The Suffocating Sleep: Understanding Ondine's Curse

According to the myth, it was a once-beautiful water nymph named Ondine who first cursed her unfaithful husband that, should he ever fall asleep again, he would cease breathing. While it may seem an appropriate punishment for a cheating lover, Ondine's Curse is actually a very real and dangerous condition of the human body. People who suffer from Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (otherwise known as Ondine's Curse or Undine's Curse) can literally suffocate in their sleep, as their body fails to respond to a normal need for oxygen.

What is Ondine's Curse?

Our autonomic nervous system (otherwise known as our ANS or visceral nervous system) is a part of our peripheral nervous system which regulates many of the bodily functions that we don't usually think about - our heart rate, digestion, pupil refraction and dilation and even our breathing during sleep - all of these functions are controlled by the ANS. Patients who suffer from Congential Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS) have a severe form of sleep apnea, in which the body loses its autonomic control of respiration. This means that the person must make a conscious effort to take in and expell every breath; when they fall asleep, they can no longer breathe. This can result in brain damage, nocturnal hypoventilation, acidosis (waste products building up in the blood) and respiratory arrest.

Ondine's Curse can either be born with the condition or can develop it upon suffering some form of severe neurological trauma to the brain stem. The presence of tumors on the brain (Neuroblastoma) may cause CCHS as can other conditions, such as Hirschsprung Disease.

The Symptoms of Ondine's Curse

Those who suffer from Ondine's Curse can be difficult to diagnose because there are varying degrees of this condition. Additionally, the patient can often suffer from symptomss that are misleading and may lead to misdiagnosis. Some symptoms of Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Sleep apnea

- Brain damage

- Nocturnal hypoventilation

- Shallow breathing

- Acidosis

- Respiratory arrest

- Cardiac arrest

How to Diagnose Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome

The best method of diagnosing Ondine's Curse is to have a full sleep study performed on the patient. This means that they will spend a night under observation, where technicians and doctors can study sleep and waking patterns, as well as the body's normal functions. This is the best method of determining any kind of sleep disorder. Should you suspect that you or a loved one is suffering from Ondine's Curse, it's very important to raise these concerns with your doctor immediately and request a sleep study be performed. Early detection can help prevent further complications or progression of the condition.

Treating Ondine's Curse

Those who suffer from Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome will do so for the rest of their lives and, due to the high risk of suffocation, they usually require lifetime assistance with breathing when they sleep. This is usually supplied through the use of a mechanical ventilator and patients often have tracheotomies performed during some point in their lifetimes. Unfortunately, there is no treatment that will cure Ondine's Curse, though the patient can be made more comfortable with the help of the ventilator.

Sources:

Wrong Diagnosis - http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/o/ondines_curse/intro.htm - Information on Ondine's Curse, including symptoms and treatment