Shropshire School Girl Sleeps For Months on End
A British school girl slept for two months because of a rare sleeping disorder, according to reports.
Stacey Comerford, 15, from Telford, Shropshire, misses her exams and her birthday because of a unique sleeping disorder called Kleine Levin syndrome.
Kleine Levin syndrome, which is also known as sleeping beauty syndrome, is a rare sleep disorder that affects one among 1,000 people. People with the syndrome tend to eat a lot of food and sleep for long - at least for 16 to 22 hours a day. Till now doctors have not found a cure for the disorder.
During the two months of her sleep, Stacey Comerford only woke up to drink water or to go to the toilet in a hypnotic state.
"There's never any warning. I've even found her fast asleep on the kitchen floor," the Daily Mail quoted Bernie Richards, mother of Stacey Comerford, as saying "When she's in an episode, she might get up to go to the toilet or get a drink but she's not awake. I call it sleep mode."
Comerford first experienced this rare syndrome about a year ago, in March. Doctors who analysed her case claimed that she was a moody teenager. Her mother took Comerford to the Princess Royal Hospital where doctors believed that she might have brain tumor. They took a brain scan and also checked for narcolepsy and epilepsy. But they were stunned to find that she did not have any such disorder.
"I always knew there was something wrong. I know my daughter," said Richards
Finally her mother took her to a neurologist at Birmingham Children's Hospital and they found that she had this rare sleep disorder.
"She's gone from a fresh faced teenager, full of energy to sleeping all the time," Richards told the Daily Mail. "We can't plan anything because Stacey might be asleep."
"She could go to sleep tonight and wake up next week," she added.
Now doctors have given a drug called modafinil to help keep her awake. "It seems to be working. She's more awake and it's improving her quality of life. We will have to see how she gets on," said Richards.
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