Cataplexy

About A smaller number of people with narcolepsy also get extreme muscle weakness when they experience an intense emotion such as laughter or crying. The sleepiness combined with muscle weakness is called narcolepsy with cataplexy. It’s not dangerous, but the sudden attacks of sleepiness and weakness can have a big impact on your quality of life. Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder in which your brain has trouble keeping you awake. People with narcolepsy wake up often during the night and are extremely tired during the day. They may have attacks where they suddenly fall asleep in the daytime. Some people with narcolepsy also have cataplexy — episodes of muscle weakness that are triggered by strong emotions such as laughter, surprise, or crying. Doctors call narcolepsy with cataplexy type 1 narcolepsy. Cataplexy usually starts a few weeks or months after narcolepsy. But rarely, muscle weakness begins before narcolepsy symptoms. Cataplexy is sudden muscle weakness or paralysis that happens after you’ve experienced strong emotion. These attacks can vary in severity and length. Some people have mild attacks where only a few of their muscles become unsteady. Your knees may weaken, your jaw may drop, or your eyelids may droop. The symptoms are sometimes too subtle to notice. Other people have more severe attacks that cause them to lose all control over their muscles. Their legs may buckle or they can collapse entirely. People often can’t move or speak during one of these attacks, but...

Not everyone who experiences cataplexy has narcolepsy. Episodes can be caused by genetic conditions, strokes, brain tumors, and certain medications. Cataplexy is a condition that causes a sudden loss of muscle control and muscle tone. These episodes are brief and often triggered by strong emotions like stress, anger, or grief. Most people who experience episodes of cataplexy also have narcolepsy, a chronic condition that causes uncontrollable episodes of sleep. But not everyone who experiences cataplexy has narcolepsy. Other causes and conditions can also lead to cataplexy. Treating cataplexy depends on how often episodes occur and on the severity of episodes. In this article, we’ll talk more about cataplexy without narcolepsy, the relationship between the two conditions, who they affect, and more. Some people with narcolepsy also have a condition called cataplexy. This is called Sometimes, cataplexy episodes are the first symptom of narcolepsy and can help lead to a diagnosis. But not everyone with narcolepsy experiences episodes of cataplexy, and not everyone who experiences cataplexy has narcolepsy. Most people who experience episodes of cataplexy have narcolepsy. But there are other causes and risk factors. These include: • Niemann-Pick type C Disease (NPC): • Angelman Syndrome: • Prader-Willi syndrome: • Strokes and brain tumors: • Certain medications. Cataplexy can be a side effect of certain medications, but this is rare. Cataplexy causes episodes of muscle weakness...

Living with cataplexy is challenging. You cannot always control your emotions or emotional response, so cataplectic attacks can occur randomly. For some, it means being constantly vigilant about how to avoid losing control of their bodies. Here are some important things to know about why cataplexy happens, its connection to narcolepsy, and how to manage the potentially debilitating symptoms. Cataplexy’s episodes of uncontrollable muscle weakness typically last a few seconds to a few minutes and can happen as infrequently as a few times a year or as often as a few times a day. They are typically caused by a strong feeling of sadness, excitement, joy, or other emotion and can cause someone’s knees to buckle or their head to bob or cause them to fall down if they are standing and lose control of their leg muscles, explains Cataplexy can cause muscle weakness in any part of the body, though cataplexy commonly affects the limbs (hands may drop whatever they’re holding, knees may buckle, legs may collapse) and face (eyelids may droop, the jaw may go slack and speech become slurred, the head may nod). The attacks can range from mild, such as a slight drooping of the eyelids, to severe, such as a total body collapse. The vast majority of cases of cataplexy occur because an individual has type 1 narcolepsy. The exact cause of narcolepsy is unknown, but people with type 1 narcolepsy have abnormally low levels of a sleep-wake regulating brain hormone called hypocretin (also known as ...

