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Seuss
Error: divide byzero


Registered: 04/27/01
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Wake apnea?
#5352823 - 03/01/06 09:19 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Is there such a thing as wake apnea? Basically, forgetting to breath while awake. This has happened to me several times while meditating, and happened for the first time while not meditating, last night, while I was doing computer work. I haven't passed out, that I know of, but I have come pretty close. Last night, I ended up spraying spittle all over the computer, completely out of the blue, as my body suddenly gasped for air. I'm not going to get worried about it unless it starts happening on a regular basis, but I am curious if anybody else has ever heard of anything like this happening?
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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leery11
I Tell You What!

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Re: Wake apnea? [Re: Seuss]
#5353886 - 03/01/06 03:15 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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i've had it happen a few times then it completely stopped.
I don't really know what to tell you.
-------------------- I am the MacDaddy of Heimlich County, I play it Straight Up Yo! ....I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside and weep like a widow, to feel inspired, to fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human...... Om Namah Shivaya, I tell you What!
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JacquesCousteau
Being.


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Re: Wake apnea? [Re: Seuss]
#5353908 - 03/01/06 03:21 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I find myself not breathing occasionally... usually when I'm thinking too hard.
But these are always noticed and remedied before I get to the point where I'm gasping for air, so I don't know if this is the same thing.
It might be that it's the same thing, but I'm such an anxious bastard that I can't go as long without "checking" to see if I'm still breathing :P
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero


Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
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> usually when I'm thinking too hard
Hmmm... the only times it has happened before were when I was meditating... and to be honest, I wasn't sure if it really happened, or was just an artifact of my mind calming down... when it happened the other night, I was deep in thought trying to figure out why a nasty differential equation wasn't being calculated properly. Unless it becomes a common occurance, I am not going to worry.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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Booby
Agent Mulder

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Re: Wake apnea? [Re: Seuss]
#5356339 - 03/02/06 04:35 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Yes i have had this happen; it's disconcerting to think I have to remember to breathe.
One could guess that it is an indication of a spiritual presence messin' with us, if we believe in such things.
Here's another one: The feeling of having just returned to a conscious state several times in the course of an hour as if consciousness had been totaly removed then reinstated (without the use of drugs) That also can be disconcerting.
-------------------- Let it not be remembered That mycelium eats detritus and dies But that life in all it's glory Counts mycelium to be on it's side.
Edited by Booby (03/02/06 04:46 AM)
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JacquesCousteau
Being.


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Re: Wake apnea? [Re: Booby]
#5356456 - 03/02/06 06:30 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Booby said: Yes i have had this happen; it's disconcerting to think I have to remember to breathe.
Yeah, that is the impression the experience makes, but don't be fooled... your automated systems WILL kick in, even if you have to pass out first...
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tuneller
Stranger

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Re: Wake apnea? [Re: Seuss]
#11242232 - 10/13/09 08:20 PM (14 years, 3 months ago) |
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I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea within the last year and now wonder about wake apnea. I also find myself gasping sometimes when in deep thought but also when biking, watching TV, and other odd activities. Perhaps what is causing the apnea is not sleep related but occurring at any time. hmmm
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Ozekat
Cosmic Observer


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Re: Wake apnea? [Re: tuneller]
#11243251 - 10/13/09 11:01 PM (14 years, 3 months ago) |
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I can relate. You've got to be aware of your negative thinking mechanisms in place though, once when I ate a bunch of acid after not sleeping for an entire night (i'd say it was at least 5 hits, but it seemed like more) I basically hallucinated i was suffocating.
I also notice when I am thinking about "am i breathing enough" or whatever, its just a thought, its like the breathing goes on anyway.
What did you feel when you stopped breathing? or thought you stopped breathing? Was it a rush of energy in your stomach or solar plexus.
I don't know man, I claim to have amrita-like experiences almsost everyday. My body is going through a lot of metamorposis, along with the rest of me.
peace.
-------------------- Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are. - Chinese Proverb
Beauty & Simplicity
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neuro
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Re: Wake apnea? [Re: Seuss]
#11247271 - 10/14/09 04:37 PM (14 years, 3 months ago) |
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As you probably are aware, the diaphragm has autonomic (deeper brain centers) and willful (i.e. motor cortex) innervations. This explains why people can consciously control the act of breathing but never have to "remember" to breathe (how do you breath when you're asleep?).
I would not be surprised if concentration can interrupt or change your breathing patterns. The explanation for this could go many ways as I think of it now off the top of my head - i was thinking of something called spreading activation. But really the detailed explanation is not important. Just like you can consciously control your breathing by thinking about it and saying to yourself "stop breathing now," or "breathe in a rhythm similar to a skipping pattern" or whatever else you can cause yourself to do, you probably as well modify your breathing habits in a sub-conscious (but not truly unconscious) way. That is, your concentration affecting your breathing pattern similar to how people let their tongue hang out when similarly concentrating if that helps paint a picture.
I tend to actually hold my breathe willfully, but i don't always notice that I do it all the times it has occured. I generally do this when concentrating believe it or not. But i recognize this as an extension of a willful act that I know i tend to do, and have related it to periods of concentration. I don't know why i do it, but it's a quirky habit. I notice it most during debate when listening to the other's argument.
Now, something all the more serious would be to lose the function of your autonomic breathing centers. If this something that appears to be happening, that is you can't breathe unless you actually concentrate on doing it, and when you don't you stop breathing, then I would wonder about serious things like strokes that may have occured (called lacunar strokes) to malignancy(cancer). Could be other stuff too, but when you're talking about the brain and serious centers being affected slowly over time, insidiously as they say, one would wonder about cancer. Not too much else goes on acutely in the brain other than seizure or infection, and very little in terms of damage goes on slowly other than cancer, especially in more esoteric parts of the brain (i.e. non cerebral areas).
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Todcasil
rogue DMT elf


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Re: Wake apnea? [Re: Seuss]
#11247339 - 10/14/09 04:50 PM (14 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: Is there such a thing as wake apnea? Basically, forgetting to breath while awake. This has happened to me several times while meditating, and happened for the first time while not meditating, last night, while I was doing computer work. I haven't passed out, that I know of, but I have come pretty close. Last night, I ended up spraying spittle all over the computer, completely out of the blue, as my body suddenly gasped for air. I'm not going to get worried about it unless it starts happening on a regular basis, but I am curious if anybody else has ever heard of anything like this happening?
My take:
Are you only recently getting into deep meditation, or achieving a deep meditative state? Since a lot of this has to do with controlling or focusing on your breath, this could be happening while not meditating, but doing a similar exercise in focus (like computer work etc...) This happened to me a few times, but it always corrects itself, and eventually it stopped happening altogether.
just sayin'.
-------------------- Men look at themselves and they see flawed humans, we look at women and we see perfect GODDESSES Women look at themselves and they seem utterly human, when looking at men they see proud GODS. ~Casil
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