mrehan via Flickr
As a mother of young children, the last few years, movies consist of the usual Disney/Pixar and George Lucas animated offerings.
I have been known to fall asleep in some of these shows but enjoyed the remake of the classic Sleeping Beauty story ‘Maleficent’ as it seemed like a more female empowering theme and story line than the original.
During the show however, I was reminded of a fellow church mother’s dilemma when her teen son fell into a 7 month long sleep disorder, similar to the Disney princess.
Her son, was fine one day and then gradually started to display irritable behavior and impatience (like most teens
right?), low energy, sleeping most of the days away- sometimes 17-20 hours straight- waking only to use the restroom and eat voraciously, then back to bed.
After weeks of dealing with her teen son and dragging him from doctor to counselor, checking for drug use, depression, infections, brain issues, she finally got the diagnosis of Klein-Levin Syndrome- a rare disorder affecting mostly males- cause unknown but thought to have a genetic link.
This mother ultimately left the church to seek alternative care and was heard to have found a “cure” but in reality, her son’s syndrome most likely simply ended. Her son missed a year of his life but now is “back to normal”.
Her sleeping prince blessedly recovered with the help from her love and her courage to seek answers. Makes you look at the animated story in a different light right?
