A real-life 'sleeping beauty': Meet the 17-year-old girl with condition that made her sleep for 64 D

[Jazzy]

A Pennsylvania teenager slept for 64 days from Thanksgiving into January -- her longest sleeping episode yet.



Nicole Delien, 17, struggles with a rare sleep disorder called Kleine-Levine, or ‘Sleeping Beauty Syndrome’, which affects an estimated 1,000 people around the world.



During her sleep spells she will wake up in a confused state for small periods of time to eat and go to the bathroom and then fall back to sleep.



Nicole’s mother, Vicki, says her daughter will sleep 18 to 19 hours a day, and when she eventually wakes up to eat she is in a ‘sleepwalking state which she doesn’t remember’, KDKA in Pittsburgh recently reported.



The Delien family also appeared on Jeff Probst’s syndicated talk show this week to make sure other families become aware of the rare disorder.



Vicki Delien told reporters that it was very frustrating trying to get a diagnosis for her daughter. She said it took several hospital trips to figure out what’s been afflicting her.



Finally, a doctor at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was able to pinpoint the disorder and offer some suggestions on how to manage it, including medication.



'Affected individuals may go for a period of weeks, months or even years without experiencing any symptoms, and then they reappear with little warning’ the Kleine-Levin Syndrome Foundation website states.



In addition to excessive sleeping, symptoms include disorientation, hallucination, child-like behaviour, binge-eating and periods of hyper-sexuality when awake, according to an Oxford Journals report.



That report says the disorder predominately affects young males.

Full article with pictures and video



Kind of confused because if she wakes up to eat and go to the bathroom, then she did not sleep for 64 days. Any way, this has to be a difficult disorder to live with. Then again, I know some teenagers who would have no problem sleeping 18 to 19 hours a day.

 

[Evil Eye]

I like my sleep, but that sounds awful.