Any ideas on what I can do about my sleepwalking?

Surfers Leash to the frame of your bed? It might be enough to wake you up.

Get some bed shoes that tie on and tie the laces together?

Make a bracket above your bed that allows you to turn over, but that you have to slide under to get in and out of bed?

That would scare me to death. Have you seen doctors? Maybe a hypnotist?

Tie your big toes together.

@LuckyGuy suggested I watch a movie called Sleepwalk With Me. While the movie was just OK, there was some discussion of seeing a doctor to address it. In the end the guy sleeps with oven mitts on, zipped up in a sleeping bag.
He also did not eat late at night, go to bed inebriated, or watch TV/interact on the computer an hour before bed. The idea is to let your brain shut down more.
In reality, I have no advice. I sleepwalk, too. Not as often as it sounds like you do, but it is a freaky feeling.
Do not ever take sleep aids. That is a direct tip from me. You can do wild things that are pretty extreme.

Do a sleep study. My sleep study doctor was very interesting. It was obvious he really cared about the research. If they can surmise what is going on in your brain while sleeping maybe they can help you control it.

Call any universities or medical schools in your area and inquire about any research/sleep studies being done which are in need of volunteers.

If so, you get the full deal and likely get paid for it too.

But even if none are currently being done, it would be well worth it to have a comprehensive sleep study done. Its pretty amazing what they can deduce from brain waves these days.

@GloPro “Do not ever take sleep aids. That is a direct tip from me. You can do wild things that are pretty extreme.”

Good advice, even for those who don’t sleepwalk

“Tie me kangaroo down, sport!”

Have you tried a door alarm ?

You could check into the possibility of medication. I have tinitis. I saw a couple of doctors about it, and found out nothing could be done. One though, prescribed a medication to keep me from grinding my teeth. He said some people’s ears ring because they grind their teethin their sleep. It turned out that it wasn’t the cause of my ringing, but it made a noticable difference in how I slept. I had fewer headaches, and from the fact that my blanket stayed on my bed all night, I guessed I had to be sleeping more peacefully. There may be something which allows you to sleep more relaxed.
I’m just guessing, but it would be worth checking into.
I hope something works out well for you, because it sounds like you are experiencing this on a spooky level.

I was just thinking I have only walked in my sleep two times that I can think of. Both I was extremely exhausted. I needed to get up in the middle of the night (I know the most recent was to go to the bathroom, so I suggest not drinking late at night before bed) and then I found myself in a place not knowing how I got there. My perception was I was so tired my brain kept putting me back to sleep, like when you fall asleep and you don’t intend to. I would think, and this is a guess, that if I took sleep aids, like Ambien or sleeping pills, which I don’t take and never have, that it would make the problem worse. It’s just what I would guess intuitively. I don’t know if that is what actually happens to sleepwalkers, although I have heard reports that Ambien users have slept walk, I just don’t know if they were already chronic sleepwalkers or if it was a new thing. Do you take any medications?

@Jonesn4burgers As several of us have indicated, sleep medication is a very bad idea for sleepwalkers. It is more likely to cause them to do weird and potentially dangerous things while asleep.

Thanks for all of your answers. I take a low dose of meds for BP, but nothing else. And I do sleepwalk on a spooky level. I’ve redecorated the living room, taken a high dive down my stairs ( I woke up as I was passing the railing and managed to hook it with my arm to avoid a face plant) crashed into all kinds of stuff, and made phone calls in my sleep. I’ve also built stuff while asleep. Don’t ask me how.

I’ve painted my nails, made a makeshift bomb shelter, eaten embarrassing amounts and combinations of food, run a bath… Among others. The most dangerous one was falling asleep in my own hotel room and waking up in another with police standing over me. I have no idea how I got there…
My dad broke his neck right after I was born taking a high dive off of the bed into a wall. He was diving off of a bridge.

Does tying yourself to the bed work?

So far tying myself to the bed has helped. I can untie it in my sleep but it takes a few minutes and I’ve woke up.

Wow. I bet there is some sort of research study you could volunteer for. Maybe get paid. Serious stuff.

Have you tested going off the med to see if you stop sleep walking? Which drug is it? Did the sleepwalking start or get worse when you started taking thet drug?

@JLeslie No, I’ve done it since I was a kid, so no change with the meds. The meds are atenenol and HCTZ

How about a motion alarm under your bed? I used to have one for my cat (sorta worked) that would beep for a time and then give a piercing alarm. When you wanted to get out of bed, you’d just have to reach down and reset the alarm.

Well, if there is no change, then it can’t be the drugs.

Part of your brain just doesn’t turn off. You don’t paralyze for some reason maybe when you sleep? I’m not sure exactly what goes on in the brain with sleepwalking.

We should ask nikipedia. She would know a ton I bet.

My hubby is a chronic sleepwalker too. He’s been that way since he was a child. I’ve noticed that his episodes are more frequent (and stranger – acting out work scenarios, etc.) when he is under a lot of stress or if his sleep pattern is off (working nights). Along with reducing stress, his CPAP has helped him achieve more restful sleep. Nothing has really gotten rid of the sleepwalking. Since his normal sleepwalking activities are harmless (eating, drinking, bathroom breaks, watching tv, talking), we don’t worry about it too much. Other than that, having a partner that is a light sleeper helps. When I catch him, I just tell him to go back to bed. He’ll say ok and return to the bed.

I’ve found that alarms and locks don’t really work for hubby. In his sleep, he turns off alarms and unlocks doors. But everyone is different. They might work for you. He’s almost fully functional. There have been times when I almost didn’t notice that he was sleepwalking. For the most part, he interacts as if he were awake, but something he says or does is just off enough for me to notice. After a sleepwalking episode, he even puts his CPAP back on when he returns to bed. Since putting the CPAP on is part of his normal night process, he just does it automatically.

