Out like a log, she still ate like a hog

knownews ^ | December 11, 2003 | BYRON SPICE

[stainlessbanner]

For a woman who ate little besides strawberries, apples and cottage cheese, Susan Fair had an extremely hard time controlling her weight.

Despite her careful eating habits, her weight over a 20-year period had sometimes fluctuated wildly. Though never a petite woman, she went through periods when she would mysteriously pack on the pounds. At one point, she tipped the scales at almost 260.

But the mystery began to dissipate three years ago when her husband, Dana, began to notice all of the food crumbs, wrappers and boxes that littered the bedroom floor of their apartment each morning.

It turned out Fair, 51, is a sleep eater.

A disorder akin to sleep walking, sleep eating occurs when someone becomes partially aroused from a deep sleep. Though unconscious, the person can get up, walk around and pig out. And, like a sleepwalker, the sleep eater will have no recollection of this nocturnal noshing the next morning.

As careful as Fair was with her diet when she was awake, she was heedless when asleep.

"I could eat, like, a whole box of cereal," she recalled. "If someone had given us a box of candy, I'd eat that. I would dig out all of the treats in a carton of ice cream. ... It was all of the stuff I would never permit myself to eat."

And she says she was oblivious to all of it. Looking back, she suspects it began about 20 years ago, noting that her periods of weight gain seemed to occur while she was married (Dana is her third husband) or while she was living with a boyfriend, or with relatives.

When she lived by herself, she explained, she kept little in the refrigerator besides fruit. "I've always been a person who wanted to be skinny," she said, "but I'm a big girl." It was only when she was living with a man, or in somebody else's house, that cookies, candies and other junk food would be within her sleepy reach.

"My sisters used to laugh at me," Fair said. "They'd say, 'You can always tell when Susie's happy because she gains weight.' And I thought, I know I'm happy, but I can't be that happy."

Even though she was unaware of her nighttime habits, there were hints all along. While staying at her sister's house during one period, her brother-in-law couldn't help but notice her kitchen raids while he was watching late night television.

"He said, 'Susie, you come down every night and eat cookies and never say a word,"' she recalled. But the two often kidded each other and she shrugged off his comments.

But when her husband began stepping on the evidence - and her family physician warned her that her excessive weight could be leading to heart problems - she sought help and was referred to Dr. Daniel Buysse, a sleep medicine specialist .

He prescribed drug treatment.

Benzodiazepines - a group of drugs typically referred to as "sleeping pills" - often are effective, he said, probably because they suppress arousal.

Fair still occasionally has her midnight rambles, but she can tell that the number of excursions is down substantially just by reading her bathroom scale.

"I have lost probably 80 pounds over a two-year period," she said.

[hispanarepublicana]

her husband, Dana, began to notice all of the food crumbs, wrappers and boxes that littered the bedroom floor of their apartment each morning.

Is he sure that Bill Clinton wasn't sneaking into her bedroom every night?

[Protagoras]

I'm not buying it.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Sounds dangerous, what do you do if you accidently choke on food, while sleeping?

[Constitution Day]

Zzzzzz.... pass the biscuits, please!

[cruiserman]

Did she brush her teeth after all that munching? Maybe she noticed more cavities, too.

[OpusatFR]

She ate the junkfood during this "sleep eating."

I'm not buying it.

[billorites]

Grow, Mrs. Goldfarb, fatter, fatter.
Pile the potatoes on your platter.
Listen to me, 'cause I'm your hubby.
I just adore you plump and chubby.

I got a letter from the state, Dear.
You're gonna need a license plate, Dear.
My little elephant joke come true.
Chew, Mrs. Goldfarb, chew!

[general_re]

No, I think it's a real thing. I saw something on one of the Discovery channels about sleep disorders some time ago - they had one lady on there that went to a sleep disorder clinic for her sleepwalking, and she was getting up in the middle of the night and eating (I swear) buttered cigarettes. Strange but true, I guess ;)

[Eris]

What kind of slobs are these people that it took so long to notice all the food wrappers and boxes laying around the bed?

Nasty.

[Lazamataz]

Knife goes in, guts come out! That's what Osaka Food Concern is all about!

I love this tagline. All you need is a toothy, grinning yellow caricature with a knife to make it complete.

[cjshapi]

I've also seen documentaries about this. They've even filmed these folks. It's sorta scary, knowing you have a problem that only manifests itself when you are not fully conscious.

[martin_fierro]

Somnambuleater Susan Fair

(just think if she suffered from ... somnambulimia!)

[Hatteras]

We could whip 'is filthy bottom
and throw 'im in a cell and rot 'im!

[general_re]

I need to go and get the sound clip that goes with it - nobody seems to have a .wav file on the web any more...

[SamAdams76]

I buy it. After all, I'm a "sleep-poster." For evidently, sometimes I come to Free Republic and post stuff in my sleep. Sometimes I wake up the next morning, see stuff
that I allegedly posted and go "What the hell...?"

[Constitution Day]

Everyone in that photo looks like they're waiting for the somnambulance to arrive.

[IncPen]

You mean to say... You're a SleepFReeper?

_{Sleeper cells! Untie!}

[dighton]

For evidently, sometimes I come to Free Republic and post stuff in my sleep. Sometimes I wake up the next morning, see stuff that I allegedly posted and go “What the hell...?”

Same thing here. For some reason, it coincides with mysterious thefts of gin.

[general_re]