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Ontario teen suffers from rare disorder that makes her sleep for days

It may be informally known as "Sleeping Beauty" syndrome, but for Kaitlyn Terrana the medical condition that causes her to slumber for days at a time is much closer to a nightmare than a fairy tale.

As the Canadian Press reports, the 17-year-old has been diagnosed with Kleine-Levin syndrome, a rare condition that causes the high school student to sleep for days, in bouts of up to 20 hours at a time.

"Kind of like the day before, I start feeling really tired and it's really hard for me to focus in class," she told the news agency. "And then after that, I'm just gone for 10 days. I have to sleep, I can't stay awake."

During this time, Terrana's mother must monitor her daughter closely, waking her up to make sure she goes to the bathroom and refuels her body with food and drink.

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The Ontario student's cyclical episodes began two years ago. Though she saw a number of specialists, it took six months before a pediatric neurologist at McMaster University's Children's Hospital pinpointed her symptoms as concurrent with KLS — a disorder characterized by excessive bouts of sleeping, compulsive eating, irritability and lack of emotions in the days before and during an episode.

What makes Terrana's case even more unusual is that KLS tends to afflict adolescent males far more frequently than their female counterparts.

While there is no known cause or cure, in many cases the syndrome stops when the patient enters the "third or fourth decade of life."

At the end of this story, however, there's no happy ending — just a teenaged girl who can't even sign up for a class trip to Montreal and has to put her university dreams on hold for fear of being unable to consistently attend classes.

"It's affecting my schooling greatly because even though the school tries to accommodate me as much as they can, it's still difficult for me because I miss 10 days at a time and I have to catch up on what I missed plus the lessons I'm learning in class," she told the CP.

"By the time I get caught up, it happens again, which is very stressful."

Although she has the support of a good group of friends and her boyfriend, Terrana's condition can be dynamite in the hands of adolescent bullies. A former friend has even taken to the Internet to accuse the teen of faking her condition for attention.

Thankfully, there are other online avenues that provide the right kind of support. A website called the Experience Project has a page dedicated to creating a community for KLS sufferers.

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By sharing her story, Terrana has also drawn attention to the syndrome and hopes to raise funds for KLS research.

Her tactic appears to be working. A number of Canadians have also come forth with their own KLS-related afflictions on various commenting forums, while others have experienced great empathy and interest in learning more about the disorder.

Considering that it may take the teen a little longer than most to fulfill her dream of working in the healthcare profession, these actions have provided her with an admirable head start.