I don’t think alarms or locks work with me either. I’m fairly functional in my sleep.

In that case…You know these invisible fences people use to keep their dogs in the yard…? ~

On a serious note: that sounds horribly inconvenient, not to mention annoying!

The concussion was hell. Six months of headaches, memory loss, not being able to do complex tasks. That scared me.

I think you should consider a one story house if you ever move. Not that you can’t still fall. You could wear a helmet.

@Adirondackwannabe Yeah, I remember. I’m really surprised no-one has invented anything that would be of help. For bedwetting children, there are enuresis alarms of all sorts, even vibrating ones. Do alarms not wake you up in general?

@longgone Nothing wakes me up when I’m in that state. I’ve injured myself and just wandered around, bleeding all over the place. I woke up just before I hit whatever I hit for the concussion but I still don’t know what it was.

@Adirondackwannabe I guess you live alone? If you lived with someone they could help you.

I live with my s/o but she doesn’t always wake up when I go wandering.

I wouldn’t either most likely, but if you had a motion detector trigger an alarm I would.

Good point, @JLeslie.

You could also loosely tuck/attach the blanket or sheet on your side of the bed so that you had to thrash or climb over her to get out of bed.

Better for her than cleaning up blood later.

In that case, I second what @JLeslie said: Get some device that will wake her up.

I don’t know. She’s kind of grumpy when I wake her up like that, and she makes me clean up after I crash anyways.

Well, better waking her up than dealing with getting you to the hospital with a concussion, I must say.

Eeks, I just channeled Ed Grimly!

LOL.

I’m fairly resourceful, the previous concussion I drove myself. Although my doctor asked if there was someone else that could drive me after she looked at my eyes.

Handcuff yourself to the bed and give the s/o the key. Problem solved.

And pray there isn’t a fire while she’s mad at you. ;)

@Juels Ever see The Burning Bed? That might be my ass some night.

I’m thinkin maybe you need to start shopping for a new s/o.

Drive yourself to the hospital with a concussion and clean up your own blood, indeed.

@Adirondackwannabe Ha ha. That was almost my hubby’s ass last night. During last night’s episode, he ate leftovers with heavy onions and garlic. Was it wrong to make him brush his teeth while sleepwalking?

@Juels My condolences to you. He’s lucky you let him in the bed, the brushing was fine.

I’ve been thinking this over. We might be taking it from the wrong point of view. Try sleeping on a boat overnight. I bet that’ll cure ya! If you go to sleep with the knowledge that you are on a boat,it might help you learn to guage your behavior during sleep.
I used to talk in my sleep. It wasn’t something which came to mind when I joined the Navy. Suddenly being faced with sleeping surrounded by eighty other women stopped it on the spot. Shall I tell you what we DID hear each night?

@Jonesn4burgers At this point I’d be willing to drag a boat into the house to sleep in. I untied myself last night without waking up. I realized it when I tried the door and woke myself up. And do tell, what did you hear?

Don’t know if she was insatiable, or just pretending so she could irritate the whole company, but the sounds of pancake batter and lots of squeeking. The girl in the top bunk kept throwing her pillow at her to shut her up. She ended up being kicked out when a CC asked her why she joined the Navy, and she answered loud and clear, “Sir, I’m on a mission from God, sir!”

pancake batter? Was she alone?

What exactly does pancake batter sound like? And was she squeeking or squealing?

She was finger dancing the feminine frills, or at least the sounds were there. Ever seen a military bunk bed? They are metal, and easily squeek when the occupant moves around. Alone? She was in boot camp, surrounded by eighty women who wanted to kill her, or fuck her with a broom.

@Jonesn4burgers Hey we all have to blow off some steam from time to time. Maybe I should give that a try. And you were thinking of the broom handle weren’t you?

Maybe she was letting off stress in her sleep. Talk about your wet dreams

We didn’t know if that girl was nuts, or just pretending nuts to go home. In the military you have to be a team. If she wanted to be an individual,, she should have gone to an art colony. That’s just the right place for individuality. She was somebody we all wanted gone. Nobody could have a conversation with her. She tried to bring the whole company backwards. We were in a place where the point of being there was learning to work together. If she couldn’t get with the program, she needed to go. Each thing in its own place and time. She wasn’t following that natural rule at all.

I didn’t realize military boot camps were separated by gender. Seems counterproductive to team building to me. But I learned something new today.

My time was decades ago. I’m sure things have changed since, but boot is likely not much different. Once past boot, it is a whole other world. There are numerous training facilities for many levels and areas of training. There is regular navy, where people do the work they,ve been trained for. There are jobs at sea, there are jobs ashore, and most people spend time doing each. Boot camp is isolation, keeping new recruits from family, friends, recreation, anything which would distract from learning exactly the same things the same way. Its a little like brain washing, except everybody goes there on purpose, for the same basic reason, to be in the military. Training has to start out rigid. It has to be focused. Lots of military personnel don’t see combat, but the basic job description is being ready for war should it happen. Training is serious business, focused. It has to take place quickly, so that when war does happen, the people sent are as well trained as possible, quickly.
It is not a place for people who want to fuck around with jokey little side interests.
Once leaving boot, people live their lives again, and each others’ :-).

I’ve been tying my arm to the bed and that worked okay. But I fell asleep in the recliner in the living room. I crashed again. A bad gash over my eye and a nice shiner. Thank god no concussion symptoms.