Message:
I'm so glad to have stumbled onto this site. I've had the problem for about 8 years. Started when I was having some problems in my marriage. Can't recall a single incident prior to that. But, as the years went by, the episodes became worse. My problem seems to be caused by stress. I've always had a lot of stress in my life, but the eating in the night has only occurred in the past decade. More times than not, I wake up and find myself eating. I've made messes that are unbelievable. I'd quickly clean things up and no one ever realized what I had done. I've also awoke a few times found myself covered with food and outside of my house too. A few times in the yard and once I had unlocked my truck and I was getting into the driver's seat, when I woke up. I think that the incident scared me so bad, that it never happened again. I had also changed clothes as if I was getting ready for work. Food was on both sets of clothes. I believe that stress is what triggers it and food seems to act as a sedative for me. No one ever knew about it, until I began to try to tell my family. They didn't understand it. My husband left me almost two years ago. During the divorce I stated that I had an eating disorder, but my husband's lawyer dismissed it as I had never been diagnosed. I think everyone in the courtroom may have seen my statement as a ploy. I'm sure that my husband had no idea of the torment I was living in. It was like a nightly torture. I actually find myself afraid of falling asleep because I know what is going to happen. My divorce is still dragging out and the problem continues. I may not know for sometime if the marriage problems is what created my problem. Just don't know. I have also hurt myself by accident with broken glasses or while opening packages of food in the night, while I was half asleep. I've also spilled Pepsi or food on important papers. I've tried everything but can't seem to get a grip on the problem. I emailed one person on this board and we have discussed opening a chat room. I'm so glad to finally find others who suffer from the same problem. In my waking hours I eat very little. But at night, I consume a lot. I have even awoke and found myself cooking on a gas stove. I was terrified that I would leave a unlit gas burner on and kill us all. I was so afraid that I talked my husband into buying gas leak detectors. He didn't have a clue to the real reason that I pleaded with him to buy the devices. That way, I wouldn't hurt my family if I left a burner on. Please let me know and I do mean please, if you know of any groups or forums that deal with this problem. I've felt so alone for so long. I had accepted the fact that it was just me. I had no idea that there were so many of us.