A sudden loss of muscle tone, causing an involuntary collapse without loss of consciousness. Cataplexy is triggered by intense emotion, particularly laughter, and occurs almost exclusively in those suffering from narcolepsy and other sleep disorders.
A condition marked by abrupt attacks of muscular weakness
Cataplexy is a condition in which the patient has a sudden attack of muscular weakness affecting the whole body. (See also NARCOLEPSY.)
n. a sudden onset of muscle weakness that may be precipitated by excitement or emotion. There may be total loss of muscle tone, resulting in collapse, or simply jaw dropping or head nodding. It occurs in 60–90% of patients with *narcolepsy.
n. an event with symptoms that mimic an epileptic seizure but that does not involve abnormal discharges of cortical neurons that would be captured on an EEG. It can be caused by both physiological and psychological conditions. Physiological causes include syncopes, cataplexy, migraine, narcolepsy, parasomnias, and tics. Psychological non-epileptic seizures, also known as psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, can arise from acute distress or anxiety or in the context of a *somatic symptom. People who suffer from epilepsy may have non-epileptic seizures as well. The main visible difference between a non-epileptic seizure and an epileptic seizure is that the former commonly lasts longer than two minutes and can last up to 30 minutes. Also there is occasional pelvic thrusting, the patient’s eyes and mouth are typically closed, and side-to-side head movements are more common than in epileptic seizures. Crying or talking during the attack is possible. There is no *postictal phase. Other names for non-epileptic seizures include pseudo seizures, functional seizures, and conversion seizures.... non-epileptic seizure
Health Encyclopedia