Kleine-Levin Syndrome

[Alan UK]

PRETTY Louisa Ball is known to her family and friends as Sleeping Beauty... but there the fairytale ends.

For the teenager suffers from a very rare disorder that means she can drop off for up to TWO WEEKS at a time.

She has even snoozed through an ENTIRE FAMILY HOLIDAY and missed school exams because of incurable Kleine-Levin Syndrome. Her parents Lottie and Richard have to force her awake to feed her and stop her from starving. "I'm so upset about having this illness because I know there's so much I'm missing out on," says Louisa, 15, whose disorder affects only about 1,000 PEOPLE worldwide.

"I can never remember anything when I wake up. I think, 'Why has this happened to me'."

The youngster's supersnoozes began after a bout of flu in 2008.

Scared

"She started falling asleep at school and at home. Even when she was awake she was rambling about things as if she was talking in her sleep," says Lottie, 45. "It really scared us."

Soon the youngster was out like a light for as long as ten days at a time.

Doctors at the family's local hospital in Worthing, West Suusex, examined Louisa but told her mum and dad they had no idea what was wrong, saying it could be hormonal.

She was referred to St George's Hospital in Tooting last year March where a paediatric consultant diagnosed Kleine-Levin Syndrome - a rare form of hypersomnia in children also called Sleeping Beauty Sickness. There is no known cause - but the good news for Louise, who has a 14-year-old brother, Ross - is that it usually disappears in adulthood.

But that's little comfort to her now. "I was really upset when I went to sleep at the beginning of our week's caravan holiday and woke up when it was over!" says Louise. "Ross had a great time with our friends, and I missed out on it all. I miss being with my friends too at school. They come over when mum tries to wake me up, but I can never remember them being there."

Richard says: "We know when Louisa is going into sleep mode as she becomes irritable.

"When we wake her to feed her we try to give her something quick to prepare like noodles or soup. If she says she'd like a Chinese, one of us has to rush to the takeaway before she drops off again.

Hope

"She sleeps so deeply Lottie can hoover around her and she won't wake up."

Louisa loves school and dancing classes - but sleep has made her miss exams. She even fell asleep at a dance competition. Lottie says: "She is behind in her classwork. We don't know what will happen when she sits her GCSEs.

All Louisa can do is wait. "I just hope one day I'll grow out of it," she says.

I wonder whether they have to put her into diapers for the duration of the sleep?

[DailyDi]

I know someone that had KLS as a teen. The short answer on diapers is: no. Unless you have a tendency to sleep wet anyway, you get up to use the toilet or eat, but go right back to bed.

[d_drew12]

Daily's right, they aren't actually out 24/7 for two straight weeks.