American Bella Andreou, 24 years old, suffers from an extremely rare condition called "sleeping beauty syndrome", which causes her to sleep more than 20 hours a day.
The symptoms began when she was 17. However, it was not until September this year that she received an official diagnosis from a doctor.
"People call it sleeping beauty syndrome, but the reality is far from this beautiful name. It's like a nightmare. Have you ever had those kinds of nightmares like falling off a cliff and waking up with a start? For me, that nightmare lasted 10 days," Andreou said.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the condition, known medically as Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS), causes intermittent bouts of sleepiness over long periods of time, typically 16 to 20 hours a day. Experts are currently unclear about the cause of this condition.
Normally, Andreou is outgoing and energetic. However, when she is in the middle of a KLS episode, she becomes childish, moody and somewhat reckless. She often feels dizzy, lightheaded and her body does not function normally.
"I was like in a dream, unable to really wake up," she said.
Bella Andreou, 24, has sleeping beauty syndrome. Photo: NY Post
She shared that the only way to get rid of this condition was to stay up all night. The next morning, she felt better. The disease also made Andreou afraid to fall asleep, because she did not know if she would wake up the next morning.
The first time Andreou experienced a KLS cycle was in 2016, after drinking alcohol. She would fall asleep, then wake up in a brain fog and fall back asleep. The episode lasted 10 days, leaving her feeling nauseous.
"I lost consciousness and felt like I was dreaming. I woke up and couldn't wake up. I used to sleep 19 hours a day. My parents were away at the time. When they came home and saw me, they thought I had been injected with opium, because the symptoms looked so severe," she explained.
At the age of 17 to 18, her KLS cycles usually lasted from 7 to 10 days, returning after about 4 weeks. At that time, doctors mistakenly thought she was just "looking for attention". Experts also found no abnormalities, thinking it could be a side effect of the birth control pill.
"For several months, I lived with the fear that I was going crazy. I knew something was wrong with me. My parents said I looked lifeless and lifeless," she recalls.
She has now lived with the disease for eight years. She knows that the main causes of this condition are alcohol, stress and hormones.
Thuc Linh (According to NY Post )
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