Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Sleep walking?

I didn't think I was going to post from Delaware, but the odd occurrences of the last half hour or so deem it worthwhile.

Ishmael and I were watching Ratatouille when apparently I turned around and belly flopped on him and told him "I'm gonna throw". He asked me if I wanted him to get me a bowl and I said "No, I want you get me some food". He stood up and walked into the kitchen and I apparently stayed on the couch and said "Hey, Ish." He responded "what?"; I told him that I loved him. After that I stood up from the couch and followed him into the kitchen. He asked me what I wanted, and I said "I want a new stomach". We explored food options. He tried out the bread that his sister gave us today and I took a bite of his slice; I informed him that I liked the bread; I wandered into the dining room and crawled under the table and curled up. Ish says that he walked into the dining room and asked if I was awake, and I did not respond. Whiler Ishmael was making the executive decision that we were eating pasta for dinner, I made the while sleeping decision to eat the leg of one of the dining room chairs...or at least to gnaw it a bit. Ish removed the chair from my mouth (thankfully!). Afterwards, I slept some more and
made sounds that indicated to Ishmael that I was probably in pain....

A bit later, I awoke under the dining room table, totally spooked, having no clue where I was or how I got there. The last thing I remembered doing when I woke up was watching Ratatouille. I have no recollection of any of the events inbetween. Apparently I appeared quite coherent during all of the interactions that happened between the couch and waking up under the table. Ish says my eyes were open and I appeared totally alert. Oh and when I woke up my stomach felt fine and I don't remember it hurting before I went to sleep either. Is it possible to sleep walk while appearing totally awake and coherently interacting with others? I am totally weirded out...

1 comment:

Meg said...

Nothing can be simple with you, can it, dear? Thankfully I have my handy-dandy DSM-IV-TR (a step up from a handy-dandy notebook).

According to the APA the diagnostic criteria for 307.46 Sleepwalking Disorder are as follows:

A) Repeated episodes of rising from bed during sleeping and walking about, usually occurring during the first third of the major sleep episode.

B)While sleepwalking, the person has a blank staring face, is relatively unresponsive tp the efforts of others to communicate to him/her, and can be awakened only with great difficulty.

C) On awakening (either from the episode or the next morning) the person has amnesia for the episode.

D) Within several minutes after awakening from the sleepwalking episode, there is no impairment of mental activity or behavior (may initially be a short period of confusion or disorientation).

E) Causes clinically significant distress or impairment. (part of every diagnostic criteria)

F) Not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance or a general medical condition. (part of every diagnostic criteria)

So, in response to the question Is it possible to sleep walk while appearing totally awake and coherently interacting with others?, according to the DSM, no, not really (criteria B). My instinct is that you reached a REM cycle, were engaged in the gastronomically center film, and reacting to being in a strange location. If this problem were to persist at home, I would address a real professional with official important letters behind their name.

While I'm sure this is unnerving, I would not worry on it too much. If nothing else, we'll get you a mouth guard.