YET ANOTHER SYNDROME- THE SLEEPING BEAUTY SYNDROME

  Early in the morning, many of us are used to getting frankly irritated by the ‘taai taai & tuu tuu’ of our alarm clocks. Making commitment to oneself that I’ll get up early tomorrow and study or for that matter do any other chores remaining, one falls in the bed early with the alarms on his clock or mobile on, only to snooze or stop it every 5 or 10 minutes the next morning. Unable to resist the temptation to nap a little more, the vicious cycle continues and we end up waking 2 or so hours late. This phenomenon is even more so in this chilling winter (remember the warmness of the siraks &blankets) which manifests itself in our late arrival to colleges/offices with all that rush to do things in haste.

  Yes, not everyone has that privilege, but if granted, everyone can sleep for quite more a time than what is considered the minimal requirement of sleep for that particular age group (exceptions of sleep disorders aside). However, I bet you my bottom dollar that let alone do it, you cannot even imagine of sleeping nonstop for 64 days in a row. Mind it, 64 days is not a joke. Up to 4-5 hours more than normal, we can do it, we have done it! If it were an Olympic event, I hope some of us can even manage it up to a day. But, gosh! 64 days is a terrific figure.

Nicole Delien- the modern day Kumbhakarna

  I’m not being Hawa by talking about this, but rather am writing to tell that there do exist people who have achieved this remarkable feat. Oh! not voluntarily, they are indeed afflicted with a rare disorder, SLEEPING BEAUTY SYNDROME as some prefer to call it. The medical lexicon has its own term- KLEINE- LEVIN SYNDROME. Nicole Delien, a 17 year Pennsylvania girl, is one such sleeping beauty battling the monstrous syndrome, as reported by the Western press.

                   

                  What exactly is it?

  Niraj Ahuja’s ‘A Short Textbook of Psychiatry’ defines it as a rare syndrome characterized by: Hypersomnia (always present), Hyperphagia (usually present) and Hypersexuality (associated at times) . When a typical episode of SBS begins, the patient becomes progressively drowsy and sleeps for most of the day and night, waking only to eat and go to the bathroom, says the Kliene-Levin Foundation website. Very little was known about its causes and treatment until recently. But, Time magazine reports that in the patient's spinal fluid, the scientists have discovered a previously uncharacterized chemical that stimulates the GABA-A receptor. As the GABA-A receptor is the target where the sedatives and anaesthetics act, it has given fresh hopes that FLUMAZENIL, a GABA antagonist might block or reverse the effects of the unknown agent that was activating GABA-A receptors in SBS.

A few months ago,ABC News profiled a British teen Eric Haller, who had lamented: “When I go through it, it’s complete hell for me. It doesn’t feel real & it’s hard to understand what people are saying. It’s so frustrating because I can’t understand”. It’s precisely to soothe the hardships endured by such modern day Kumbhakarnas that much research needs to be done.