A student has revealed she suffers from a rare syndrome which means she can sleep for weeks at a time, and itβs so bad she has even napped through her exams.
Rhoda Rodriguez-Diaz from Leicester has βsleeping beauty syndromeβ, which causes a person to nap for up to 22 hours a day and remain in dream-like trance states to eat, drink and go to the toilet.
At itβs worst, the 21-year-oldβs sleeping episodes can last up to three weeks at a time, and it caused her to fail her second year at university after she slept through her end-of-year exams.
βItβs really annoying when people call me lazy,β she told theΒ Mail Online: βI do struggle with the effects of it but itβs part of me and not who I am. Itβs frustrating because I canβt help it.β
Rhoda was diagnosed with hyper insomnia by her GP when she was a child, characterised by extreme tiredness and need to sleep.
But it wasnβt until last September that doctors discovered the psychology student had the one-in-a-million Kleine-Levin Syndrome, nicknamed after the Disney princess Sleeping Beauty.
It causes Rhoda to go months at a time without experiencing any episodes, but when they do strike, she can be wiped out for days.
βLife goes on whilst Iβm sleeping,β she explained. βReality hits me when I wake up and realise Iβve missed a week of my life.
βI feel a huge setback when it does happen. I miss out on so much. Itβs hard to explain to people where I have been because itβs so rare and a lot of people struggle to understand.β
A specialist doctor at St Thomasβ Hospital London finally got her diagnosis in September, but things have still been difficult, with episodes occurring every few months.
Despite this, she has enrolled to resume her studies and will be sitting her second year again after being accepted as an βexceptional caseβ β trying her best to attend exams.
People who suffer with Kleine-Levin Syndrome are expected to grow out of the condition eventually, and Rhoda has learnt to manage her condition in her adult life.
