Sleeping Beauty Syndrome
Louisa Ball is no ordinary 15 year old. When Ball goes to take a nap, she can actually sleep for days on end, and nothing will wake her from that sleep.
The rare condition that the British teen suffers from, is called Sleeping Beauty Sickness.
Doctor’s have no idea what causes this condition or how to actually cure it, they do know it affects teenagers and goes away after about eight to twelve years.
Ball’s mother Lottie, told NBC News that the condition started around a year ago, starting with flu like symptoms, then shortly after the sleeping episodes started.
Ball was eventually diagnosed with Kleine-Levin Syndrome, with numbers worldwide only amounting to 1,000. The people who suffer from the condition usually live normally for weeks to months, with usual sleep patterns, and energy levels. Then with no warning they will sleep for days or even weeks at a time. Louisa’s longest bout of sleep was 13 days.
The people affected will wake for a short period but be disorientated and not too aware or alert. Lottie spoke of the first time her daughter was effected, “We couldn’t wake her up,” “It was just really constant ‘Louisa, will you get up, please. Have something to eat.’
The medical world is at odds on how to treat the syndrome, there are suggestions it may be the effect of a viral infection Dr. Emmanuel Mignot, director of the Center for Narcolepsy at Stanford University. “We think that some people are genetically predisposed to having an infection that then doesn’t clear up and seems to relapse regularly,and that gives the symptoms of sleeping all the time for days at a time.”