Kleine-Levin syndrome

Other Hypersomnias. Narcolepsy is not the only hypersomnia, but it is by far the most common. Primary hypersomnia shares sleep attacks and excessive daytime sleepiness with narcolepsy but does not feature cataplexy or REM-associated abnormalities. Another rare hypersomnia is Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS), which most often occurs in teenage boys. KLS consists of intermittent bouts of hypersomnia and bizarre behaviors including compulsive eating and sexual inappropriateness. Distinguishing these hypersomnias from narcolepsy may help clarify the patient s prognosis, but the treatment alternatives are very similar. 

Lithium therapy in a 17-year-old man with Kleine-Levin syndrome led to remission of the characteristic manifestations, including hyperphagia (611). 

Muratori F, Bertini N, Masi G. Efficacy of lithium treatment in Kleine-Levin syndrome. Eur Psychiatry 2002 17(4) 232-3. 

In five adolescents with somnolence from Kleine-Levin syndrome lithium (serum concentrations 0.6-0.9 mmol/1) reduced the frequency and severity of the somnolence, without severe adverse effects (70). 

Poppe M, Friebel D, Reuner U, Todt H, Koch R, Heubnerb G. The Kleine-Levin Syndrome—effects of treatment with lithium. Neuropediatrics 2003 34 113-19. 

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