The mystery has been solved. A few months ago I started waking up feeling suffocated and in a state of near panic. I put it down to anxiety, but some amateur sleuthing has got to the bottom of it.
It's a buildup of exhaled carbon dioxide. My bed is rather low down and I have a cabinet next to it for keeping stuff on. The exhaled CO2 gas builds up and poisons me.
One of the symptoms of CO2 poisoning is feeling suffocated and hallucinating.
The problem mysteriously went away when I got new pillows which kept my head above the cabinet level, allowing the exhaled CO2 to escape.
The pillows gradually get softer and my head gets lower, until I'm level with the cabinet. The CO2 cannot escape and is instead breathed back in causing poisoning.
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