COMMENTS: inhaling and exhaling

sounds like "ondine's curse."

basically, breathing is an autonomic function; you don't generally have to think about it, altho you may consciously takeover and hold your breath or hyperventilate if you want to -- unlike, say, voluntarily controlling your heartbeat and pulse, which is much harder (but possible with practice).

some people, however, don't have the benefit of an autonomic respiratory system 'autopilot' and must 'think' about breathing... in order to breathe.

it's thought that ondine's curse (or congenital central hypoventilation syndrome as it's called now) may be one of the causes of sudden infant death syndrome. if someone does have CCHS, they need a ventilator to sleep at night, otherwise they'd 'forget' to.

disclosure! i didn't know any of this until a few minutes ago. i just remembered something like you described in a book i read awhile ago and looked it up on the internet :D

cheers.

Posted by | September 24, 2004 11:47 PM

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that about SIDS -- that actually makes a lot of sense.

I don't think I really have Ondine's Curse, though, because once I had gotten past my freakout, I slept just fine. I think other factors (probably lack of interaction with people over the course of a day) caused a hypochondriacal reaction. What's scary, though, is not being able to discern whether what I'm feeling is the result of hypochondria or a real condition.

Posted by beth | September 25, 2004 02:20 PM

Hi Beth, it's hypochondria. I just thought you might want to know. It may also be anxiety that you are not consciously aware of. I'm sure it will pass soon.

Posted by Nancy Sullivan | September 25, 2004 10:47 PM

yeah, I'm with your mom. your a freak.

Posted by chris | September 26, 2004 11:55 AM

occasionally I wake up because I forget to breathe in my sleep -on the plus side, I always wake up...but I'm not sure it's that whole curse thing...whenever I do that, I always find I'm pressing really hard on my chest...does this make any sense?

Posted by | September 26, 2004 09:48 PM

Hey most recent poster, that sounds like sleep apnea. You may want to have it checked out.

Posted by Beth | September 27, 2004 12:51 PM

you might try one of these :D cheers!

Posted by | September 28, 2004 09:28 AM

But then you'd dream about snorkeling every night...

Posted by beth | September 28, 2004 09:43 AM