Usually cataplexy presents first in teens and young adults with two peaks at 15 and 35 years of age, however it can be diagnosed in very young or older people, including those past the age of forty. Most commonly it presents with sagging jaw and head plus drooping shoulders. More severe cases often show transient weakness at the knees. Slurred speech may be present. One syndrome involves facial muscles exclusively [5].

Cataplexy occurs most frequently at times of stress, either emotional or when tired and deprived of sleep. In general, the severity of symptoms decreases with age but significant emotional upset, eg. loss of a spouse, can bring about severe attacks again. Most attacks last less than two minutes, a few last up to five minutes but rarely do they last longer than five minutes. Status cataplecticus occurs when repeated attacks recur rapidly, the "limp man syndrome". This is extremely disabling for the individual but is very rare.

• Falling

  Others experience sleep paralysis and are unable to move or speak right before falling asleep or right after waking up. [livestrong.com]

  Sleep paralysis: a person temporarily can’t move any part of the body upon waking or when falling asleep. Hallucinations: hearing, seeing or feeling things that aren’t there; often happens when falling asleep or waking up. [mydr.com.au]

  Some possible symptoms of cataplexy episodes include: drooping eyelids jaw dropping head falling to the side due to neck muscle weakness whole body falling to the ground various muscles around your body twitching without an obvious cause Cataplexy is [healthline.com]

  I was falling asleep at work at least one to three times a week, so I went to see a doctor that had just moved to the area and came highly recommended. [globalgenes.org]

  Miss Kelly can have over 10 episodes a day, but over time she has learnt to control her fall. She said: 'I used to worry that one time I'd fall and really hurt myself, but now I can sense when it's going to happen. [dailymail.co.uk]

• Nightmare

  When you have nightmares though they are really really bad. “When I’ve had a bad dream I don’t like to talk about them. I had a dream last week that we had a war against Northern Ireland. [independent.ie]

  People with narcolepsy can also experience dream-like hallucinations and paralysis as they are falling asleep or waking up, as well as disrupted nighttime sleep and vivid nightmares. [sleepfoundation.org]

  […] symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified ( R00 - R94 ) Diseases of the nervous system G47 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code G47 Sleep disorders 2016 2017 2018 2019 Non-Billable/Non-Specific Code Type 2 Excludes nightmares [icd10data.com]

  […] drowsiness Daytime sleep attacks, which can occur without warning Cataplexy (the loss of voluntary muscle control) Sleep Paralysis, just before or after sleep Hallucinations and frighteningly realistic dreams Disturbed nightly rest, frequent awakenings, nightmares [circlecity.co.uk]

• Unconsciousness

  During this time, the patient may seem to be unconscious, but can be fully awake and temporarily unable to move. A very frightening situation to be in. These attacks can be brought on by emotions: anger, surprise, fear or even laughter. [circlecity.co.uk]

  As she fights through the cataplexy, Wheaton experiences micronaps, short bursts of unconsciousness. “To see this in video form, it really helps to capture the extremes of what cataplexy can do to you. [today.com]

• Fever

  They were associated with fever at 8 years of age, which is suggestive of febrile seizures. He did not have any history of head injury nor did he report flu-like illness, immunization, sleep apnea, or restless legs syndrome. [aasmnet.org]

  Streptococcus infections were interesting as they are known to be associated with onset of rheumatic heart fever, Syndenham’s Chorea [ 168 ], two other autoimmune diseases (although these have decreased in frequency in the western world with the use of [doi.org]

• Hypotension

  Autonomic symptoms have been reported in narcoleptic patients and include pupillary abnormalities, fainting spells, erectile dysfunction, night sweats, gastric problems, low body temperature, systemic hypotension, dry mouth, heart palpitations, headache [patient.info]

• Anger

  ‘Other symptoms such as cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle tone) with bucking of the knee and fall or drooping of the neck - which may be provoked by emotions like laughter, amusement or anger - can occur.’ [oxforddictionaries.com]

  These attacks are triggered by strong emotions such as excitement and laughter, anger and surprise. [sleepdisordersguide.com]

  Cataplexy: A debilitating condition in which a person suddenly feels weak and collapses at times of strong emotion such as during laughter, anger, fear, or surprise. In so collapsing, people with cataplexy may injure themselves. [medicinenet.com]

• Insomnia

  But, they acknowledge that all her symptoms with exception of insomnia were brought to the forefront after the 2nd dose. [sanevax.org]

  Sleep Apnea | Insomnia | Narcolepsy | Parasomnias | Sleep Walking | Norturnal Bruxism | Fibromyalgia | Hypersomnia | Cataplexy | Restless Leg Syndrome | Other Sleep Disorders Please read through this site to obtain a better understanding of how PM Sleep [pmsleeplabs.com]

