A mum with a rare disorder which made her go on SHOPPING SPREES in her sleep has finally found a cure – but not before she bought a full basketball court.
Kelly Snipes, 38, would wake up to find email receipts for items she unconsciously bought online during the night on her smart phone.
One day a delivery lorry turned up with a full-sized plastic basketball court – and she’s spent hundreds on sweets and cookies during the night.
Her nocturnal shopping behaviour started seven years ago, after the birth of her first child, and was sparked by sleep apnea – problems breathiing.
But finally – after spending £3,000 – she has finally found a cure, thanks to a machine and mask she wears at night.
Kelly, from from Basildon, Essex, shared her story with new podcast Real Fix, which features real life people sharing their extraordinary personal stories in their own words.
She said: “I bought a full size basketball court from Ebay, and when it turned up at my house the next day, I just refused delivery.
”I would never actually have to put any credit card details when when I was buying things online because it was all saved on my phone.
“It was all on my phone and everything that is on my phone is accessible by touch.
”We tried to put safety measures in place to keep me safe.
”I even asked my husband to stay awake to watch me sleep but he kept falling asleep himself so in the end I slept on the sofa most of the time.
”Thankfully he was very understanding and he’s very logical and supportive.
”After ages of not getting help and not getting diagnosed I was desperate.
”I wrote loads of letters to all the consultants I’d seen before asking for help.
”Only one replied, he invited me back and tried new tests and tried to work out what was going on with me.
”I owe him my life, I don’t know where I would be without him.
”I’m so thankful I don’t have to worry about random packages turning up to the door anymore!”
Kelly occasionally sleepwalked as a child but her condition worsened following the birth of her first child Henry in 2006.
At the time she lived in a ground floor flat and she would wake to find doors and windows open after she’d been up in the night.
Her bizarre internet shopping sprees saw her unconsciously buying items through the night.
She purchased hundreds of pounds worth of Haribo sweets and £58 worth of cookie jars, as well as clothes for girls, despite the fact she only had sons.
She then had to return all the items bought on websites to avoid going into debt.
Speaking on the fourth episode of the podcast, she said: ”’It got more intense when Henry got poorly.
”I even woke up in the garden at one point on a very cold October night.
”But when I went to the doctor everything was put down to stress.
”I was a single mum with a sick baby so they just assumed I was stressed and nothing was standing out on any of the tests they had given me.
”But when I had my other children, with my now husband, everything got a lot worse.
”I’d even swallowed loads of pills from the medicine cupboard one night when I was pregnant while fast asleep – thankfully me and the baby were fine but I dread to think what might have happened.
”I was frightened to go to the doctors and explain what was happening in case they thought it didn’t look good.
”It was really depressing actually, I didn’t want to go to bed. I was frightened.”
Kelly took part in some home based sleep studies and there was evidence that she had sleep apnea.
The consultant decided to treat her for that – using a CPAP machine to increase oxygen levels – to see if it would improve her other sleep issues also.
Thankfully it worked – and now she, and husband, Jamie, 40, can sleep easy for the first time in years.
”The day I got it I remember so well,” she told the hosts of the new podcast.
”I slept that night and I woke up and I’ve never felt like it before, that I’d really slept I think for the first time in my life.
”It was amazing- I couldn’t believe the difference.
”I had the biggest smile on my face.
“It really has given me my life back.
“Since starting CPAP, I have not had any abnormal sleep behaviours, have not shopped online at night, my headaches have ceased and I am not depressed.”
The Real Fix podcast features real life people telling their own extraordinary stories in their own words.
Listen to the Real Fix podcast here https://www.real-fix.com/real-fix-podcast/ or subscribe using the appropriate podcast platform here https://plnk.to/realfix