A Wisconsin mother nearly suffocated after eating an entire box of chocolate cake rolls while sleepwalking.
Christian Owens, 41, started sleepwalking as a side effect of postpartum anxiety medication she started taking after the birth of her then 15-month-old daughter.
But soon after starting the drug, she found herself eating in her sleep. And in 2018, while in a dream state, Ms. Owens unknowingly ate an entire box of Swiss rolls before going back to bed.
But after she hadn’t chewed them properly, a piece of the dough “choked” her. Mrs. Owens was minutes from death when her grandmother, 84-year-old Elinda Owens, woke four hours later to find Mrs. Owens in bed with blue lips.
She quickly began CPR to save her granddaughter’s life.
Ms. Owens is one of millions of Americans who suffer from sleep-related eating disorder (SRED), which involves preparing or eating food while asleep but not remembering it.
Doctors call it a “terrible” condition that has “the greatest impact on a person’s life” as it leads to weight gain and serious psychological problems.
Christian Owens, 41, unknowingly ate an entire box of chocolate Swiss rolls in her sleep, nearly choking
Mrs. Owens’ grandmother, Elinda (left, with Mrs. Owens), saved her life by performing CPR for six minutes. Mrs. Owens had only minutes left to live
Sleep-eating is a parasomnia, an abnormal or unusual behavior during sleep, such as walking, talking, having nightmares, and performing sexual acts during sleep.
Ms. Owens believes her SRED is a side effect of her medication for postpartum anxiety. According to the Cleveland Clinic, medications that put patients into a drowsy or hypnotic state, such as insomnia medications, can trigger SRED and other parasomnias.
Several forms of anti-anxiety medications have been shown to increase sleepiness and put patients into a drowsy state.
“The medication made me drowsy and I would wake up in the middle of the night without realizing it,” Ms. Owens said.
It wasn’t the first time she noticed she was eating in her sleep. Because she didn’t chew her food properly this time, the sandwiches ended up in her lungs instead of her stomach. This process is called aspiration.
This causes breathing problems, which can be fatal if not detected in time.
“It’s like it’s gone the wrong way. I’ve basically suffocated and my heart has stopped,” Ms Owens said.
By the time Mrs. Owens’ grandmother found her, her lips had turned blue.
Elinda, a retired nurse, performed CPR for six minutes, breaking three of her granddaughter’s ribs.
The mother of five can only remember waking up in intensive care, where she spent several days on a ventilator.
“I had a little bit of brain damage to my short-term memory, which made it hard for me to remember and memorize things. But other than that, I’ve made a full recovery,” she said.
Part of a sweet roll had gone into Mrs. Owens’ lungs instead of her stomach, causing her to have difficulty breathing.
Mrs. Owens woke up in the hospital on a ventilator, with no knowledge of what had happened
Cleveland Clinic estimates that between one and five percent of American adults have some form of parasomnia. This is a range of about 2.5 million to 13 million people.
There is no exact estimate of how much people eat while they sleep.
Dr. Carlos Schenck, professor and senior psychiatrist at the Hennepin County Medical Center at the University of Minnesota, told CNN that of all the parasomnias, ‘sleep-related eating disorders have the greatest impact on people’s lives.’
“These people are eating out of control almost every night. They’re gaining weight. They’re miserable in the morning. It affects their whole life and it’s just horrible.”
He noted that when a person sleeps and eats, his brain craves foods that satisfy the body’s needs. These include ultra-processed foods such as candy, pastries, and chips.
“You have no control, you have no restraint,” he said. “People can consume a food that they are allergic to and have an allergic reaction. It’s rare, but it happens.
“And because they choose foods like peanut butter, chocolate, leftover banana cream pie or pasta — fattening, overly processed comfort foods — they may develop or worsen diabetes or hypertension.”
The condition is usually treated by not eating food at night, for example with locks, managing stress and practicing good ‘sleep hygiene’. This means avoiding caffeine, screens and alcohol before bed to promote a good night’s sleep.
Six years later, Mrs. Owens credits her now 90-year-old “superhuman” grandmother for saving her life.
“It was all because of my grandmother,” she said. “When they told me what happened, it was a big shock.
“I was so incredibly grateful. My grandparents basically raised me, and my grandmother has always been my hero, but this took it to another level.”