Teen Sleeping Beauty Wakes Up After Long Sleep

The 15-year old British girl, Stacey Comeford finally woke up after a couple of months sleep. Comeford is suffering from a rare neurological disorder called Kleine Levin Syndrome.

Kleine Levin Syndrome or also known as sleeping beauty syndrome is characterized by recurring periods of period of excessive amounts of sleep. During the onset of its episode, the person affected becomes drowsy and sleeps for most of the day and night and will only wake up to eat or go to the comfort room.

Most individuals affected by the syndrome are not able to attend school or work or even care for themselves like Comeford.

Comeford actually missed nine exams and even her own birthday in the recent episode of her syndrome. She claimed that explaining her condition to other people is the hardest thing to do for her. All over the world, only about 1,000 people are affected by the said syndrome.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Kleine Levin Syndrome majorly affects adolescent males and can often result in a person sleeping for up to 20 hours at a time.

Unfortunately, there is no treatment or cure for the disorder. Nevertheless, as a person ages, usually he or she abandons the condition, most commonly over the course of eight to twelve years.

The NINDS further described the symptoms as episode onset always comes in a sudden, and may be associated with flu-like symptoms. The symptoms is also characterized by excessive food intake, irritability, childishness, hallucinations and an abnormally uninhibited sex drive may also be observed during an episode.

Whenever an episode is about to occur, there is never a warning. According to Comeford’s mother, there was one time when she found her daughter fast asleep on the kitchen floor. Cameford might only get up to go to the toilet or get a drink but she is not totally awake, said by the mother.

Cameford‘s smother further said that that she even investigated by the local education authority thinking that she was intentionally keeping her daughter off from school. Later on, when Comeford’s condition was diagnosed, said local education authority stopped from investigating.

Ironically, a lot of people who suffer from sleep deprivation do everything such as taking sleeping pills and other best sleeping aids just to fall asleep for several hours enough to power them up for the whole day, while people with such condition suffer from overly long sleep wishes to overcome such syndrome.

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