Cataplexy is a frequent symptom of narcolepsy in which a person has a sudden loss of muscle control while they are awake. Episodes are usually triggered by positive emotions, like laughing or joking. Symptoms can be mild or severe and sometimes require a person to take special precautions to keep themselves safe during an episode. What Is Cataplexy? Cataplexy causes a person to rapidly lose control of their muscles. Episodes of cataplexy range in severity. Mild cataplexy may cause only slight weakness in some muscles, while severe cataplexy can cause a person to collapse. Regardless of the episode’s severity, the person remains conscious and aware of their surroundings. Episodes of cataplexy are brief, lasting up to a few minutes. These episodes are not typically dangerous, as long as the person is in a safe area. Most episodes are triggered by emotions, such as: • Joking • Laughter • Excitement • Anger • Frustration What Is the Relationship Between Narcolepsy and Cataplexy? About two-thirds of people with narcolepsy have cataplexy, including 80% of children with narcolepsy. There are two types of narcolepsy. While only one type is associated with cataplexy, both involve symptoms such as • Narcolepsy type 1: People with narcolepsy type 1 typically experience cataplexy and have a deficiency of a brain chemical called orexin. A person may be diagnosed with this type of narcolepsy if they are found to have low levels of orexin, even if they have never experienced cataplexy. •...

Narcolepsy is a medical condition that causes excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden bouts of daytime sleep. It is partly • Narcolepsy type 1 includes cataplexy. • Narcolepsy type 2 does not include cataplexy. Causes Cataplexy occurs with several different medical conditions, the most common of which is narcolepsy type 1. • Narcolepsy type 1: A sleep disorder that causes sudden episodes of daytime sleep • Niemann-Pick type C disease: A rare hereditary disease that causes seizures, jerking muscles, difficulty walking, yellowing of the skin (jaundice), and cognitive impairment • Angelman syndrome: A rare genetic disorder that causes seizures, diminished muscle tone, cognitive impairment, and an unusually happy-appearing demeanor • Norrie disease: A genetic disease that causes eye defects and blindness in males at or soon after birth • Prader-Willi syndrome: A genetic disorder that causes physical and behavioral effects, including hyperphagia (excessive eating) • Medications: Examples include Lactimal (lamotrigine), Clozaril (clozapine), and Xyrem (sodium oxybate, also called gamma hydroxybutyrate), the latter of which is also used to treat cataplexy • Head trauma: Damage to the • Wakix (pitolisant) is FDA-approved for treating cataplexy and excessive daytime sleepiness in adults who have narcolepsy. • Xyrem (sodium oxybate) is FDA-approved for treating cataplexy and excessive daytime sleepiness in narcolepsy. According to the FDA, use is tightly restricted due to safety con...

Cataplexy, according to the Sleep Foundation, is a "sudden and uncontrollable muscle weakness or paralysis that comes on during the day and is often triggered by a strong emotion, such as excitement or laughter." While temporary, it can result in a sudden fall, or a "drop attack." Photo 59813333 © Olga Kovalenko - Dreamstime.com What kind of medical condition could possibly be triggered by something like anxiety, fear, depression, joy, or even laughter? The answer is cataplexy—a sudden loss of muscle strength, tone, and control. Muscle tone is what keeps our bodies upright and moving, as the Narcolepsy Network puts it. And why is the Narcolepsy Network providing information about cataplexy? Because most people who are cataplectic also have Narcolepsy with cataplexy is also known as Narcolepsy Type 1. Narcolepsy without cataplexy is Narcolepsy Type 2. The What Causes Cataplexy? First, we should clear up misconceptions about cataplexy. It is not an inherited condition, even though up to 10 percent of those with cataplexy have close relatives who show symptoms. And it is not a seizure disorder, though it is often misdiagnosed as one. Unlike a seizure, people with cataplexy usually remain conscious and remember what has happened during an episode. RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CATAPLEXY How do you know if you’re at risk for cataplexy? Risk factors include: • Diagnosis of • Previous head or brain injuries • Brain tumors that may affect areas that control sleep • Autoimmune disor...