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Re: Cataplexy - sudden or sneaking?

Posted by Elle on November 20, 2002 at 08:19:47:

In Reply to: Cataplexy - sudden or sneaking? posted by Clumsy on November 20, 2002 at 05:33:44:

Hey Clumsy!

I am really glad that you said what you did, "I feel my muscles giving in, so I quickly lay down, to AVOID falling," because, while I have a shade less cataplexy than you, it is a good description of what happens to me.

First, I very rarely feel the Little Bubble of Joy that you get in your belly before you laugh. I used to laugh a lot as a kid. I remember playing kickball once and holding up the game for 15 minutes because I was laughing and couldn't walk. Some of that is normal, but the other 10 year olds were also mad at me for not just playing anyway (ie, they could have gotten over it). Over the years, I have squashed down the Bubble. It only comes back up when I hang out with certian friends of mine who are some of the funniest people on earth. Sometimes I want to join the fun, but I usually kill the joke with my slow garbled speech. Mostly I just laugh.

So, that being said, there is a very distinct feeling that I get every once an a while that is well described by your "I feel my muscles giving in." However, I know from experience that my muscles won't give in. The fear is always there that they will, but they never have. I usually think (or thought, before I knew what C was) to myself "Wow, it would make a whole lot of sense to me if I were to collapse. I feel like I could." Feeling like that during a run is a guarantee for feeling like crap during and after. Also, I am usually clumsy when I get the feeling. It is just a tingle, but I know that something is up.

Anyway, falling over while you are laughing is common. Falling over when you are surprised or frightened, I believe, is less common. Falling over randomly at other times is pretty specific to narcolepsy. And from dropping to the ground like a limp rag to the "drop-grab scene" and garbled speech, there are many shades of cataplexy.

I have never seen anyone lay down on the ground when they are laughing, so I don't think it is 'normal' in the sense that at least 50% of the population does it. But, and more importantly, you seem to have felt normal doing it. That is OK. If you always did it and accepted it as normal, you don't have to get all upset about it now simply because it could be cataplexy. (But of course if you do get upset, that is OK too. I got upset about the tiredness even though that was definatly not new--it was the whole loss-of-power-over-my-body greiving.)

And when I first found Narcolepsy, I had one big "aha" after the other. Midnight cravings or late-night pasta raids, garbled speech and the drop-grab scene, tingly weak muscles, doctors that don't know what they are saying, meds that don't actually work...I actually make some sense in the narcoleptic community. Two pounds of pasta at 11:30 pm never made sense anywhere else.

Enjoy the Ahas! Don't lose your Bubble-I miss mine!

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