Video above: Insight finds out what kind of strange things people do while they’re asleep, and why we can't stop them from happening. Full ep on SBS On Demand.
It was a normal weekday morning, I woke up around 5:00am and headed straight for the kitchen to make a coffee. I headed blurry eyed towards the kettle, I was quickly awoken by food scraps and rubbish scattered all over the kitchen benches, sink and floor. There were chocolate wrappers, Coco Pop packets ripped open, three quarter eaten dip and yoghurt tubs scattered all over the kitchen benches and sink. I was instantaneously furious, one of my family members had prepared themselves an almighty feast and were too lazy to clean it up.
After a few days of waking up to the same disaster area in the kitchen, I confronted my family. They denied eating any food and leaving the kitchen area in the state, in which I described. As I walked away from the conversation, I felt a heavy feeling in my chest, a sinking feeling in my stomach, I had the realisation that the person in the house eating all the food and making the mess, was in actual fact, ME!
My first memory of having a , or as I previously referred to it, my sleep-walk eating, was when I was seventeen years old. At that time, I was a young mother in a difficult, tumultuous relationship with the father of my son. I would get up several times throughout the night and consume large volumes of food, whilst asleep.
Since this time, I exhibited this behaviour when I was enduring high levels of stress for an extended period.
My most recent episode commenced in 2017. At that time, I was a full-time carer for my mother, who was suffering with a terminal respiratory condition. I was also employed as a casual swimming teacher. However, due to a shoulder injury incurred at work, I was enduring a messy Work Cover claim.
Kiki was a casual swimming teacher until a shoulder injury forced her to quit. Source: Supplied
Previously I had been employed in high pressure positions, but since taking a “sea-change" in 2011, my new employment as a swimming teacher held a special place in my heart. I loved working with children, I loved their honesty and spontaneity, I loved teaching them the life skill of swimming and water safety. When teaching was taken from my life, due to the shoulder injury, I did not cope well.
I was inundated with medical appointments, for both myself and my mother. I was experiencing intense nerve and shoulder pain, whilst attempting to care for my very fragile mother. Also, during this period, my partner was working 16 hours a day, seven days per week, therefore, I was unable to lean on my partner for support. Although I was surrounded by people, I felt very alone. And the sleep eating also caused me to feel a lot of guilt and shame.
Due to a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD), post-traumatic stress sisorder (PTSD) in 2015 and anxiety and depression in 2006, I had engaged with a forensic psychologist. When I informed my psychologist of my sleep walking behaviour, she was quite shocked. She advised she had never encountered anyone who exhibited this behaviour. My psychologist contacted a few psychiatrists to discuss my issues, however, none of them had any experience or knowledge of parasomnia’s. My psychologists advice was, “go to Bunnings and buy chains and padlocks and lock up your fridge and cupboards.” I left my psychologist’s office that day, extremely disillusioned and invalidated. I thought to myself, how can I be suffering with a condition for the past 18 years that no medical professional has ever heard of before. I knew the chains and locks was not a solution.
Every night I would wake every two hours, to the minute, and consume huge quantities of food in an animalistic manner.
Subsequently, I went home and asked my partner to hide all the food I would normally consume throughout the night. The following morning, I woke to several Continental mushroom risotto packets ripped open and empty, a 250g container of Kraft dry parmesan cheese empty, half eaten slices of bread and cheese scattered throughout the kitchen.
I tried to remember the night before and had a vague recollection of pouring parmesan cheese into my mouth, straight from the container. I was absolutely mortified, subsequently I contacted my GP to make an appointment. Upon discussing my parasomnia with my GP, he advised it could be a symptom of Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), which I have also suffered with since my twenties.
The most discouraging part of the appointment was the treatment recommendations, there was NONE. He was hopeful the psychological intervention I was undertaking, would alleviate the stress I was experiencing and as a result the parasomnia would cease. I was once again leaving a medical professional with a sense of invalidation and hopelessness. I started to believe that these medical professionals thought I was delusional.
My most recent parasomnia episode lasted for two years. Every night I would wake every two hours, to the minute, and consume huge quantities of food in an animalistic manner. In one night, I consumed 725g box Coco Pops, two 500g tubs of yoghurt and two, family size blocks of chocolate. I never tasted the food when I was eating it, therefore I derived no enjoyment from the food I consumed. All I gained was a sense of hopelessness, invalidation, shame, guilt and 20kgs.
To this day, I still have no better understanding of my parasomnia. Why I do it, how it started, what treatment is available, how long will it last, will I ever be free of it, will this cause other medical issues. None of these questions or concerns have answers, for me, at the present stage. However, 'the Beast', my parasomnia, remains present, but not as rampant at the moment, which I am grateful for. I remain hopeful with further medical research into parasomnia’s, there may be some assistance available to myself and others one day.
