According to the Daily Telegraph of November 4, Dr Allen, 35, a scientist, suffers from bouts of "cataplexy", a rare symptom of narcolepsy, triggered by strong emotions-such as fear, surprise or laughter。
The attacks cause her to lose control of her body and she collapses into a deep sleep - although she remains conscious throughout。
Each collapse lasts between 30 seconds to five minutes and at its worst Claire can endure up to 100 attacks each day。
Claire, from Cambridge, described how she first loses her speech and vision before her body buckles - but she remains completely "awake"。
She said: "The attacks are caused by any emotional surprise or shock but laughter is definitely the strongest trigger。
However, the new drug ，Xyrem puts Claire into a deep sleep for three-and-a-half hours so she must take a second dose in the middle of the night to get a full seven hours sleep。
She said: "For the last five years I hadn't slept for more than an hour at a time so the first time I slept for more than three hours it was incredible。
Researchers have found that narcolepsy may be caused by an irregularity to the brain cells which control the sleep hormone hypocretin。
An estimated 25,000 people in the UK suffer from narcolepsy but many remain undiagnosed due to the varying nature of the symptoms。
据英国《每日电讯报》11月4日报道，今年35岁的艾伦博士，患有一种“悴倒症”疾病。这是一种罕见的嗜睡症，患者一旦经历强烈的情感波折，如恐惧、惊讶和大笑，就会引发病症。
这种疾病使艾伦失去对自己身体的控制，虽然她还处于清醒状态，但是整个身体已经陷入深度睡眠阶段。
每一次症状发生都会持续30秒到5分钟不等，克莱尔最坏的一次发病，一天竟然发病达到100次。
来自剑桥的克莱尔在发言中，描述了她第一次如何失去对身体的控制，但是仍然处于“完全清醒”状态的情景。
她说：“‘突然猝倒’可能是由于惊讶或震惊等情感波动而引起的，但是大笑绝对是引发症状的最强动因。”
然而，新型药物“Xyrem”可以让克莱尔处于深度睡眠，连续睡上三个半小时，所以在半夜她要再吃上一次药，保证自己可以有7个小时的深度睡眠。
她说：“在过去的5年里，我从来没有一次睡觉超过一个小时，所以当第一次我能获得3个多小时的睡眠时，我感到特别难以置信。”
研究人员发现，嗜睡症可能是由于控制睡眠的荷尔蒙下视丘分泌素分泌失调造成的。
据估计，英国大约有2万5千人患有嗜睡症，但很多人因为症状性质不同难以确诊。
|