Far from being the heroine of a fairy tale, a 17-year-old Colombian teenager suffers from Kleine-Levin syndrome. Otherwise called Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, it can cause her to sleep for weeks or even months.
On average, we spend a third of our lives sleeping. Some people need few hours of sleep to feel fit while others are real gobblers. In very rare cases, it is also possible to spend several days or even weeks in a row sleeping. This is the case of Sharik Tovar, a 17-year-old Colombian teenager, suffering from Kleine-Levin syndrome, also called Sleeping Beauty syndrome. This rare disease is characterized by phases of hypersomnia. Around one in a million people are affected worldwide, with a higher incidence in boys.
Sleep 23 hours a day
Since the age of two, Sharik Tovar has been going through these phases of hypersomnia. The longest lasted two months. A complicated situation, because to feed her her mother had to make her ingest liquid substances. Moreover, when she woke up, the girl was totally disoriented, could not walk. According to the Kleine-Levin Syndrome Association, the disease leads to “recurrent episodes of hypersomnia (which can reach 23 hours a day for a few days to a few weeks), cognitive disorders (derealization, confusion, apathy, etc.), and behavior more or less marked.
A mysterious disease
The causes of the disease are still unknown. A study, published in 2005 in the journal Pediatric Neurology Briefs indicated that in 72% of cases, Kleine Levin syndrome followed an infectious disease. A pathogen could affect the hypothalamus. The genetic track is also considered because several cases have already been reported within the same family. To date, there is still no curative treatment. Generally, doctors prescribe amphetamines in order to prevent sleep.
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