5 Medical Conditions That Sound Fake, But Are Actually True

1. The Syndrome Of Sleeping Beauty

We all know the fairytale where the main character, a beautiful young princess, was compelled by a witch to sleep for 100 years, giving her the name of Sleeping Beauty. Just like this girl’s spell, there is a medical condition called Sleeping Beauty, which is also known as Kleine-Levin Syndrome.

People who are diagnosed with this condition experience several episodes of exaggerated sleep. In conformity with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke(NINDS), these episodes can continue up to 20 hours a day and can last for days, if not weeks.

Before a period of excessive sleep begins, diagnosed people can experience symptoms like those that occur when having the flu. In addition to that, when they are awake, they might overeat, hallucinate, or even manifest childish behavior.

According to the NINDS, 70 percent of people diagnosed with this illness are adolescent men. However, Kleine-Levin syndrome is treated with stimulant drugs, and it has been found that episodes tend to fade as a person grows older.

2. Facial Blindness

The syndrome of Facial Blindness, also known as Prosopagnosia, has its origin in the Greek words “prósopo” (face) and “agnōsia”, meaning “ignorance”. It’s a no-brainer that many of us tend to forget names easily or to not remember birthdays.

For people who are diagnosed with facial blindness, things are a little more complicated because they can have difficulty in recognizing even familiar faces or distinguishing people.

There are many degrees of this illness, and those with the most severe type may not be capable to tell the difference between a face and another item, or even recognize their own face.

Although it might seem like this disease is related to memory loss, it is not the case. Facial blindness can be the result of a brain injury, stroke, or a neurodegenerative disease, in conformity with NINDS.

Also, there are cases of people who are born with this syndrome, which means that there are several cases of congenital prosopagnosia.

3. Werewolf Syndrome

The Werewolf Syndrom is also known as Ambras Syndrome or Hypertrichosis, and it’s an unusual skin disease. People who are diagnosed with this disease might have some features that are the same as werewolves.

People who have Ambras Syndrome can have excessive hair all over their bodies, with two exceptions: on the palms of their hands and the bottoms of their feet. In addition to that, this can include fine facial and ear hair, in conformity with the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center.

Besides having excessive hair, this syndrome can affect people by causing a trapezoidal face, a bulbous nose, and a lack of teeth. Hypertrichosis is genetic and it is also a dominant trait. This means that if one of the parents has this syndrome, it is possible for the child to inherit it as well.