Muscle weakness when laughing

[Loopy Lou]

The other day at work i was messing around with another member of staff. I was wrestling the remote control for the tv out of her hand and we both started laughing (like, a lot - god i needed a giggle haha).

Whenever i laugh a lot or get completely overcome by giggles, my muscles, especially in my arms and hands go dead weak. Whilst we were messing around she could literally lift my arms and hit me across the face with them because i had like no muscle tone whatsoever to pull away. We were only messing about though, and i was still laughing.

She found it hilarious, and she said no, it never happens to her. This has been around since i was very little. Me and my little brother can be sparring or play-fighting and i'll end up laughing so much that i have to quit and my legs turn to jelly too.

It's never particularly bothered me cos it goes away once i've had time to calm down, but i've only just realised that not everyone gets like that. Also, i don't think i've ever actually fallen down because of it, and it only seems to be when i'm really hysterically laughing.

Anyone else experience anything like this? Could it be related somehow to the epilepsy? (Temporal Lobe Epilepsy i have)

[Nakamova]

It may well be related to the epilepsy. The article at the link below indicates a connection to other brain disorders like narcolepsy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...re/7543327.stm

[Loopy Lou]

Hmm... Certainly seems the same, though not nearly as bad as the woman in the article.

I'm wondering if it's worth mentioning to the doc. It only happens when i'm really laughing hard, and mostly in my arms/hands and sometimes my legs but then it goes away again a few mins after i've calmed down.

I'm curious as to whether anyone else experiences something similar. I never thought anything about it until my friend said that she'd never seen anyone go like that before when they've been laughing, and then i realised that even when my brother and i were playfighting, or on other occasions, i seem to be the only one going a bit "odd" lol.

[Nakamova]

Might as well let the doc know, even if it's only for the records. Right now, I think they only treat it with anti-depressants or GHB (also known as the "date-rape drug" I'm afraid), so unless you want to add more meds to the mix, there's not a lot to be done about it.

[Loopy Lou]

Nah, i think i can deal with it. No more meds!

Google is not my friend today though, hehe. I'm not sure i'd actually want to do anything about it (and i'm not sure if there would be any point to investigating it in myself), just sort of want to know more about it.