Dr. Claire Allen, 35, suffers from rare and severe form of sleeping sickness that makes her pass out 100 times in a day. She is a research scientist at the British Antarctic Survey and she said that she has suffered from cataplexy, a severe form of narcolepsy that sees her lose control of her body and collapse into a deep sleep – although she remains conscious throughout.
Each episode can last from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. Surprise, laughter and any sudden movement can trigger the attacks. She explained, “There is no pain at all. My speech will go first, so I can’t communicate what is happening, followed by my vision and then my body crumples beneath me… It doesn’t feel any different to being awake, except that I can’t see or move at all as I’m in a total state of paralysis.”
She is on a new drug, Xyrem, which has cut the episodes to a handful a month. She is able to sleep for a continuous three hours at a time whereas before she was waking 30 times a night.
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