Loss of strength in hands on laughing!?!

[keeponsmilein]

Hi, wondred if anyone else has had this, since I was a small child
both my hands can loose strength and ability to grasp ect if I've really laughed , sounds weird i know, and 35 years on its still happens, am i nuts or has anyone else had this???

[Laurence_page]

I've had this for as long as I can remember and I can't believe that there's no research on it. As far as I'm aware it's harmless for us all and potentially we all have the weakest form of narcolepsy in the world that gives us this catalepsy. Just strange for everyone here it's in our fingers and no where else.

[Camomille14]

Hi, I’m 16 and I’va had this since childhood. It happens mostly when I laugh a bit hard and after that I am unable to write for a few minutes. Sometimes it even lasts for half an hour. I’ve recently started to have this for absolutely no reason and again it can last from 2 to 30 minutes. I’ve even had one episode that lasted a full hour. I’ve done researches but the only thing I could find was also cataplexy except I don’t have narcolepsy. I might try to talk to my doctor about it because I still go to schools and I really need my hands to be functional while writing!

[jambuzz06]

I've had this since I was young through my freshman year of high school, but lately not so much. I would laugh really hard at something to the point of giddiness, and then have fingers so tingly I wouldn't be able to grip a pencil well enough to write--it was more weird than it was frustrating.
Lately, I've had a few instances where oxygen wasn't able to circulate through my body well enough because I was hyperventilating and blood was pooling, and the first thing I would notice that would queue me in before I began to feel lightheaded was that same exact sensation in the fingers. So based on my experience, I'd say it's a lack of oxygen because of particularly heavy laughter. (I don't know about Milliepochet, who said it occurred even during light laughter, though sometimes you hyperventilate completely unwittingly. At first, I swore it wasn't the case until losing oxygen became recurring and I could realize hyperventilation was the cause.)
Wouldn't really explain why only some people have this kind of thing and not others--maybe it's just because of the way we laugh; personally, I know I was the kind of kid to laugh way too much/hard... I don't think what most people are describing on here is a mild form of cataplexy as some have said, but whatever it is, these symptoms seem to be pretty widely reported (and left undiagnosed) online.

[Laurence_page]

I've also come up with my own name for the condition, 'floppy hand syndrome'

[Laurence_page]

Hello, I am 25, and I have had this problem since i can remember it happens especially when I laugh! Suddenly loose strength in fingers and hand, its weird. I'm glad I'm not the only one, Looking at what that person posted about cataplexy i think it might be that. We all have cataplexy.

[bac0812]

I have had the same problem ever since I can remember and have mentioned it to my doctors and they didn’t know what caused it. I notice it when I’m using the laser light to play with my cats and I always start laughing so hard and then I can’t hold the button in because I lose all my strength in my hands.  It will come back in a few minutes but is frustrating when it happens.