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Narcolepsy

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Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder characterized by pervasive, uncontrolled sleepiness and other sleep disturbances. One of its hallmark symptoms is an abrupt transition to REM sleep upon falling asleep, which causes symptoms typically associated with this phase to occur unexpectedly during wakefulness. These include the following symptoms, which typically last from a minute or two to half an hour.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Tilt Testing with Combined Lower Body Negative Pressure: a "Gold Standard" for Measuring Orthostatic Tolerance

Tilt Testing with Combined Lower Body Negative Pressure: a "Gold Standard" for Measuring Orthostatic Tolerance

Published on: March 21, 2013

Status cataplecticus misdiagnosed as recurrent syncope.

R S Calabrò¹, R Savica, A Laganà

¹Department of Neurosciences Neurological Division, University of Messina, Messina, Italy. salbro77@tiscali.it

Neurological Sciences : Official Journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology

|January 5, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

A patient experienced decades of misdiagnosed cataplexy attacks, initially mistaken for seizures. Diagnosis of narcolepsy with status cataplecticus was confirmed, and symptoms resolved with citalopram treatment.

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Tilt Testing with Combined Lower Body Negative Pressure: a "Gold Standard" for Measuring Orthostatic Tolerance

Tilt Testing with Combined Lower Body Negative Pressure: a "Gold Standard" for Measuring Orthostatic Tolerance

Published on: March 21, 2013

Area of Science:

Neurology
Sleep Medicine
Clinical Neurophysiology

Background:

Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden muscle weakness (cataplexy).
Misdiagnosis of cataplexy can lead to prolonged ineffective treatments and significant patient distress.
Emotional triggers are common in narcolepsy, precipitating cataplexy episodes.

Observation:

A 76-year-old patient presented with lifelong, emotionally triggered episodes of head drop and falls without loss of consciousness.
These episodes were misdiagnosed as pseudoseizures and treated with clomipramine for over 20 years.
Attacks increased in frequency, becoming near-continuous after medication withdrawal, indicating a severe underlying condition.

Findings:

Diagnostic investigations including videopolygraphic analysis and multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) supported a diagnosis of narcolepsy.
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) association studies further indicated narcolepsy.
The recurrent episodes were diagnosed as status cataplecticus, a rare manifestation of narcolepsy.

Implications:

Accurate and timely diagnosis of narcolepsy is crucial for effective management.
Status cataplecticus, though rare, should be considered in patients with severe, unexplained cataplexy.
Pharmacological treatment with citalopram demonstrated efficacy in resolving status cataplecticus, offering a potential therapeutic option.