An adolescent girl with periodic hypersomnolence and megaphagia

Periodic hypersomnolence in a young female patient: a case report and literature review

Background

Kleine–Levin syndrome (KLS) is a disease with periodic hypersomnolence accompanied by abnormal behavior with a rare prevalence in female.

Case presentation

Here, we report a young lady with chief complaint of hypersomnolence for 6 years of visits and any history of sleep attack, sleep paralysis, and cataplexy. Polysomnography was performed for the patient. The respiratory disturbance index was normal. In MSLT the patient had two SOREMs with mean sleep latency of 7 min. She was diagnosed as Kleine–Levin syndrome as the sleepiness symptoms had a periodic pattern without other characteristics of central hypersomnolence disorders. The patient did not report behavioral characteristics of KLS reported in previous literature. She improved spontaneously after a while in follow-ups without any further treatment.

Conclusions

Although KLS is reported rarely in female gender and there are previous defined behavioral symptoms for this syndrome, periodic pattern of sleepiness should raise this diagnosis after exclusion of other hypersomnolence causes.

Sleeping Beauty Syndrome: A Case Report and Review of Female Cases Reported from India

Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS), also called "Sleeping beauty syndrome" is a rare, disorder predominantly reported in adolescent males, characterized by recurrent episodes of hypersomnia and to various degrees, hyperphagia, cognitive disturbances, and hypersexuality. Here, we are reporting a case of a middle-aged female, with 16 years delay in diagnosing KLS, poor response to most of the psychotropics, except good response to a combination of lithium, sertraline, and modafinil for last 12 months and also reviewing other female cases with KLS reported from India.