My sinus breathing keeps waking me up

[ReadingInEden]

I'm having a breathing/respiratory issue with my nose, but can't seem to find anything about what's happening or why, so I thought I'd ask around here to see if anyone else has suffered the same infliction.

So it started about two weeks ago, out of no where. Every time I start to doze off, my nose will take a quick, quiet inhale of air - but it'll wake me up. My nose isn't gasping for breath (or maybe it is, but it doesn't feel like). All it seems to do is inhale quickly, quietly and for some reasons always *always* does it the moment I begin to doze off and it wakes me up. It's been doing this for about two weeks and I haven't had a decent sleep since. Sometimes it will snort me awake (this has happened some in the past), but most of the time its just one quick breath in that'll wake me up.

I am a 28 year old female, slightly over weight, but the problem is I've always been a deep sleeper - until out of the blue I've began to have sinus issues. I have been diagnosed with a slight deviated septum a couple of years ago and I'm used to having one side always plugged lying down and having to switch side to relieve it. I'm used to having some difficulty getting to sleep sometimes, but out of the random, every time I start to doze off a quick, sharp inhale by my nose will wake me up.

I'm not going through a particular stressful time in my life (other than not sleeping, which by itself is super stressful), and while I do probably have anxiety, a large portion of it is due not getting much rest and having to fight each night for sleep. I've been to the ER because, while going through all this I was having heart palpitations - because again, not getting enough sleep. Then I went to my doctors (I do have an appointment to see an ENT), so my blood pressure is fine, my blood work came out good, and so is my heart. In every essence I am healthy besides not sleeping.

So, after that lengthy post, I wanted to know: has anyone ever experienced something like this? Does anyone have any idea why its waking me up? I know a great deal has to do with the fact I have a deviate septum, but when it happens my sinuses are not always plugged. Sometimes I am able to breath through both and yet still, that one tiny quick inhale of breath (and the bane of my existence) continues to wake me up.

Any help or ideas would be absolutely a great deal of help.