Hi guys. I'm really struggling today and I just want someone to help me figure this out. Over the past year or so, I've been having experiences where I wake up suddenly from sleep or have trouble falling asleep. I don't know how properly to explain it but when I close my eyes and am about to drift off, it suddenly feels like a "whoosh" and there's just a surge of something inside me and I wake up breathing heavily. It takes me a while to recover and when I start to doze off again, it happens all over. It takes me about at least half an hour to then finally go to sleep. I don't know if these are called panic attacks because they mostly only happen when I'm asleep but it really really bothers me because I can't sleep.

Today was the worst. I slept at 1 am and woke up for something work related at 5 am. I thought I would have a normal day but when I tried to take a nap at around 10 am, this thing happened again and oh boy it was bad. My heart was beating fast and it just felt bad. It's not 9 PM at night and I still haven't been able to take a peaceful nap. I'm so fucking scared I don't know what to do? How will I sleep? My body is so tired and I am trying so hard to sleep but something is not letting me! It's draining me so much and I had a breakdown because it's never been this bad.

I don't wanna label anything because I've never been to a psychiatrist before and don't think I will be able to (family issues) but if someone could offer any support or help me recognize what this issue is, it'll be amazing. I don't think it's sleep paralysis? i wake up fully conscious and functional. I don't know what to do. I just want to sleep