Sleeping Beauty syndrome is scientifically called Kleine-Levin syndrome, it is a rare disease that occurs initially in adolescence or early adulthood, in the child the person goes through periods during which he spends days sleeping, which can vary from 1 to 3 days, awake irritated, restless and compulsively eating.
Each sleep period can vary between 17 and 72 hours in a row and when you wake up you feel drowsy and fall asleep again after a short time. Some people still experience episodes of hypersexuality, which is more common in men.
- This disease develops in periods of seizures that can occur 1 month a month for example.
- On other days.
- The person leads a seemingly normal life.
- Even if his condition hinders school.
- Family.
- And work life.
Kleine-Levin syndrome is also called hypersomnia syndrome and hyperphagia; hibernation syndrome; periodic drowsiness and pathological hunger.
To identify Sleeping Beauty syndrome, you should check for the following signs and symptoms:
There is no cure for Kleine-levin syndrome, but this disease apparently stops showing seizures after age 30, but to ensure that the person has this syndrome or other health problem, tests such as polysomnography, which is the study of sleep, in addition to others such as electroencephalography, brain MRI and CT scan, in the syndrome these tests should be normal but are important to rule out other diseases such as epilepsy , brain damage, encephalitis or meningitis.
It is not known why this syndrome developed, but it is suspected to be a problem caused by a virus or changes in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that controls sleep, appetite and sexual desire; however, in some reported cases of this disease, a non-specific viral infection was reported affecting the respiratory system, particularly the lungs, gastroenteritis and fever before the first episode of excessive sleep.
Treatment of Kleine-Levin syndrome may be done with the use of lithium-based medications or amphetamine stimulants during the crisis period to induce the person to have regularized sleep, but this does not always have an effect.
It is also part of the treatment to allow the person to sleep as long as necessary, waking them up at least twice a day so that they can eat and go to the bathroom so that their health is not harmed.
Generally, 10 years after the onset of exaggerated sleep episodes, seizures stop and no longer recur, even without specific treatment.