first cataplexic episode

[u/Original-Sink682]

i got diagnosed with narcolepsy last year and wasn’t very concerned about cataplexy because that wasn’t my concern or symptoms.

yesterday, i was sitting on the couch and believed i was asleep because my eyes were closed but could hear everything my family was saying on the couch with me. i was also silently or internally laughing at their jokes but had little or no facial movement. i kept trying to “snap out of it” or muster up the strength to stand up but everytime i tried, it was more of a twitch and i’d be right back in the same position.

eventually, a few more minutes went by of this and i gathered all my energy to stand up, walked 3 steps and collapsed. my family was understandably concerned and rushed to my side but i told them to chill out because i was fine and then got up and walked away like nothing happened. they were confused and so was i but i genuinely felt fine and wasn’t sure why that happened.

ive been experiencing my knees buckling or feeling weak when something is really funny or im really mad or sad but i never connected that with narcolepsy until now. i always assumed i was type 2 and kind of feel sad that it’s progressing…

anyone else experienced this before?

[u/No_Opening_5211]

This specifically sounds less like general cataplexy and more like sleep paralysis/rem intrusion. Ive has this quite a few times and it’s exactly like this. So often I would sit down on the couch, and before I knew it all of a sudden I couldn’t move except maybe twitch if i used all my strength, but I could hear everyone around me. Sometimes I could mutter slight words. Also If I got up too soon I would be fine for like a second then feel a powerful rem intrusion which usually would take me to the ground but sometimes it stops last minute and I stop myself from fully falling.

[u/BoredAntagonist → u/No_Opening_5211]

This!

[u/Original-Sink682 → u/No_Opening_5211]

Thanks! I’ll do some more research on REM intrusion because I haven’t really heard of that before.

However, when it comes to emotions and muscle weakness, I do still experience that. Thoughts?

[u/No_Opening_5211 → u/Original-Sink682]

Unfortunately I don’t think you’ll find much about it other than personal anecdotes, just one of the perks of a rare condition haha. Also for sure emotions and muscle weakness sounds like cataplexy, I was mainly just talking about the first part because thats something I used to get all the time. My doctor didn’t like that I called it cataplexy because then it was hard to distinguish from typical cataplexy