Woman With Rare Disorder Shops Online While Asleep, Wakes Up To Find Herself Thousands In Debt

Everyone has experienced buyer’s remorse, a condition that rears its ugly head after you buy anything. You shop for things you like, then you shop a little more and once done, you find yourself rueing the fact that you spent so much on things you didn’t really need after all or could have waited for. But imagine not having any control over the situation and waking up to realise you’ve accrued thousands in debt after having shopped online while you were asleep. If this recent case is to be believed, an English woman with a rare disorder was left with more than buyer’s remorse. Here’s what went on.

How did the woman’s rare condition leave her thousands in debt?

Kelly Knipes woke up to find many packages after a shopping spree she enjoyed while asleep | Image: Unsplash/representational

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For 42-year-old Kelly Knipes from Essex, England, unplanned online shopping sprees have substituted dreams and REM sleep. She was diagnosed with parasomnia, a rare sleep disorder, in 2018. That paired with her sleep apnea–another “sleep disorder that happens when your breathing stops and starts while you’re asleep”–is the main culprit behind her problem. This means she ends up doing things–like online shopping– that she’s not fully aware of. According to Yale Medicine, “A person with parasomnias may seem to be alert, walking or talking, or eating or doing other such activities but without awareness because the brain is only partially awake.”

“It’s really upsetting and frustrating going to bed thinking, ‘I don’t know what the night is going to lead to,'” she said | Image: Unsplash/representational

Over the years, Kelly Knipes has woken up to surprise packages from her sleep-shopping sprees, including a full-sized plastic basketball court—net, pole, backboard, and all. According to the New York Post, she had racked up over $3,800 (or Rs 3.16 lakh, approximately) thanks to her slumber-time sprees. “It’s really upsetting and frustrating going to bed thinking, ‘I don’t know what the night is going to lead to,'” Kelly told South West News Service.

What all did she end up buying?

“I was racking up debt everywhere,” she revealed | Image: unsplash/representational

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Kelly had, so far, ended up buying a full-sized plastic basketball court, tins of paint, books, a children’s playhouse, salt and pepper pots, refrigerators, tables, and hundreds of Haribo candies.  

“I was racking up debt everywhere,” she revealed. “I would never actually have to put any credit card details when I was buying things online because it was all saved on my phone.”  

She shared how she ended up giving money to scammers, too, through texts, something that wouldn’t have happened were she awake. “I gave them all my details, then when I woke up, they had taken $317 out [of] my bank account,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t have replied to it if I was awake.”

“I’ve had to cancel cards a few times, and I’ve had lots of people try to take money out [of] my bank.”

How does the condition affect her waking life?

She has managed to pay off her debt but still gets anxiety thinking about her shopping sprees | Image: Unsplash/representational

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While she’s managed to pay off her debt, she still has leftover anxiety from it all. “It can be anxiety-inducing. Everyone thinks it’s funny but it’s not. Some bits are, but some bits are quite serious,” she said.

She revealed the condition started after the birth of her first child. Today, Kelly avoids sleeping pills like the plague, all for the sake of her children. That said, she has to overcome other things her condition has made her do like overdosing on diabetes medication and leaving doors open.

But not one to give up, Kelly continues to look for ways to keep the condition in check like using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device that helps with the apnea. “It’s just something that happens that I have to deal with,” she said. “But it’s the least of my problems. In the grand scheme of things, I just focus on my children.”

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