An ultra rare disease exists that makes it impossible to ever sleep again

[Scarlett.]

Fatal familial insomnia (FFI) is a very rare autosomal dominant inherited prion disease of the brain. It is almost always caused by a mutation to the protein PrPC, but can also develop spontaneously in patients with a non-inherited mutation variant called sporadic Fatal Insomnia (sFI). FFI has no known cure and involves progressively worsening insomnia, which leads to hallucinations, delirium, and confusional states like that of dementia. The average survival span for patients diagnosed with FFI after the onset of symptoms is 18 months.

The mutated protein, called PrPSc, has been found in just 40 families worldwide, affecting about 100 people; if only one parent has the gene, the offspring have a 50% chance of inheriting it and developing the disease. The first recorded victim was an Italian man, deceased in Venice in the year 1765.


:bawling::bawling::bawling::bawling::bawling: :bawling::bawling::bawling:

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia)

[Shaun]

think TiBB should run diagnoses on its members ASAP

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

I HOPE I NEVER GET THIS ok

[swinearefine]

fml I think I have this

[Z]

sweet jesus

[King Gizzard]

http://www.famouslikeme.com/articleimages/85573_0.jpg

[MTVN]

Was actually reading about this the other day, this bit:

One of the most notable cases is that of Michael Corke, a music teacher from Chicago, Illinois. He suddenly began to have trouble sleeping not long after his 40th birthday in 1991, and his health and state of mind quickly deteriorated as his insomnia grew worse. Eventually, he couldn't sleep at all, and he was soon admitted to the hospital. Doctors there weren't sure what was wrong with him, initially diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis; in a bid to send him to sleep in the later stages of the disease, physicians induced a coma with the use of sedatives, but they found that his brain still failed to shut down. Corke died in 1992 a month before his 41st birthday, by which time he had gone without sleep for six months

is messed up

[King Gizzard]

Makes me want to go to bed

[Scarlett.]

Was actually reading about this the other day, this bit:



is messed up

It's as if their brain doesnt get an off switch, it's horrible, thank god it's really really really rare.

[Benjamin]

Now I'm paranoid I have this. :bawling:

[lostalex]

So it's basically like the opposite of a coma.

I'm not sure which is worse, being in a coma and never being able to wake up, or having this and never being able to sleep.

I think maybe i'd prefer the coma when i think about it.

[Kizzy]

Weirdsville, play them BB4 that should help :)

[Mystic Mock]

I remember SVU doing an episode about this the once, it was sad.

[Glenn.]

I have the opposite of this.