Trouble breathing while sleeping (exploding head syndrome?)?

This happens to me often, maybe once a month or so. The last two times it's been when I was asleep on a couch on my left side. I'll be in a sort of sleep paralysis, where I'm aware of everything, and I feel a big rush coming into my head and a roaring sound, and I'll try to wake myself up but can't. Then I have extreme trouble breathing, like I'm suffocating. I have to make sure I control my breathing because I'll stop if I don't really focus on it. I'm always really afraid I'm going to suffocate. Could this be Exploding head syndrome? And has anyone ever experienced it?