Yesterday, I woke up later than my usual time and experienced one of the worst cataplexy attacks I have ever had. I was dreaming and couldn't wake up (sleep paralysis) and when I finally did shake myself out of the paralysis, I tried to get up and go to the bathroom. I stood up and felt my whole body start wobbling to and fro. My head was fuzzy and I couldn't get a grip on standing and walking to the bathroom. I fell hard on the floor and injured my right shoulder and arm. My poor husband, who was still sound asleep, woke to me thrashing on the floor making gutteral sounds for help. He got me back up on the bed and talked to me and tried to wake me up completely before walking me to the bathroom. I could see the fear in his eyes. I immediately took my medication and told him I was better -- that the cataplexy has passed. We then discussed the dream I had that evoked so much emotion. He thinks I am getting these attacks because I didn't well the night before, and, I tried to explain to him that the EMOTION caused the attack.He doesn't understand this.I was basically a mess yesterday. I was hearing sounds and heard a whooshing sound in my head. Probably my blood pressure spiked. After an hour, I had to lie down again and experienced sleep paralysis again. I actually asked him if I was going to die. He gave me 1/2 an xanax and told me to relax. I slept most of the day and didn't feel steady until around 2:30 PM. We were at at the lake house and I felt like I wasted the entire day for both of us. I thought it would be a good idea to just go home and he agreed. I went to bed at 11 pm yesterday and woke this morning at 6:00 am. My arm is still in pain (right arm) from the fall. When I have severe attacks like the one I had yesterday, it takes several days for me to feel strong enough to even go out for a walk. It is the worst part of this illness. I feel like a captive in my own body.
I'm sorry to hear you had such a scary experience, Coping. I hope you get a long break before another episode. Feel better soon!
I’m praying that it will be a long long time before you have an attack like that again, I too had a similar episode but when I got out of bed to go to the bathroom I fell and hit my back on the dresser and my fall is what woke my husband, he was very scared all I remember him saying is I’m calling 911 I came to and said no I don’t need them and he said I went out again He began to try and wake me and as he helped me off the floor and into the restroom He stood and watched me the rest of the night because he had never seen this happen to me before because that was the First time And that was 4 months ago and I thank god it hasn’t happened again So I know how you feel just stay strong and keep fighting this disease that’s what I’m doing. And we are both blessed to have husband’s there to help us through that’s one of the reasons I continue to fight and press on everyday. Stay strong!
I had a similar situation like this a few weeks ago, but not sure if it was the cataplexy or not. I took my first dose of Xyrem then took my second a few hours later like I was supposed to. An hour or two later I woke up to my Dad shaking me and saying that he had slapped me a few times and took my blood sugar (which was in a normal range for me) and that my daughter had been screaming for me to wake up. Then my 4 yr old asked me to get her some more milk and when I tried to get up I fell out of bed and could not get up. I was awake, but could not move. I started to freak out after a few minutes and had my little girl go get my Dad again. I started crying that something was wrong and he called 911 which came and tried to get me up, but I could not move so they took me to the hospital. I could not lift my arms, but if they raised my arm I could keep it up. They kept telling me it was a result of either cataplexy or the Xyrem, but I insisted this never happened before so they took me to the ER. The ER doctor was a joke and never even called my Neurologist and sent me home after 20 minutes. My Dad took me home and I could barely walk and slept the whole next day for the most part, then was fine. But it scared me to death!!
Thank you all for your responses. Once, before I was even taking any kind of meds to help me sleep at night, I fell asleep on the couch (sofa) in the afternoon. My husband could NOT rouse me no matter what he did. He called an ambulance and the only way they were able to get me out of my sleep paralysis was by hitting my knee hard with one of those little reflex hammers they carry. I refused to go to the hospital and my husband assured them that I would be alright. I forgot to take my Effexor that morning. Scary stuff.