SINDROME DE KLEINE LEVIN

Abstract

A case of Kleine Levin syndrome occuring in a male adolescent aged seventeen is reported. The patient presented four crises. Each one of them separated by periods of six months. The first three crises lasted six days but the fourth one only three days. The patient was observed during the third crisis and during the periods before and after the attack itself. The most prominent symptoms were: personality disturbance and depression preceding and following the first crisis: hypersomnia, (apparently patient's sleep was not different from normal sleep): megaphagia or hyperphagia, but real bulimia was not observed: heavy sweating while the patient was sleeping. Abnormal mental reactions appeared everytime he was aroused: confusion, irritability, aggresion and amnesia about the facts that had happened during the crisis. When the crisis was over, short periods of elation were presented. The crisis broke out without any apparent reason. Clinical, neurologic, electroencephalographic and biochemical studies were normal. The patient began a psychotherapeutic treatment when he had his second attack. It lasted until four months after the third attack. It was found that the problems that the patient showed were common to any normal adolescent and they were not apparently connected to the crisis. During the last episode he was prescribed dextroamphetamine which seemed to reduce the crisis. After four years, information about the patient was received and it was known that he had followed a very satisfactory course.