Help!! Problems falling alseep and staying asleep

I have had 3 episodes where I try to fall asleep.

I dose off but my brain feel like its still on(a slight spinning feeling in my head)
Then my body goes through mild hot flashes from my head to my waist.
Then my arms and hands feel numb and tingly, even though im not sleeping on them.
I am then awaken, my heart racing and I feel very drained and tired, in a daze and a little confused. My body feels weak. It takes a while to feel back to normal.

This NEVER happens while im awake. Actually as soon as I awake, ALL symptoms go away and I feel better. This has happened on 9/11/11, 10/2/11 and today 10/10/11. When it happpened on these three days, it last for hours!! Everytime I try to dose off, I get awaken by these symptoms. Then it goes away....Im so scared somebody help me, has anyone felt this way before??

It doesn't sound like you're going into a deep restful sleep. Have you discussed this issue with your doctor? I had an issue where I would sweat from my waist to my knees every time I went to sleep. I was sopping wet! It was to the point that I was having to sleep on a towel. It turns out that it was a symptom of an infection. I mentioned it in passing, it seemed so small. I would recommend talking to your doctor.

I have talk to serveral doctors about this and have been to the ER twice!!! They all look at me like im crazy and say they never heard of it. Which fustrates me further!!! I have had blood work: CBC, Complete metabolic panel. I have had CT scan of the brain, Chest Xray, abdominal xray, EKG's and blood labs of my heart to see if I have any heart damage.Oh and I also saw a neurologist and the office exam checked out normal, he just wanted me to do an MRI, which I will be doing in a few weeks. All normal, with the exception that I am Iron deficient anemic. And they say I have anxiety and panic attacks. I know that I have panic attacks ect, but im not imagining all of this, I feel these symptoms every now and then. Im going to follow up with the neurologist to get a sleep study done as well and also have my doctor order more blood test to see whats wrong if anything. I will keep you posted. Hopefully you will still be on this thread. Im worried

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. Hopefully the sleep study will give you some answers. I've had nothing like this happen to me but I have had other things that no one could explain and every test came back fine. It's frustrating and terrifying. You have my deepest sympathy