A case of cataplexy without narcolepsy

Abstract: A 6-year-old girl has episodic altered behaviour and collapses started. Earlier spells were associated with dizziness. During the first event, she looked blank while playing and almost fell to the ground. She was hot to the touch, looking pale. Her eyes were seen “rolling” with the events. There was no history of excessive sleepiness or symptoms of underlying sleep disorder. She had an ambulatory electroencephalography (EEG) and multiple sleep latency test (MSLT). While obtaining the ambulatory EEG, a clinical event appeared at her school in the morning. The patient sat down first, she looked as if she was asleep, laid down, gazing and did not respond. Her pupils were dilated and the eyes were moving. The 24-hour EEG revealed rapid eye movement (REM) sleep during the attack. The results of the MSLT revealed sleep onset REM in one of the five naps without a feature of pathological sleepiness. This might be a case of cataplexy without narcolepsy.