Dreaming is often the first activity lost. This strange disease affects one in every thousand people, commonly more women than men. I used the word strange because as every victim knows, no two people have exactly the same symptoms. The symptoms can vary from day to day or just as diversely from one year to another. In the worst cases, rapid deterioration of eyesight, hearing, and motor responses, may cause the victim to become totally incapacitated and the disease is readily detected.
Most sufferers complain of extreme fatigue.
In my own case, I was diagnosed in 1973. I had a bad pain in my lower back towards the hip joint, this caused me to walk dragging my left leg and stagger in a drunken manner. It was accepted practice in those days, to break the news to the husband so that he could judge whether his wife should bear the knowledge. It was therefore left for my dear husband to break the devastating news. I could think of no worse situation.