Michael Corke, suddenly began to have trouble sleeping not long after his 40th birthday in 1991. Eventually, he couldn’t sleep at all, and he was soon admitted to hospital. Doctors there weren’t sure what was wrong with him, initially diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis; in a bid to send him to sleep in the later stages of the disease, physicians induced a coma with the use of sedatives, but they found that his brain still failed to shut down. Corke died in 1992 a month before his 41st birthday, by which time he had gone without sleep for six months.[14]
The disease has four stages, taking 7 to 18 months to run its course:
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The patient suffers increasing insomnia, resulting in panic attacks, paranoia, and phobias. This stage lasts for about four months.
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Hallucinations and panic attacks become noticeable, continuing for about five months.
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Complete inability to sleep is followed by rapid loss of weight. This lasts for about three months.
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Dementia, during which the patient becomes unresponsive or mute over the course of six months. This is the final progression of the disease, after which death follows.
Other symptoms include profuse sweating, pinpoint pupils, the sudden entrance into menopause for women and impotence for men, neck stiffness, and elevation of blood pressure and heart rate. Constipation is common as well.
