A 22-year-old girl has a condition which means that she can fall asleep for months at a time. To some, it's known as 'Sleeping Beauty Syndrome' but its official name is Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS).
Five years ago, Beth Goodier nodded off on the sofa and didn't wake up properly for six months. She 'wakes up' two hours a day, when she uses the toilet and has some food. She then returns to her slumber.
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Janine, Beth's mother, reckons her daughter has been asleep for 75 percent of the last five years. She told Daily Mail: "The most horrible symptom is her confusion.
"When she wakes for a few hours a day, she does not know where she is and becomes very agitated.
"The toughest year was when her friends finished their A-levels and went off to university, because Beth knew when she woke up that it should have been her, and that hurt her badly. And when she hurts, I hurt."
It's not yet been figured out what causes the syndrome. However, using others with the syndrome as case studies, it generally 'burns itself out' in the affected person's mid-twenties.
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Beth generally has around two weeks where she's properly awake. Janine continued: "Each time, you pray she's had her last episode - and then your heart sinks as you see the signs coming back. Her voice regresses, she starts to find light and noise too much and then she's gone again.
"It breaks my heart to see the best years of her life slipping away."
Dr Leschziner said: "[Those with KLS] feel as if they are in a dream-like state very separate from the world around them. It has a massive impact on their lives. When they wake up and realise what they've missed, they may be depressed and anxious.
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"While it's not terminal, young people with KLS can see their lives slipping away in their most formative and important years."
Beth is currently two-and-a half months into her latest sleeping episode. Hopefully, it'll be the last one.
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