Published in April 13th, 2008
Advertisements
Sometimes we all feel down and depressed. But just realizing there are people in this world that are worse off than us always makes us count our blessings.
So next time you’re tossing and turning and wishing for sleep, tune in to this story. It’ll make you realize how lucky you are.
No matter how bad our sleeping problems cause us to feel, there are ways to overcome them. It can be as simple as reducing the stress in our lives or as complicated as needing several visits to a sleep clinic. You may have heard the saying, “Nobody ever died from lack of sleep”. However that’s simply not true…
Fatal Familial Insomnia, or FFI, is a rare genetic disease that runs in families. Those unfortunate enough to develop this disease have between seven months to three years left to live – if that’s what you can call it. There’s no relief and no cure.
Symptoms of fatal familial insomnia.
The age that FFI strikes can be as early as thirty, though between forty to sixty is more common. The first symptoms are frequent bouts of insomnia and fatigue, although these usually go unrecognised. Some sufferers experience phobias or panic attacks due to the lack of deep sleep. This is the first stage of this dreadful disease.
Fatal familial insomnia then takes it’s victims through worsening panic attacks and strange phobias. Sufferers are caught in the hinterland between sleep and wakefulness. Because the brain is deprived of sleep, hallucinations develop and bodily functions can start to break down. Sleep medications just make the symptoms worse.
From then on it’s a constant decline of both physical and mental health. The victims lose a lot of body weight and also loose the ability to communicate. In the final stage sufferers cannot speak or walk and experience incontinence. Finally they lapse into a coma and die.
Although FFI has been around for many generations, it’s only recently been recognised, previously diagnosed as mental illness. The only hope of a cure depends on gene therapy, a new therapy which has yet to prove itself.
The theory is locating a faulty gene which leads to the development of FFI and replacing it with a normal gene. Although this seems fairly cut
want to know how to improve your sleep? visit http://www.insomnia-connection.com/insomnia-articles.htmlinsomnia connection articles for a large range of articles on all sleep related matters. wendy owen, hh dip (holistic health therapy) is a natural health researcher and author.
Related posts:
- The Facts About Insomnia I hope that the facts about insomnia will help someone achieve a better night’s sleep. Just about everyone wants to wake up feeling rested, refreshed and ready to take on the new day. Unfortunately, many people do not get the rest they so desperately need and want. There are many resources available to the sleep [...]...
- Insomnia, Its Effects And How To Fight It Was there a time when you had difficulty falling at sleep at night? Do you lose sleep for hours at a time? You may have insomnia, a medical condition characterized by a person having difficulty sleeping and having functional problems during the day. Insomnia is mostly triggered when a person suffers from constant lack of [...]...
- How To Treat Insomnia in Children Unfortunately, while there is a significant difference in age between an adult and a child, there is no difference between the negative impacts a medical condition or disorder may have on the adult in comparison to the effect that it may have on the child. In the case of insomnia in children, the effects can [...]...
- How Insomnia Make You Ugly I have a friend who wants to get her chin tucked — a couple of them anyway. I stumbled across an article the other day linking double chins and snoring, so I went out on a search for all the ways insomnia might result in physical characteristics many people in the West would not associate [...]...
- Meditating Can Help Break Old Bad Habits That Can Lead To ... If you are suffering from, or have had in the past, some rather unpleasant experiences of not being able to sleep, take heart. You are not alone, and you definitely have lots of wide-eyed company sharing this dilemma with you. Roughly, about 35 million Americans, currently, have some precarious night owl tendencies. They find themselves [...]...
- Flu? It May Be Carbon Monoxide In Your Home, Cabin Or Chalet ... Tossing and turning all night? “Counting Sheep”. Or not counting sheep but trying a myriad of other folk and family remedies to get back to sleep and conquer insomnia. Got a lot on your mind? Most of us experience occasional difficulties sleeping, but unfortunately many people suffer from sleep problems that are chronic and / [...]...
- Orthorexia Nervosa: From Health Food To Death Food As more and more people not only become interested in healthy eating, switching their diets from animal protein to vegetarian, vegan, or even raw foods, there is a minority of people who not only get carried away with their new found dietary plan, but in fact fall into the grip of the world’s strangest eating [...]...
- When Should I Have a Massage? It’s important to always consult with your health care provider before determining if a massage will best meet your needs. Massage is a great way to improve circulation, bring the body into balance, improve the Immune System and help promote health and healing. Due to these benefits, there are certain conditions that respond better to [...]...
- Bulimia: From Binging To Purging You eat a tuna sandwich. Then a milkshake. Your meal tastes good at first, but soon you feel disgusting, like you over ate. Its not a new feeling. You’ve gone through this before. Soon you find yourself in the bathroom. Your head hangs over the toilet and your finger pushed down your throat. The gag [...]...
- How To Do When You Have Anxiety and Panic Attack An anxiety attack, sometimes referred to as a panic attack, can be a very terrifying experience. The symptoms of anxiety attacks can be very confusing as usually the person has no idea as to why their body is reacting in the manner it is. If you have experienced some of these unusual symptoms (below) while [...]...
Previous post:
«
Because Genetically Engineered Foods May Cause Rising Food ...Next post: Your Fat Toxic Body Can Kill You »