July 26, 2006

KLS?

So the legend of Sleeping Beauty really can happen to any of us…. Imagine dozing in your bed for 23 hours a day for days, weeks or even months on end. And for that one waking hour you feel confused, you can’t grasp anything that just happened.

Such is the mystery of Kleine-Levins Syndrome (KLS), reflected in the famous fairy tale possibly based on a real situation. It was just unveiled on last night’s ABC Primetime, which followed healthy individuals from 8 to 28 struck by the disease. One was about to embark to George Washington University for grad school, when she fell sick while behind the wheel in the middle of one July and into her dolorous phase.

Only 500 people worldwide are afflicted with the neurological disorder, but a cure has not been found. Scientists speculate that a gene may be driving the disease; in a sense, its power switch must be turned off for the patient to even have a chance to live a normal life. As of yet, it has not been put into practice.