Kelly Knipes, a 42-year-old woman from England, has spoken out about the impact of her rare condition. She suffers from parasomnia, a sleep disorder that has caused her to accumulate a debt of nearly $3,800 (approximately Rs 3 lakh). Knipes was diagnosed with the condition in 2018, and she engages in online shopping while asleep. Her purchases include unusual items such as a full-sized plastic basketball court, complete with a net, pole, and backboard.
“It’s really upsetting and frustrating to go to bed thinking, ‘I don’t know what the night is going to lead to,'” Knipes told.
According to Yale Medicine, individuals with parasomnias may appear awake and engage in activities like eating, talking, walking, or other similar behaviors, but they are not aware of it because their brain is only partially awake. Knipes’ condition is characterized by unusual and unwanted sleep-related behaviors.
She has also ordered paint jars, books, pepper and salt shakers, kids’ playhouses, refrigerators, tables, and countless Haribo candies.
“I was racking up debt everywhere,” she told the news outlet.
Knipes went on to explain that because her phone stored all of her credit card information, she would not actually enter it when making an online purchase. Knipes’ sleep patterns became more frequent after she mistakenly shared her personal financial information with fraudsters via text message.
Also Read: Mid-Flight Emergency: Delta Crew Addresses Loose Ceiling Panel
Kelly Knipes stated that the initial incident triggered multiple fraudulent attempts on her accounts, but her bank was able to stop the transactions.
Kelly also believes that the scammers sold her information. She has had to deactivate cards multiple times and has taken several steps to secure her bank accounts. Meanwhile, Knipes was unable to return most of the items she had bought.
“I couldn’t refund any food purchases, like the Haribos,” she stated.
She explained that when the playhouse and paint tins arrived, her kids noticed them and she was forced to keep them. Kelly Knipes attributes her rare diagnosis of parasomnia, which has worsened over time, to her sleep apnea.
According to WebMD, sleep apnea is a severe sleep disorder characterized by periodic pauses in breathing during sleep.
Knipes, a mother of three children who have learning disorders, epilepsy, and deafness, steers clear of sleeping medications to stay alert at night in case her children require her attention.
Knipes began experiencing unusual sleep patterns after the birth of her first child. She started sleepwalking, which eventually led to her spending habits.
The disorder has caused her to engage in other risky behaviors, such as taking too much diabetic medicine, leaving doors and windows open, and even requiring hospitalization.
Knipes wears a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device to keep her airway open at night as part of her ongoing treatment for her sleep condition. However, she unintentionally removes the device from her face, undoing its benefits, because the equipment causes her jaws to lock as she sleeps. Despite these challenges, she acknowledges, “It’s just something that happens that I have to deal with.”
Also Read: Saurabh Netravalkar’s Old Video Singing ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ Goes Viral After Heroics Against Pakistan
