Two years ago, Oliver Alvis was a diligent, responsible train driver who worked long hours and had paid off the mortgage on his 4-bedroom home. He had also earned his private pilot’s license in his spare time, bought his own light aircraft, and looked forward to a happy future with his family. Today he has lost everything: his health, job, family, and the happy future he looked forward to. Oliver has a constant wakefulness that has deprived him of restorative sleep for nearly two years. He explained that it’s not merely poor sleep, but that he doesn’t sleep at all. “I don’t feel drowsy, I don’t drift off, I’m locked into a perpetual state of alertness,” said Oliver. The hardest part for the 32-year-old is the absence of answers. His doctors have said there’s nothing more they can do for him, and his psychiatrist has run out of options. His body seems resistant even to powerful anesthesia. As a result of almost two years with no sleep, Oliver says his has unimaginable pain in his head, his joints and bones scream with pain, his vision is impaired, his eyes feel like they’re melting, and he can’t digest food properly. How long can the human body survive without restorative sleep? Neurologist Dr. Guy Leschziner, who specializes in sleep disorders, says total insomnia is considered a fatal condition. While there is no data for humans, rats will die within a month. Yet, Oliver claims he’s been living without sleep of any kind for nearly two years. He has begged doctors and sleep experts around the world to observe him, even offering to pay them, but his pleas have gone unanswered. Now funding his own private treatment from the proceeds of the sale of his house, he is traveling the world in pursuit of a diagnosis and effective treatment, undergoing dozens of therapies. So far, nothing has worked.
