Fatal insomnia is a rare disorder. Often known as the FFI sleep disorder, the disease can develop in a patient spontaneously but is frequently passed down and onset is usually observed between the ages of 30 and 60. The disease follows 4 phases starting with insomnia and moving on to hallucinations, a total inability to get to sleep and ultimately dementia that typically leads to death.
To Begin With sufferers generally show mild signs and symptoms of increasing insomnia. A growing lack of sleep however leads a lot of individuals to have panic and anxiety attacks and phobias that can grow to the point where they feel unsafe and are not able to cope with their normal daily routine. They then begin to hallucinate and the tremendous stress and anxiety they feel makes it even more difficult to get to sleep and locks them into a vicious cycle.
At this point it is common for people to be prescribed sleeping pills but, more often than not, sleeping pills are not what you need and can in fact make the disorder a whole lot worse. The issue here is that this disease is so rare that it is generally not diagnosed properly in its early stages and there are just a very small amount of treatments readily available that will do the job to a greater of lesser degree depending upon the individual patient. When the third stage of the illness is reached and the individual is suffering from a virtually total inability to sleep at night speedy weight loss normally occurs and dementia begins within just three months or less.
Familial insomnia can’t be cured but treatment can certainly deliver relief and permit individuals to maintaina reasonably regular lifestyle or even avoid the final state of dementia.
Because the disorder can progress so rapidly it is vital that you seek out medical advice the instant you think that something might be wrong. Because you have the disease does not necessarily mean that everything is lost and providing you seek professional help there is a great deal that can be done to help you live reasonably comfortably with the disease.
Those of us who find ourselves taking care of people battling with fatal familial insomnia must understand that sufferers are very aware of what is happening to them and need the understanding and, especially, the love and support of family and friends.
Learn a lot more about insomnia and particular conditions like as pregnancy insomnia and fatal insomnia.
