I second the sleep study. You may have sleep apnea or breathing problems when you sleep. Wife or anyone sleep next to you? Are they awake while you are asleep, do you wake them up, have they ever seen you struggle for breath or have a hard time breathing? If no serious problems, then there is a medication that will make you stop having dreams altogether. I'm not a doctor but I've talked to a LOT of them and this has come up. They usually need for you to come sleep at their facility for a few nights. If you go to VA, then it shouldn't be an issue/cost.
The sleep paralysis I'm familiar with is usually a dream where you "wake up" unable to move, sometimes in another part of the house. Generally there is a dark figure you can't make out, a shadow or silhouette of a man, and you are of course completely paralyzed, which has to do with evolution --your mind and body "disconnect" for the most part during sleep. You try to have a conversation, find you can't, and may/may not feel a wave of terror and wake up. It happened to me when I was 14-ish and I "woke up" in the living room and saw the shadow of my dead grandfather, who I never met and can't say why I "knew" it was him, sitting where my grandmother usually sat in the dining room, silent, smoking, wearing a fedora. I tried to speak, couldn't. Wasn't scared for some reason, I actually felt comfortable and went back to sleep --in the dream. Woke up in my room next morning and the door was chained locked (yeah, I chained it shut from the inside --come on, I was 14. ish.). That's supposed to be textbook sleep paralysis. For most people, it goes away as they age. I understand it can be due to stress too. Lack of breathing wasn't part of mine and I don't recall reading about that.
The VA doctor gave me script for, uh, Prazosyn or Prazosin --something like that. I'd never heard of it before. It basically makes you have NO dreams. It does nothing else and isn't supposed to have any side effects or stop working I'm told (but haven't researched since I haven't taken it either). When you stop, dreams are supposed to come back as it leaves your system. It doesn't affect your sleep or REM and doesn't help you go to sleep or stay asleep, unless it's dreams waking you, and is commonly prescribed for night terrors or unmanageable nightmares. I have chronic insomnia and part of that is horrible dreams/serial dreams when you can sleep. I still haven't taken it though, I guess it's not bad enough and I actually like dreaming, the good ones are worth it.
Good luck, lack of sleep sucks. Bad. For me, I HAVE to have a fan blowing on me and I HAVE to be either cool/cold or even naked with a fan if hotter than "just right".... Need the fan either way, summer or winter. Stays on low year 'round mostly but we have heat pump. My mother needs the same thing, some kind of noise to sleep. We both wake up at the drop of a pin. Having a good sleep schedule and turning the TV off or anything that can make you think (at all) is wise. And get comfortable. All this helps overall.
