Saturday, November 17, 2012

A real-life ‘sleeping beauty’: Pennsylvania teen slept for 64 days Read more: http://wA-real-life-sleeping-beauty-Pennsylvania-teen-slept-64-days.

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’.
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 reports.
Scroll down for video

On the verge of sleep: Video footage of Nicole Delien, 17, before she fell asleep for 64 days
On the verge of sleep: Video footage of Nicole Delien, 17, before she fell asleep for 64 days
Deep sleeper: Video footage of Nicole after she passes out

Deep sleeper: Video footage of Nicole after she passes out
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.

Raising wareness: Nicole with her family on the Jeff Probst Show

Raising wareness: Nicole with her family on the Jeff Probst Show
'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 KLSF 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.
The cause of Kleine-Levin Syndrome is unknown, both medical sources indicate.

Family photo: Nicole with her younger sister and brother

Family photo: Nicole with her younger sister and brother
Eric Haller, a young college student with the disorder, told ABC News that he gets sick and falls into a sleeping episode about eight to 10 times a year.
Medication helps spread Nicole’s sleeping episodes further apart, her family says. 

Nicole says she has missed out on Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays and the family’s first trip to Disney World. 

She also missed out on an opportunity to meet pop singer Katy Perry. But when Perry later learned about Nicole’s disorder she made sure Nicole was able to visit her backstage at a performance in Connecticut.
Nicole’s last sleeping episode was in March. She told KDKA that she’s scared of when it will happen again.



No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...