.  Then I was diagnosed with Severe OSA with an average of 87 events per hour and my oxygen saturation level was something like 61% I think.  My guess was that I was pretty close to dying in my sleep.  That was the only thing I ever dreamt about and it seemed so real.  Now I dream all the time but about more normal things.