falling out of bed during sleep

My friend in France, a retired physician with a serious drinking problem, from time to time throws herself out of bed in her sleep.  Six weeks ago she did this and hit her head on a night table, which resulted in the loss of an eye.  She did it again last night, with only multiple bruising as a result.  Could this be epilepsy or some other seizure phenomenon?  Alcohol-related?  If this is a syndrome with a name, I can't seem to find it. I would like to urge her to seek treatment, either in London or Paris, but I don't know if she needs a neurologist, a sleep disorder center where she can be evaluated, or what.   Any advice greatly appreciated.

[PettyOfficer]

My inclination would be that she needs to be seen by a neoruologist to have a ploysomnogram done so they can watch her actions at night and see exactly what her body's response is when this situation occurs. Things like blood pressure and oxygen levels may play a part. From talking with my neurologists before, they often inquired to my movements in my sleep saying that if you stop breathing multiple times throughout the night, pending how serious they are, your body will do whatever it takes to make you breathe again. This may be an extreme case, if that's truely what's happening. Hope everything works out for your friend.

[noops01]

hi,
yes it is possible she is having epileptic attacks during sleep and she definitely needs to undergo a sleep study.