The Woman Who Couldn’t Wake Up
By Quinn Eastman
Sleep was taking over Anna’s life. Even with multiple alarm clocks and powerful stimulants, the young Atlanta lawyer could sleep for thirty or even fifty hours at a stretch. She stopped working and began losing weight because she couldn’t stay awake long enough to eat. Anna’s doctors didn’t know how to help her until they tried an oddball drug.
The Woman Who Couldn’t Wake Up tells Anna’s story and the story of her diagnosis, idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), where sleep seems never-ending. People with IH have difficulty in stopping sleep. This disorder is reasonably distinct from narcolepsy, where there is great difficulty staying awake. Quinn Eastman explores the science around sleepiness. He writes how publicity around Anna’s successful treatment helped others form a community. It shows how a group of patients, who felt neglected or dismissed, united to steer research toward their little-known disorder.
Sharing emerging science and powerful stories, this book testifies to the significance of underrecognized diseases. It also sheds new light on how our brains function, day and night. It is essential reading for anyone interested in sleep and sleep disorders, including those affected by or seeking to treat them.