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Sleeping Beauty Syndrome Young patient has spent 75 percent of her life in continuous sleep for weeks
Health experts are often advised to sleep seven to eight hours a day. Some people can do a lot less, others need more. Not only does a young Brit woman spend about a third, but sleep about three-quarters of her life. She suffers from the so-called "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome".
Woman spends three quarters of life sleeping
More and more people suffer from chronic sleep deprivation. Beth Goodier from the UK, however, not. The 22-year-old suffers from the so-called "small Levin syndrome" (KLS), which is colloquially referred to as "sleeping beauty syndrome". She spends about 75 percent of her life asleep. The rare disease has become a nightmare for the young woman from Stockport.
A 22-year-old woman from the United Kingdom suffers from the so-called "sleeping beauty syndrome". She has spent about 75 percent of the last five years asleep. (Image: natara / fotolia.com) 22 hours of sleep a day
Actually, it would now be time for Beth Goodier to begin her training as a child psychologist. Because that was her career aspiration when she was still a teenager. But nothing came of it. Because shortly before her 17th birthday fell the 22-year-old in a deep sleep and did not wake up six months, reports the "Daily Mail".
"She slept 22 hours a day, she just went in a trance to eat and drink and use the bathroom," the paper said. According to her mother, the young woman spent about 75 percent of the last five years sleeping.
Very rare disease
Beth Goodier is one of over 100 young people in the UK who have been diagnosed with Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. "But the fairytale name is far from the gruesome reality that faces these young people in the most formative time of their lives," the newspaper said.
According to the information, the young Englishwoman is currently in two and a half months in another deep sleep episode. "Nothing - no drugs, noise, requests or persuasions - will wake them," the newspaper says.
Causes not yet clarified
"Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" is an extremely rare disease whose prevalence is one to two cases per million population. The causes are not yet clear, but often a genetic origin is suspected.
Beth Goddier had fallen asleep one evening, and when she woke her mother, she "just babbled, in the tone of a five-year-old." The mother initially thought of a brain tumor or bleeding, but the doctors did not notice.
But since the young woman had just recovered from tonsillitis, the doctors suspect that this disease - with the genetic predisposition - could have been the trigger for the incipient "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome".
Syndrome often disappears on its own
Between the recurrent phases with a considerably increased need for sleep there are also longer waking hours. How long they last is unpredictable. According to experts, typical of the small Levin syndrome is that it gradually disappears over time.
After about ten to 15 years, those affected are "released" again, but until then they suffer from the unpredictable sleep attacks.
Too tired to go
For Beth Goddier, this means a tiring and agonizing time with many limitations: "I am at an age where I would love to move out. But I can not, because when the disease gets active, I need my mother's supervision. It's really frustrating, "she told the BBC years ago.
During her waking hours, according to the "Daily Mail", she has to be taken by wheelchair to the doctor because she is too tired to walk. "It's like night and day," said her mother Janine. "She could wake up tomorrow and then the race starts against time to live the life she should live. She hurries to meet friends and get her hair done. But nobody knows when she will fall asleep again. "
"It breaks my heart to see the best years of their lives pass," said the mother. But there is a chance that Beth Goddier will one day recover and enjoy life. (Ad)