The Curse on Meher's Family...

General
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In a crumbling haveli deep in Rajasthan, there is a locked bedroom no one uses anymore.

They say the last four generations of the family died the same way —
awake, whispering to things that weren’t there.

The Legend of the Night-Watchers

Meher grew up on bedtime stories told in hushed voices.

“Your great-grandfather stayed awake for 6 months before he died.”
“Your aunt began laughing in her sleep—until she stopped sleeping altogether.”
“They said her dreams escaped and started living in her mirror.”

Her family called it a curse — a punishment on their bloodline from a priest wronged centuries ago.

Every generation, one child would carry it.

Meher’s Turn

She was 31 when it began.

First, restless nights.
Then, she stopped dreaming altogether.
Even when she closed her eyes for hours, she’d wake with a pounding head and heart.

She tried every remedy — yoga, brahmi, melatonin, even being hypnotized.
Nothing worked.

Then came the sweating,
the panic,
the hallucinations.

She began to believe her dead aunt was whispering to her from the mirror.

Her pupils looked like glass.
She stared without blinking.
Her voice, once musical, became stiff and clipped — like a machine learning how to be human.

The Descent

Her family took her to doctors.

One psychiatrist said it was schizophrenia.
Another said it was manic psychosis.
A neurologist suggested Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, but the MRI didn’t quite match.

She was admitted. EEG showed low voltage fast activity.
Polysomnography: no normal NREM sleep, no REM.

She was awake, all the time, even when her body mimicked sleep.

Her autonomic system was failing —
tachycardia, fluctuating BP, profuse sweating.

A PET scan showed bilateral thalamic hypometabolism.

Then someone remembered the family story.
The “curse.”
They sent blood for PRNP gene testing.

Result?
D178N mutation with methionine at codon 129.
Pathognomonic.

The Final Stage

Meher lost speech.
She twitched constantly.
She cried without sound.

Her last words?

“She’s here now. I see her when I close my eyes.”

She died after 7 months of total insomnia.

What could the curse be?

2 Likes
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Not very sure … But “prion disease” ???

However, amazing story line , I wish there was an animated video on this

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The case history is so bewitching that I forgot that I have to think of a diagnosis. This reads like a movie script.

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The answer is Fatal Familial Insomnia. Extremely rare zebra disease but not unheard of. In fact, more than a 1000 people in India itself are predicted to have the disease. I

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The “curse” on Meher’s family is actually Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI), a rare inherited prion disease caused by a D178N mutation in the PRNP gene, especially when paired with methionine at codon 129. It presents as progressive, untreatable insomnia with psychiatric symptoms, hallucinations, autonomic dysfunction, and eventually death. The story beautifully blends folklore with medical reality—what seemed like a haunting became a tragic genetic legacy passed down generations, rooted not in superstition but in neurodegeneration.

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6

Without the medical aspect this can be a good horror story. The way you portrayed the story, it took all of my attention.

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It’s like a movie storyline!!

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Cases can be more intresting when they are presented in such a way, well this can be good storyline for a movie.

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This is a case of Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI). It is a rare autosomal dominant prion disease caused by a mutation in the PRNP gene—specifically the D178N mutation when paired with methionine at codon 129.

The Curse, Explained Medically:

  • “One child each generation”
    → Autosomal dominant inheritance with variable penetrance.

  • “No sleep. Awake even when mimicking sleep.”
    → Hallmark of FFI: progressive insomnia, loss of REM/NREM stages.

  • “Sweating, panic, hallucinations”
    → Dysautonomia and neuropsychiatric symptoms common in mid-stage FFI.

  • “Thalamic hypometabolism on PET”
    → Classic finding. The thalamus, responsible for regulating sleep, degenerates.

  • “No structural brain lesion on MRI”
    → Consistent with prion diseases, which often show functional changes before structural ones.

  • “She died after 7 months”
    → FFI typically leads to death within 6–18 months after onset.

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Very scary and sad story. The curse feels real, and Meher’s pain is haunting.