A NEILSTON man is locked in a ‘nightmare’ which sees him regularly pop to the shops to buy goods he doesn’t want.

Mark Doyle suffers from narcolepsy – a rare brain disorder that means he can fall asleep suddenly at any time and without his control.

One of the symptoms of the illness is ‘automatic behaviour’, which means he can continue carrying out everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning and shopping – appearing wide awake to others, even though he is fast asleep and completely unaware of his actions.

Speaking exclusively to the Barrhead News, Mark, 46, said: “I’ve had it since I was born but it wasn’t diagnosed until I was 11.

“I can’t tell you when it’s going to happen, it just happens. I can be having a conversation with someone and fall asleep in the middle of it but I still function.

“I’m asleep but, to someone else, it looks like I’m awake – but I’m not in control.

“It’s not a nice thing to have. I’ve started fires in the middle of the night trying to cook while I’m asleep. I’ve broken things, had the TV up full blast at 4am. I’ve had umpteen complaints from my neighbours and I don’t blame them.

“I bump my head, fall down, get black eyes, end up in hospital, all sorts. I don’t leave the house much but, if I go out, if I have to buy some milk and I take a turn in town, you can bet I’ll wake up with six bags of messages I don’t want.”

That exact situation played out last week, when Mark says he suffered an episode at the Savers store in Barrhead’s Main Street.

When he woke up, he found he had spent more than £100 on toothpaste, shower gel, deodorant, foot cream, hair wax, medicine and cleaning products he didn’t need.

He still had the receipts – one for £24.60 and another for £78.49 – but says that, when he took the toiletries back, staff refused to reimburse all of the items.

Mark, of Macdonald Place, said: “I tried to explain about my condition. I’m not asking for anything that’s not right. I’ve got the receipts. The stuff’s not opened or damaged.

“I think it’s wrong that I couldn’t get a refund.”

Mark, who moved to Neilston three years ago, is unable to work due to his illness and relies on disability benefits.

He said: “I once took a turn in Morrisons and bought six chickens, six cans of dog food and 12 packets of cat food – although I don’t have pets.

“I took it back an hour later when I woke up and, luckily, one of the members of staff knew someone with the same condition, so I was able to explain what had happened.

“There have been times when I’ve woken up and not had receipts. I’ve had a basket full of women’s sanitary towels I bought but lost the receipt, so there was nothing I could do with them.

“I’m hoping people will see this and then, next time I’m out in Barrhead and I take a turn, they’ll know not to sell me 12 chickens or whatever.”

According to experts at the Narcolepsy UK charity, the condition is estimated to affect around one in 2,500 people.

That means that, in the UK, there are approximately 30,000 people who have narcolepsy, although the symptoms vary widely from one person to the next.

Nicola Rule, from Narcolepsy UK, told the Barrhead News: “Automatic behaviour and micro-sleeps are not only hard to explain to others but are very hard to live with, as they are unpredictable and invisible to the sufferer and onlookers.

“It is really not all that unusual for people with narcolepsy to suffer the same problems as Mark.

“Even going shopping at night on websites can be an involuntary action.”

The most common symptom of narcolepsy is excessive daytime sleepiness, brought about by an irresistible need to sleep at inappropriate times during the day.

Many sufferers also experience cataplexy – a temporary involuntary loss of muscle control.