Real life ‘Sleeping Beauty’ has Kleine-Levin Syndrome
Posted on February 13, 2010
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Meet Louisa Ball, the real-life “Sleeping Beauty” who sleeps for two weeks at a time. The 15-year-old has missed school exams, dance lessons and even slept through an entire week’s family holiday because of an incredibly rare disorder. Louisa has Kleine-Levin Syndrome – also known as Sleeping Beauty Disease – where sufferers can fall asleep for weeks. The teenager, who lives in Worthing, first started to suffer with the disorder in October 2008 after recovering from a bout of flu. Louisa was referred to Worthing Hospital in November that year where a paediatric consultant suggested it may be hormonal. By then Louisa was sleeping for ten days at a time. She would sleep deeply for 22 hours, then her parents would manage to wake her just long enough to give her some food and take her to the toilet before she would fall back to sleep. Louisa was referred to St George’s Hospital in Tooting in March last year and a consultant paediatric eventually diagnosed her with the syndrome, which is a rare form of periodic hypersomnia where sufferers have periods of prolonged sleep. Doctors do not know what causes it, although it is thought it may be related to malfunction of the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that governs appetite and sleep. It is more common in males than females and usually disappears in adulthood. Between sleep periods the sufferer also recovers completely. There is no definitive treatment for Kleine-Levin Syndrome, although some patients are given stimulant drugs to try and keep them awake.
Louisa was put on medication but it did not work and after her diagnosis she started falling asleep for up to 12 days at a time. Louisa has just been put onto a new medication that her parents hope will help reduce her sleep patterns. Mr Ball said: “It does look promising. She hasn’t fallen asleep properly for about seven weeks now so we are hoping it will reduce the severity of the attacks and allow her to get on with her life.”
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