A English woman has accumulated over $3,800 (Rs 3,17,019) in debt as she shopped while snoozing due to a rare sleep disorder.
"It's really upsetting and frustrating going to bed thinking, I don't know what the night is going to lead to," she shared to South West News Service.
Diagnosed in 2018 with parasomnia, she engages in activities like shopping while asleep without being fully aware.
According to Yale Medicine, "A person with parasomnias may seem to be alert, walking or talking, or eating or doing other such activities but without awareness because the brain is only partially awake."
Over the years, the woman has awakened to packages she’s ordered while sleeping, such as a full-sized plastic basketball court including a net, pole and backboard.
She’s even ordered tins of paint, books, salt and pepper pots, a children’s playhouse, fridges, tables and hundreds of Haribo candies.
“I was racking up debt everywhere,” she admitted. “I would never actually have to put any credit card details when I was buying things online because it was all saved on my phone.”
The situation worsened when she shared her financial information with scammers via text message while asleep, leading to a loss of $317 (Rs 26,446) from her bank account.
Following the incident, she experienced several fraud attempts on her bank account. Her bank managed to block these transactions, but she had to cancel cards multiple times due to security concerns.
Despite eventually paying off her purchases, the financial strain and uncertainty continue to cause anxiety. "It can be anxiety-inducing," she shared. "Everyone thinks it's funny but it's not. Some bits are, but some bits are quite serious."
The woman attributes her parasomnia to sleep apnea, a severe sleep disorder that happens when your breathing stops and starts while you're asleep.
This condition has worsened over time, adding to her challenges as a mother of three disabled children with epilepsy, deafness, and learning difficulties.
Her disorder has led to other dangerous behaviours such as overdosing on diabetes medication, leaving windows and doors open, and requiring hospitalisation.
To stay alert for her children, she avoids sleeping pills and uses a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device to keep her airway open at night. Although the device helps, it sometimes causes her jaws to lock, leading her to remove it unknowingly, undoing its benefits.