Sister smokes & Eats while sleeping- scared 4 her

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Sister smokes & Eats while sleeping- scared 4 her

Posted by Calipee on January 15, 2002 at 09:25:46:
My sister has had this sleep disorder for about 12-14 years where she eats and sleeps in her sleep. I have read about the NSRED on a few other posts in this forum and the archives, but none about the smoking in her sleep.
While the eating is dangerous (she has tried, sometimes successfully, to eat non-food items- pages from books, shoe polish, etc.), the smoking is extremely dangerous. She has burned holes in many blankets, pieces of furniture, etc. When I lived with her about 7 years ago I got so worried I actually mounted a smoke detector on her headboard; it made it one night and she wripped it off and used it as an ashtray! She recently moved into a duplex she bought. She has had some scarey nights in the past month- when she wakes in the morning she finds a burner of her gas stove on, or worse yet, the gas is on but no flame. The assumption is that she is trying to light cigs off the stove in the night. The gas has now been disconnected to the stove and we are working on getting her an electrical one. So yeterday she called and said things were getting out of hand. Two nights ago she awoke to her bed on fire. It was bad enough that her boyfriend, who lives downstairs, came barreling into her apartment because his daughter was awakened in the middle of the night by the smell of smoke in their apartment. She is getting very scared and I am for her. In the past she has tried melatonin, some other sleeping pill, etc. But she says that these knock her out too much and it makes it worse.
Has anyone else heard of this or have experience with it? She doesn't have health insurance and is at a real loss.
Thanks for your help.

Follow Ups:

Re: Sister smokes & Eats while sleeping- scared 4 her Wonkawoman 11:27 1/15/02 (2)

Re: Sister smokes & Eats while sleeping- scared 4 her Accent 11:48 1/15/02 (1)

Re: Sister smokes & Eats while sleeping- scared 4 her Wonkawoman 09:39 1/17/02 (0)

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Sleep Deprivation due to Sleep Apnea and insufficient sleep are common and can present as insomnia, narcolepsy, or idiopathic hypersomnia. In infants and children sleep problems commonly present themselves as ADD or ADHD.