What is ‘sleeping beauty syndrome’?

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[{"selector":"#anim-b800c5ac-6cf2-4abe-8a28-f95891884919","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-b296d23f-d94e-43d4-87cc-2e635b54e4b3","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(115.28663%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] A young nurse suffers from an extremely rare condition dubbed “sleeping beauty syndrome,” which has her sleeping for two weeks at a time.

[{"selector":"#anim-be18a5a1-3ba7-4ed1-9526-07e792c8fec3","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-7ba9229a-78e4-452c-8c80-303c94e78a4a","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(115.28663%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] Bella Andreou, 24, sleeps for over 20 hours a day and becomes a “zombie” during her episodes. She has had countless episodes that lasted weeks at a time since she was 17, but she only got her diagnosis in September.

“It’s often called Sleeping Beauty syndrome, which it really isn’t. It’s anything but Sleeping Beauty, it’s more like a nightmare.”

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“You know when you have a nightmare where you fall off a cliff and then you can wake yourself up? Well for me that nightmare is constant for 10 days.”

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[{"selector":"#anim-b48d4015-3a8c-4374-8d54-f41ca9c50c33","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-ce631fa3-7b07-4e0d-9822-88e924ea5b71","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(116.24204%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] “Sleeping beauty syndrome” — medically called Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) — causes intermittent episodes of sleeping for long periods of time, often 16-20 hours per day, according to Cleveland Clinic. The cause of KLS is still unknown.

“I’m very dazed. I can’t function because it’s like I’m in a dream. It’s just a dream that you don’t really wake up from.”

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[{"selector":"#anim-f0152849-b313-42ce-ac46-a707a1f6783b","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-de706f6d-8348-45f7-8dbf-d0012ebf0db8","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(115.92356%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] The only way she can get out of an episode is through a night of insomnia, she shared, and when she gets up the next morning, she feels fine. However, Andreou struggles with sleep because of the fear of not knowing whether she’ll wake up in the morning.

[{"selector":"#anim-416d648b-374f-464a-8dc3-4197198902ba","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-67de8f18-d001-4aa2-b662-00b090797011","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(115.60510%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] Doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her and thought it could possibly be a reaction to her birth control pill.

[{"selector":"#anim-fcb094fd-4970-44f3-b6da-c828a7a37358","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-058be971-83e9-48a4-b19a-6c4436d6300c","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(115.60510%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] After months of scans and tests that ruled out tumors, cancer and epilepsy, she finally received an unofficial diagnosis of KLS from a neurologist in Newcastle.

[{"selector":"#anim-9fd0509c-72ce-4ca3-af62-6d0c9e0b4e4a","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-a425a362-2804-46e8-ab56-93df39e6d0d1","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(115.60510%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] Andreou said that she has lost nearly a year of her life due to the condition, having missed out on her 19th birthday and more recently having an episode while she was supposed to be a bridesmaid at a friend’s wedding.

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