I have written about me sleepwalking in a previous post, but this was a totally new and funny incident I had to share with you. Even though it is funny when I do it but it is also scary. A lot of people look at me like I am mentally disturbed when I tell them the things I do when I am sleepwalking. It took years before I discussed it with my family doctor, but to my surprise he knew all about it which was very comforting. The way my doctor explained this condition to me is that half of my brain is asleep and the other half is having a party or just being crazy! It has nothing to do with your mental state. Doctors always tell me I need to sleep more, but then the drugs they give me to sleep are the ones that make me sleepwalk. If you take the pills, you go to sleep, but you sleepwalk and eat tons of bad food, so the not sleeping has to be the healthier of the two options.
Years ago I spoke about the sleepwalking with a work friend. It turned out she was a sleepwalker/sleep eater herself and had scarier things happen than I did. She traveled a lot and always takes the room nearest to the motel office. She lets the management know it might happen in case she is wandering around late at night. The main goal to the sleep eater is food. You search for and eat food that you might not eat necessarily eat when you are awake. Once my friend Ivy was on a trip away from home, and one of her biggest fears happened. She woke up one morning about 2 a.m. and she was in her car, by herself and she was sitting at a McDonald's drive thru. She was still in her nightgown and she said she felt like she was in shock after realizing she drove to McDonald's while asleep. She convinced her bosses to change her job so she wouldn't have to go on trips away from home. She never wanted to take that chance again. She was always alone and in strange towns, so her fears were more than justified.
I don't think I have driven while asleep but I have gone outside several times and people have seen me and then they tell me of my bizarre behavior. It's embarrassing, especially when you hear the goofy things you have done. Once my daughter and a friend came to visit me when I lived way out in the country with a roommate about 12 years ago. The morning after they arrived they kept looking at me very strangely. Then I was asked, "Do you remember anything that happened last night?" Uh oh I knew what that meant. The kids said I was boiling a big pot of water on the stove and telling them I was going to cook some beans. Then I took a big piece of aluminum foil and held it up and told them, "Look what I made in art class today?" I mean, come on, what can I say after this?
A couple of weeks ago I was expecting a package from UPS. About 4 p.m. I fell asleep on my bed watching television. I didn't wake up until about 10 p.m. I was so exhausted I didn't have trouble going to sleep at all. Then I saw the box from UPS in front of the door. The package was inside my apartment so the UPS man must have arrived after I fell asleep. After I fell asleep? Oh dear......... I was sleeping in a t-shirt and that's all and it was not a real long shirt either.. Pretty much I was hanging out all over. I obviously answered the door, took the package and signed for it, put the package inside and went back to sleep. I only hope I didn't step outside to sign for the package. I order things a lot and now I am in fear that the UPS man that delivered the package when I was almost naked and asleep will be the one to deliver the next package. In fact I am expecting a delivery tomorrow. I am going to sleep earlier than I usually do so I don't get sleepy tomorrow and repeat my actions. '-)
I saw an episode of Dateline or Nightline a long time ago where they put hidden cameras in refrigerators and the kitchens of sleepwalkers and sleep eaters . I felt such comfort knowing I was not the only one that did this. There are thousands who do it. Ambien, the sleep aid has caused several people to drive while sleeping. I absolutely will not take Ambien. I did only once and yes I did the sleepwalking thing and ate so much I thought I would bust. (Not all sleepwalkers seek food, so I am more of a sleep eater. This is the term that most people use when speaking of the kind of sleepwalking I have.) I have found bowls, saucers and containers from sleep eating so many times. Once I found a bowl that I had eaten hamburger helper with grape jelly and salsa on top. I broke some of my teeth once eating a box of uncooked pasta. I've eaten cat treats too. Ha! I thought they were corn nuts in my sleeping walking state. My cats were pissed at me. Oh well...It makes me sick to even think I did that.
Remember the neighbor that's rude and wacky that I mentioned in a previous post? She saw me during a sleepwalking episode. She said she had her dog out in the back walking him and I was at her door knocking. She had the door unlocked because she was just a few feet away. She said I went inside her apartment, then came back out, looked around and went back inside my apartment. She said I was yelling her name at her door. The fact that I went inside her apartment like that was the worst thing. I would never ever do something like that if I were awake.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading my blog. I must go get some sleep so I don't freak out the UPS man tomorrow................ I decided to wear more clothes tonight while sleeping. ;-) Peace.....
