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Sleeping disorder has man attacking wife in sleep
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
A wife said she has to sleep behind a locked door out of fear that her husband who suffers from a rare sleeping disorder might kill her.
Derek Barfoot has developed the medical condition parasomnia which means that he carries out violent actions in his sleep.
In recent weeks the 75-year-old has punched his wife Elaine repeatedly in the face and back and tried to break her arms.
Now Mr Barfoot has to sleep alone on a foldaway bed behind a bolted door in the kitchen of their one-bedroom council house in Thomas Grant Avenue, Gosport, Hampshire.
Mrs Barfoot, 47, has locked away all the knives and sharp objects in the garden shed out of fear her husband might harm himself while asleep.
She said: "He's normally a very placid man and had never done anything like this before. It's just totally out of character.
"He's attacked me three times in my sleep and we are both quite shocked and can't sleep in the same room because I'm scared that he might try to kill me in his sleep, or cause me a lot of pain."
Mr Barfoot, who first attacked his wife about four months ago, said the violent incidents had become increasingly frequent.
He said he had consulted doctors and a psychiatrist who were unable to explain what caused the outbursts but had said it was probably a form of parasomnia.
This rare sleep behaviour disorder causes people to act out violent dreams.
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OMG! The EXACT same thing has been happening to me with my fiance! I didn't think anyone else suffered from this problem. We don't know what to do about it or even what it was that is causing him to do these things. But we are both VERY scared as we have 2 young daughters and my elderly mother in the house. Is there some kind of treatment or meds out there???
Posted by Pryncess | 16.12.08, 17:16 GMT