Middle of the night last night woke suddenly to find no air in my lungs! Felt like I had winded myself and had to do the banging on the chest and lots of gasping to get going again. What to do?

Maybe my wife was strangling me!

Sleep paralysis folowed by panic?

Sleep paralysis is where you wake up but your mind forgets to tell your body, so its still paralysed (to stop you acting out your dreams). Can feel like someones sat on your chest (you try and sit up, can't, so the brain asumes there's a weight on top of you). Can also be acompanied by halucinations (your still half in the dream, half in the room).

One of my friends had it once and was convinced there was a ghost straddling her and pining her to the bed. From what I read thats a fairly typical sensation. I tend to go through phases of it, it's liek dreaming, once you know whats happening its a lot less scary and you can lie back and wait for it to pass.

Weird feeling, I was able to sit up but my wife jumped out of bed and stuck the light on to see why her hucband was seemingly about to croak it (34yrs old but he had a good innings)!

Big spider in your throat?

I think the wife throttling story is most likely. Has she been buying any additional insurance lately?

Could be sleep apnea – I think there are a number of causes. Have a look at NHS Direct under Apnea. Probably worth a visit to the GP if you think the description fits the symptom.

hmmmm…. maybe not then. Asthma?

You had a visit from the old hag.

Are you feeling hungry at all this morning?

8)

In all seriousness though, I think a visit to the doc is in order.

You had a visit from the old hag.

I can confirm that Mrs B was next to me all last night, so it cant be her….

convinced there was a ghost straddling her and pining her to the bed.

I went through a couple of years at Uni where this would happen now and again…very frightening…also had the hallucinations (I watched my body floating upwards in a mirror…no drugs involved)

It's never happened since (15 years +)

If it happens again you could do worse than having a chat with your GP

http://www.spis.org.uk/