I posted this to another thread but didn't know if everyone would see it. I had a positive outcome, managing to overcome a kind of anxiety attack I've had for a couple of years, and I thought it might be useful to people in similar situations. -- First post: For the past year and a half I have been having anxiety-induced breathing problems and fear of death, right as I'm trying to fall asleep. I've always been a very sound sleeper, no trouble falling asleep and even with this problem I don't have insomnia, but this thing has been very irksome. What happens is that just as I settle down to sleep, laying on my back, my breathing slowing down, I will either forget to inhale or I'll exhale and panic that I've stopped breathing. I will get startle and start to panic, then force myself to breathe, then it will happen again. Naturally I get even more anxious and worry that I might stop breathing in my sleep! Ways to stop this thing include a) actually stopping breathing and then reassuring myself that, yes, I do eventually breathe again and b) going onto my side, which doesn't seem to allow for as much panic. Has anybody else had this? The fear I would just stop breathing and die from that used to be very strong. It's not as bad now but I sure wish I would stop. It's like a schema and if I didn't think about it , maybe it would go away. Second post, a few days later: I wanted to follow up and say that amazingly, I figured out a way around the scary, pointless breathing problem I was having!!!!! The day after it happened, I kept thinking about how I'd never be able to sleep again if I had that problem. It really scared me. I dreaded sleep! However, somehow I was able to be optimistic enough to fight it. What I did was, within 15 minutes of going to bed, do some jumprope to get my respiration and heart rate up so I would have strong breathing and feel secure that I wouldn't stop. Then I brushed my teeth etc. and got in bed. Instead of lying on my back per usual, I went onto my side, because that seems to lessen the problem. I then forced myself to think about OTHER THINGS besides breathing. I'm a writer, so I thought about a scene in a story I'm going to be writing. I did notice my breathing, but instead of focusing on it or letting it become a pro