Somnambulism As A Young Boy Returns As An Adult

by "Taho Hugh" Birdwell
(San Diego,CA USA)

I am pretty scared of sleepwalking. It can be dangerous. When I was younger, like in 4th grade, I used to sleepwalk about 2-3 nights a week. My father was in the military and we moved to an ocean area community where my grandmother lived about 7 blocks away. I often went to bed hoping I would stay there, my little brother shared my 2 floor bedroom.

I walked down an ocean street, crossing each street, turning down one street, and following it to my grandmothers house, waking up to my grandmothers voice, either in upstairs guest bedroom or downstairs in our boy's bedroom with a builtin 3 bunk beds.

I said grandmother, did I spend the night with you? Did you know I was here? No, my grandmother said. My grandmother told me she got a call from my mom, asking if I was there.

On the 2nd time this happened, I was pretty scared, and asked if my parents would please put some kind of harness on me long enough to go as far as the bathroom. I found out in my 20's about me sleepwalking when we lived near my grandmother. To Phrase it, "I was the favorite grandson, being named after my grandfather.

My mother told me that during that time, she put something to alarm her about my door opening. She said that she would follow me. She really laid it out to me. I was asleep, did not answer to anyone speaking to me, I stopped at each street corner, looked around, then continued on the same path taking me through a park directly to grandmothers house, without harm. This was a military town, extremely safe, but still did not know I was sleepwalking so much. I thought it was love that had drawn me to my grandmother, on those nights, that I went to bed without a kiss from her.

My partner, who we had been together for about 20 years, also told me that I would get out
of bed during the night, walk down 3 flights of stairs, and climb in my son's bed and cuddle
up with him. Since he woke up early, he said good morning, and I went back up the stairs
and climbed back into my shared bed with my partner.

I turned 56, met a wonderful person, started a relationship, moved into together, After
awhile, I started sleepwalking again. But this time I was on a CPAP machine for severe
sleep apnea. My partner, who recently graduated, and now is a MD, asked me to have another
sleep study done, and see what was happening. I went through that night, fairly good,
without any sleepwalking, but the sleep doctor rediagnosed my sleep disorder to Complex
Sleep Apnea.

They are getting me active again in the supply company I used a few years ago
so I will be using a different type of sleep therapy device, but the good thing is that I am
not sleepwalking anymore. I often wonder what sleep apnea may have to do with sleepwalking. I now am in bed all night with my feline companion animal.