  Other, non specific, clinical signs include hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, insomnia, hypnopompic hallucinations and weight gain. [orpha.net]

  Though alarming to the patient, sleep paralysis is said to be harmless, but chronic insomnia can develop in sufferers who are afraid of a repeat episode. That fear, coupled with a lack of sleep, probably makes a recurrence more likely. [circlecity.co.uk]

• Drop Attacks

  His recently developed "drop attacks" on laughter were recognized as cataplexy and led to the diagnosis of Niemann-Pick type C disease. With biochemical studies this diagnosis, a lysosomal storage disease, was confirmed. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

  Cataplexy - may mimic drop attacks, syncope, seizures/epilepsy, transient ischaemic attack, periodic paralysis (channelopathies), psychiatric disorder, or cataplectic-like episodes (the latter can occur in healthy people). [patient.info]

• Dizziness

  Dizziness and tremor were more common in the SXB + modafinil group only. [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

  A 12-month extension study reported adverse events in 93% of patients, including dizziness, headache, nausea, urinary incontinence, viral infection, somnolence, and pain. 21 Dizziness was the only adverse event that was statistically more common in the [doi.org]

  As she caught on camera, sudden sleepiness can force her to drop to the ground, get dizzy, and spend minutes trying to discourage cataplexy. [medicaldaily.com]

  Adverse effects include headache, nausea, dizziness, nasopharyngitis, somnolence, vomiting, urinary incontinence, and sometimes sleepwalking. Sodium oxybate is a schedule III drug and has potential for abuse and dependence. [merckmanuals.com]

  Sodium oxybate can produce a variety of side effects, including headache, nausea, or dizziness, especially if the person taking it wakes one to two hours after use. Uncommonly, sodium oxybate can produce confusion or depression during the day. [healthysleep.med.harvard.edu]

• Agitation

  He is usually so agitated from exhaustion and vivid dreams that he wakes up the house screaming and fighting. We prefer he sleep with us because he is so fast asleep that he could (and has) thrown up in his sleep. [theglobeandmail.com]

  However, these stimulants have significant adverse effects, including agitation, hypertension, tachycardia, myocardial infarction (secondary to vasoconstriction), changes in appetite, and mood changes (eg, manic reactions); abuse potential is high. [merckmanuals.com]

• Difficulty Concentrating

  concentrating, irritability, or other mood changes. 8 Many patients are not able to accurately describe their excessive daytime sleepiness. [narcolepsylink.com]

There is often considerable delay between the onset of catalepsy and a specific diagnosis because of the lack of specific diagnostic tests.

A history of cataplexy in patients with EDS suggests a diagnosis of narcolepsy. In such patients, nocturnal polysomnography followed by multiple sleep latency testing can be confirmatory under the following conditions:

• Sleep-onset random eye movement (REM) episodes occur during at least 2 out of 5 daytime ‘naps’ or one occurs during a daytime ‘nap’ plus one during the preceding nocturnal polysomnogram [6]
• Average sleep latency (time to fall asleep) is ≤ 8 minutes
• No other diagnostic abnormalities are identified on nocturnal polysomnography

The maintenance of wakefulness test does not help with diagnosis but does help monitor treatment efficacy [7]. Tests for other disorders that can cause cataplexy are usually indicated by the clinical history and physical examination. These include:

• Brain imaging 
• Blood and urine tests

Hypnosis and other techniques of energy medicine, eg. Reiki, have been used with some success. Medical treatment targets cholinergic and noradrenergic neurotransmitter systems. Widely used tricyclic antidepressants (eg. clomipramine, imipramine, orprotriptyline and venlafaxine) inhibit the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin at nerve endings. However their potential adverse side-effects have led to their replacement by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), eg. fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline and citalopram. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can be used by all ages of patient with fewer side effects [8].

However both tricyclic antidepressants and SSRIs may cause REM behaviour disorder (RBD) with disturbance of normal REM sleep. They decrease the REM stage of sleep and its associated muscle atonia. As a result, patients may act out their dreams and cause harm to themselves or others.

Sodium oxybate (eg. xyrem) is being used for the treatment of cataplexy, although its mechanism is unknown [9]. Hypocretin gene therapy and hypocretin cell transplantation are emerging for severe syndromes [9].

Almost all cases are transient and, apart from the few cases of secondary catalepsy, the severity of symptoms reduces over time, especially when patients adapt their behavior [10].

Within the brain, the hypothalamus regulates basic functions of hormone release, emotional expression and sleep. Patients with symptoms of cataplexy have reduced levels of hypocretin (also called orexin). Hypocretin, regulated by the hypothalamus, is critical in controlling sleep and levels of wakefulness; it also reflects reduced levels of histamine and epinephrine, chemicals that promote wakefulness, arousal and alertness.

