Medical Mysteries: Baffling Condition Altered Teen's Personality, Caused 20-Hour Stretches of Sleep

For 2 1/2 years, Erin Bousquet and her parents, who live in Lincoln, consulted pediatric neurologists, a neurosurgeon, an obstetrician-gynecologist and other specialists in a largely fruitless search to identify the condition that drastically alters her personality and temporarily shuts down her life two or three times a year.

In early 2020, a fertility specialist recommended that Erin consult Omaha neurologist Robert Sundell, MD.

Dr. Sundell, now with Methodist Physicians Clinic, told the family he believed Erin had Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS), a rare and little-known sleep disorder. Although 70 percent of cases involve adolescent boys, KLS is also known as “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome.”

The Washington Post: This teenager would sleep for alarming 20-hour stretches