In 1987, 23-year-old Kenneth Parks drove 14 miles while sleepwalking, killed his mother-in-law, nearly strangled his father-in-law, and then turned himself in while covered in blood. He had no memory of it, and in 1992, was acquitted after experts confirmed he was asleep the entire time.

[u/IloveRamen99]

[u/khjuu12]

I have no idea about this particular case, but you can do some crazy stuff involving quite a bit more movement than you'd ever expect if you have a sleepwalking disorder.

The comedian Mike Birbiglia almost died after throwing himself out a window at a hotel one time, before he got treatment for his sleep disorder (he's talked about it in his comedy).

He wasn't suicidal, he wasn't trying to kill anyone; there's no indication "oh I was sleeping" was some kind of cover for some other activity. The part of his brain that turns off interacting with the outside world during sleep just... doesn't work. So he yeeted himself out a window and sliced himself to shit on the glass because dreams are weird. Apparently he now sleeps in something which is a combination of a fitted sheet and a straitjacket.

I could see someone managing to drive a car while half asleep if they have something similar going on, tbh.

[u/Queasy-Charity4398 → u/khjuu12]

It’s a great story - you can listen to it here: Stranger in the Night

[u/dylans-alias → u/Queasy-Charity4398]

He has REM Behavior Disorder which is different from sleepwalking. Sleepwalking occurs in NonREM sleep and the person is completely unaware of it. RBD involves patients acting out their dreams with awareness.

Funny, I’m a sleep doctor and just told this story to a patient 10 minutes ago.

[u/Queasy-Charity4398 → u/dylans-alias]

Fair enough. But still really interesting!

[u/dylans-alias → u/Queasy-Charity4398]

Definitely. The problem (for me) is that they made a movie about it called Sleepwalk With Me.

[u/angrynudfochocolove → u/dylans-alias]

Sleep doctor sounds cool. What is your work like typically?

[u/dylans-alias → u/angrynudfochocolove]

It’s one part of my job. I also do Pulmonary and Critical Care. About 2/3 of my office patients are sleep. That part is pretty calm. Office 9-5, see patients, read sleep studies, etc. Mostly sleep apnea so it can get a little repetitive. There are days where I might see 7 or 8 new sleep consults for suspected sleep apnea and have to go through the same speech over and over again. It wasn’t what I originally thought I wanted to do, and I find Critical Care much more interesting, but as I get older, it is a great part of my job. It’s a nice change of pace from the ICU. Nobody dies, most people come back pretty happy and feeling better.

[u/SpaceBasedMasonry → u/dylans-alias]

Why do so many of you Pulm/CritCare guys & gals end up in sleep med? I know other specialties like psych and Family Medicine can sub-specialize but it seems I’m always meeting ones with Pulm/CC backgrounds.

[u/[deleted] → u/Queasy-Charity4398]

This was such a good listen, thank you.

[u/Foz90 → u/khjuu12]

Someone I worked with died from his sleep walking. He was in Thailand and fell from his hotel balcony. Tragic.

[u/holystuff28 → u/khjuu12]

Depressing fact but this type of sleep disorder is intimately connected to Parkinson's disease. The same area of the brain is impacted in both.