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Re: Fatal familial insomnia
Posted by susie on December 18, 1998 at 12:34:24:In Reply to: Fatal insomnia? posted by Meg on November 28, 1998 at 00:00:02:
The disease you are talking about is called fatal familial insomnia.
It is extremely rare and has been found among relatives of a handful of families - two in Italy, one in France, and three in the United States (maybe more by now). So it is highly unlikely that you will develop this unless you are in one of these families. The abnormal gene is dominant, so if you have the gene, you will get the disease.
The disease usually begins between 30 and 60 years of age. It progresses to death between 7 and 37 months. The insomnia gets worse and more prolonged, until the person does not sleep at all. This is associated with extreme decline in physical condition affecting almost all (if not all) systems of the body. There are increasing difficulties with talking, walking, and all types of movement. Mental decline and function goes along with all this.
FFI is caused by lesions in a specific part of the brain called the thalamus which are critical to sleep.
Sleeping pills, including the barbiturate type cause these people to go from wakefulness into a coma, with brain activity patterns (EEG) that are not even close to sleep - not even sleep associated with these medications.
While this is a very devastating and incurable disease, as I said at first it is EXTREMELY RARE and you MUST inherit the specific gene to develop the disease. So if you are worried your insomnia will turn into this, well, you have a better chance of winning several million in the Big Lottery.
- Re: Fatal familial insomnia Meg 12/27/98 (1)
- Re: Fatal familial insomnia susie 12/28/98 (0)
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