Fatal Familial Insomnia
...an extremely rare sleeping disorder!
Fatal Familial Insomnia is not only extremely rare but has only been known to be diagnosed in as few
as twenty-eight families world wide.
F.F.I. has no known cure and is often an inherited disease passed down through family dominant genes. The
chances of a second generation inheriting it from a first generation can be as high as 50%!
The symptoms only last from 8 to 36 months, can occur in older people, those between the ages of 30 and 60, and
in most cases is fatal! What actually happens is there is a dual mutation of certain proteins in the brain which
cause a plaque in the region of the brain which is responsible for sleep regulation.
It wasn't officially recognized and diagnosed until as late as 1974 and it is believed to be partially related
to “Mad Cow Disease” and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, both of which also have a protein mutation component.
This disease has 4 stages:
1st stage of the disease starts off with the sufferer dealing with increased insomnia leading to severe
panic attacks, and various kinds of phobias, this stage lasts about 4 months.
2nd stage sufferer deals with hallucinations and panic attacks become more obvious and lasts about 5
months.
3rd stage Complete and total inability to sleep. Follows with drastic weight loss and lasts about 3
months.
4th stage Dementia sets in and progressively becoming less responsive and mute over a course of 6 months
and this is the final progression of the disease.
This sounds a lot like Alzheimer's but if you notice the time frame it's a lot shorter than the actual time span
of someone who deals with Alzheimer's because the Alzheimer sufferer is dealing with it for several years instead
of a year. Both diseases, however, progressively degenerate the mental capacity to such a degree that the sufferer
has a hard time with memory.
As far as treatment is concerned sleeping pills don't have any effect for people suffering from Fatal Familial
Insomnia and not even non-medicinal therapy doesn't work either.
Medical science has no idea why it's a fatal disease and how they can create effective treatment options to
combat this problem. More effective genetic testing for the disease needs to be done to find out what can be done
medicinally and therapeutically to deal with this tragic sleeping disorder.
It's a matter of how much attention the medical world takes note of this, how much they push the funding to
finding a cure and how much time and money is put into effective genetic testing of families as well as tracking
diseases through the generations to be able to have some kind of record of the disease being passed down through
generations.
Fatal Familial Insomnia doesn't get nearly as much attention as all the other sleeping disorders because of it
being so rare, and only turning up in so few patients. With the way medical science is going it will be a matter of
time before medical science catches up and helps the many people who are looking for a cure for this unusual
sleeping disorder.
Fatal Familial Insomnia maybe a rare disease of the brain but it is a sleeping disorder that needs
attention from the medical community.
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