What happens during cataplexy?
Cataplexy happens when your muscles suddenly go limp or significantly weaken without warning. You may experience cataplexy when you feel a strong emotion or emotional sensation. This can include crying, laughing, or feeling angry. You may find yourself falling over or losing control over your facial expressions.
Is narcolepsy with cataplexy a disability?
Narcolepsy isn’t one of the conditions the SSA considers a disability. But if your symptoms interfere with your ability to do your job, you may still qualify for benefits. The Disability Benefits Help website offers a free evaluation to help you determine whether your condition is considered a disability.
What can cataplexy look like?
Patients often describe knee buckling, head dropping, facial twitching, jaw dropping, or weakness of the arms. Emotions that elicit cataplexy are usually positive, such as laughter, excitement, or joy; they can also be negative, such as anger or frustration.
What is narcolepsy Type 1 with cataplexy?
Disease definition. A rare neurologic disease characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness associated with uncontrollable sleep urges and cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle tone while awake, often triggered by pleasant emotions).
What is the difference between cataplexy and narcolepsy?
Clinicians now recognize two major types of narcolepsy: narcolepsy with cataplexy (muscle weakness triggered by strong emotions) and narcolepsy without cataplexy. People who have narcolepsy without cataplexy have sleepiness but no emotionally triggered muscle weakness, and generally have less severe symptoms.
How does cataplexy differ from narcolepsy?
Can you suddenly develop narcolepsy?
People who suffer from narcolepsy have mixed signals sent from their brain about when to sleep, which is why narcoleptics fall asleep at inopportune times. One may develop narcolepsy at any time, although onset of the first symptom usually occurs after puberty, in late teens to young adulthood.
What is it like living with narcolepsy?
With narcolepsy, the boundaries between sleep and wakefulness are blurred, causing a person to feel very sleepy and fatigued during the day, have vivid dream-like hallucinations and paralysis while falling asleep or waking up, and experience disrupted nighttime sleep.
How to treat and manage narcolepsy?
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What kind of Doctor can diagnose narcolepsy?
A general physician can diagnose this disease based on your signs and symptoms. After the diagnosis, a sleep specialist will treat the disease. Basically, any registered medical practitioner can diagnose narcolepsy but the treatment is given by a sleep specialist.