Cataplexy is a rare condition in which episodes of severe muscle weakness occurs, sometimes resulting in a total collapse. Symptoms of cataplexy include severe fatigue, jaw dropping, transient severe muscle weakness and tone loss, leg weakness, and a total inability to move. Cataplexy is normally a condition triggered by another condition such as narcolepsy, emotional disorders, , and/or behavioral disorders. Doctors have a tendency to misdiagnose cataplexy because of its ties to so many other conditions and reasons such as medication side effects.
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is considered to be one of the main causes of cataplexy. Narcolepsy is an abnormal sleep disorder that causes the neurological disorder of sleep regulation, which affects the brain's ability to control sleep and being awake.
Hydrocephalus
This is a rare condition where dilated brain ventricles impair the normal flow of cerebrospinal fluid. This causes the fluid to accumulate in and around the skull and results in brain pressure. Symptoms of hydrocephalus include headache, vomiting, nausea, raised intracranial pressure, and papilledema. Cataplexy is one known complication of hydrocephalus.
Falls
When a person falls due to a loss of balance and breaks bones, fractures bones, or bruises bones, starts bleeding from cuts, nicks, or gouges, experiences soreness in the joints or muscles as a result from falling, one of the conditions taken into consideration is cataplexy.
Consciousness
A profound state of unconsciousness related to depressed cerebral activity from which a person cannot be awakened is known as a reduced level of consciousness. A coma normally occurs with this condition when there is an injury or dysfunction involving both cerebral hemispheres and/or the brain stem.
Medication
There are several medications that are suspected to be a cause of cataplexy. Two of them are Modafinil and Provigil. The side effects of medications, toxins, chemicals, or exposure other harmful substances, such as drugs, may be considered before, so this is one of the reasons for cataplexy to be misdiagnosed.
Triggers
Different causal triggers that bring on cataplexy are emotions, laughter, excitement, and anger. Emotional disorders that may trigger cataplexy are depression, anxiety, behavioral, and personality disorders. These disorders include bipolar disorder, post partum depression, post menstrual depression, ADD, ADHD, OCD, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, paranoia, schizophrenia, avoidant personality disorders, dissocial personality disorders, anankastic disorders, and anxious personality disorders.
Treatment
The normal treatment for cataplexy is to manage the symptoms with medications. These medications include antidepressants and others, including: Imipramine, Tricyclic antidepressants, Clomipramine, Protriptyline, and Venlafaxine. Currently there are ongoing trials to find a cure for cataplexy. Some of these trials include: Exploratory clinical study to evaluate sodium oxybate (Xyrem) on possible endocrine changes, Provigil study conducted by Taiwan BioTech company, and the study and efficacy of Xyrem oral solution compared with placebo in narcoleptic patients.
Tags: personality disorders, muscle weakness, rare condition, severe muscle, severe muscle weakness,