A Pennsyvania girl slept for 64 days due to a rare "sleeping beauty" condition called Kleine-Levin syndrome.
Nicole Delien, a 17-year-old, girls spends much of her days sleeping. While this may seem normal for a teenager, Delien cannot control her sleeping habits. She sleeps for 18 or 19 hours a day due to her rare Kleine-Levine disorder.
When she's awake, she often remains in a sleepwalking state. She'll wake up for short periods of time to eat or use the bathroom and will fall asleep again.
"She'll just be completely out of it," Vicki Delien said, Nicole's mother told the Chartiers Valley Patch. "She will be completely asleep for about 19 hours a day. She will get up, but she'll be like a zombie, like she's sleep walking. And she tends to just go to the refrigerator and take out whatever she's craving."
Delien has slept for several days and at one point, she slept for 64 days in a row. She missed Thanksgiving and Christmas and woke up sometime in January.
"She's never really adjusted to it," Vicki Delien told the Chartiers Valley Patch. "She's 17 now and it really upsets her. She's missed out on a lot."
Delien has missed out on school, hobbies and family vacations due to her disorder. She missed out on meeting singer Katy Perry after she won a contest. Luckily, Perry learned about her condition and rescheduled the meeting. She even missed the passing of her grandfather. Her parents had to tell her when she woke up from a long sleeping episode.
Delien started showing symptoms of the disorder when she was six years old. She spent 25 months living with the symptoms before it was even diagnosed.
"We heard it was viral, epilepsy, West Nile, she was just doing it for attention," Delien said. "It took us 25 months to land a diagnosis." Only 1,000 people have been diagnosed with Kleine-Levine syndrome. The Delien family hopes to raise awareness about the condition and recently appeared on the Jeff Probst show.
To see a clip from the show, click here.
"We've been through everything with this illness," Delien said. "There are others who need to be made aware that this is a disorder that is out there. It's a true sleep disorder that exists and people who have it need help."
Delien has received treatment for her condition. She is treated with epilepsy and narcolepsy medications which help keep her condition in control. She only experiences sleeping episodes twice a year now.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
