Narcolepsy and the swine flu vaccine: the girl who falls asleep 40 times a day

Lucy Tonge was 13 when she developed narcolepsy after having the Pandemrix jab. She is appealing against the rejection of her compensation claim

When Lucy Tonge started drifting off in front of the television as a 13-year-old, her parents put it down to typical teenage lethargy. And when she developed a strange habit of slumping forward when she laughed, her mum told her: "Stop doing that stupid thing when you laugh. It makes you look silly." But she couldn't.

It was only when she started collapsing with no warning that her family sought medical advice that led to a diagnosis of narcolepsy. Soon afterwards, Tonge discovered that her sleeping disorder was very likely to have been triggered by the swine flu vaccine, which she had received in 2009 a couple of months before her symptoms first emerged.