The associated syndrome narcolepsy is known to be strongly associated with certain human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotypes. The offspring of such patients have a 40-fold increased likelihood of developing the condition. This suggests a probable genetic cause to the syndrome but, since occurrence in twins is low (25%), this suggests that environmental factors play an important part in triggering the disorder [3] [4].

It has been observed that the level of the neuropeptide hypocretin-1 is reduced in the cerebrospinal fluid of both narcoleptic animals and humans. This suggests that there may be an HLA-associated autoimmune destruction of hypocretin-containing neurons in the hypothalamus.

Sudden, short bouts of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and hypersomnia are commonly seen with acute systemic disorders such as influenza and encephalitis. A range of underlying disease states may also induce cataplexy, EDS and/or hypersomnia:

• Hypothyroidism
• Hyperglycemia
• Hypoglycemia
• Anemia
• Uremia
• Hypercapnia
• Hypercalcemia
• Liver failure 
• Seizure disorders

Cataplexy can also be the result of ischaemic attacks, head injury and multiple sclerosis. Secondary cataplexy is caused by space-occupying lesions in the hypothalamus, usually the lateral or posterior lobes, that cause the level of hypocretin to fall. Lesions in the brain or brainstem are uncommon but could include arterio-venous abnormalities or neoplasia. Possible neoplasias include subependynoma, glioma, glioblastoma and astrocytoma. Rarely the syndrome can be the result of paraneoplastic syndromes (the indirect effect of neoplasias).

Iatrogenic cataplexy may also occur, transiently or permanently, due to lesions in the hypothalamus after surgery. The specific lesions or generalized disease or syndromes discussed above disrupt the hypocretin control in the hypothalamus in different ways.

It is recognised that many patients learn to avoid the emotions and situations which will trigger their attacks.

The muscular weakness of cataplexy can vary from slight loosening of facial muscles through to complete muscle paralysis of the whole body to the extent that the patients cannot maintain their posture. Most attacks are short and last between several seconds and a few minutes. The most frequent signs are the jaw dropping and neck weakness but weakness at the knees can be seen, alone or in conjunction with these signs. Slurred speech and impaired vision (eg. inability to focus or double vision) may be identified but hearing and alertness usually remain normal. Patients learn to recognize the slow development of a cataplectic attack, so serious injury from severe attacks is unlikely. Cataplexy attacks are self-limiting and generally resolve without the need for any medical intervention [2].

Definition: Cataplexy is definded as a sudden, temporary episode of muscle weakness in fully-conscious people.

Cause: An autoimmune disease in a neurotransmitter, hypocretin, in the brain that regulates wakefulness is destroyed in most of the cases.

Symptoms: Attacks of muscle weakness that can vary between loosening of facial muscles through to complete muscle paralysis and collapse. Usually they last less than two minutes.

Diagnosis: Clinical signs are usually diagnostic but brain scans may be indicated to rule out underlying causes when the condition is deteriorating.

Treatment: Medical treatment is not usually necessary. Some success is claimed by hypnosis and other energy medicines. Effective drugs include tricyclic antidepressants and newer drugs such as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Prevention: Avoid the circumstances that seem to stimulate your own attacks and avoid over-tiredness. Most patients find that the severity of symptoms reduce over several years.

1. Rogers AE, Aldrich MS, Lin X. A comparison of three different sleep schedules for reducing daytime sleepiness in narcolepsy. Sleep. Jun 15 2001;24(4):385-91. 
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3. Longstreth WT Jr, Koepsell TD, Ton TG, et al. The epidemiology of narcolepsy. Sleep 2007; 30:13.
4. Ohayon MM, Priest RG, Zulley J, et al. Prevalence of narcolepsy symptomatology and diagnosis in the European general population. Neurology 2002; 58:1826.
5. Burgess CR, Scammell TE. Narcolepsy: neural mechanisms of sleepiness and cataplexy. J Neurosci. Sep 5 2012;32(36):12305-11.
6. Abad VC, Guilleminault C. Review of rapid eye movement behavior sleep disorders. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. Mar 2004;4(2):157-63.
7. Mignot E, Lammers GJ, Ripley B, Okun M, Nevsimalova S, Overeem S, et al. The role of cerebrospinal fluid hypocretin measurement in the diagnosis of narcolepsy and other hypersomnias. Arch Neurol. Oct 2002;59(10):1553-62
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9. Lockrane B, Bhatia P, Gore R. Successful treatment of narcolepsy and cataplexy: A review. Can Respir J. May-Jun 2005;12(4):225-7
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