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???

[Sangrail]

It's a mild form of cataplexy.
"Cataplexy is a sudden and transient episode of loss of muscle tone, often triggered by emotions."

[Phoenixglaid]

I've have the same problem for as long as I can remember. I'm 26 and though mine is the worst when laughing hard, I find that there are times it just happens when i'm angry or sad. It's almost like cataplexy of just the hands. I was hoping someone had found a name for it.

[BozHog]

This happened to me all the time through my school years and years after. It hadn't happened for many years.... until this morning! I'm 49. I used to think this was a common thing, but obviously it's not. I'm surprised at what little information there is on this subject.
I don't do a lot of writing by hand anymore, so maybe I just haven't noticed it.
Now I would really find out what's going on.

[Milliepochet]

Same thing happens to me!  I'm 39 years old and it's happened since I was a child. I convinced myself it was normal, despite all of my classmates always finding it peculiar and laughing at the symptom- which in turn made me laugh and just prolonged the weakness. Sometimes it's not even a hard laugh - even with a silly slaphappy moment (which disproves some theories I've heard about hyperventilating or lack of oxygen from laughing hard).  Not as frequently, it happens absent of laughter too!  Should I be concerned?

[7yoyo7]

Same thing for me. This thread is old but I just realized that I could go around the Internet to see if other people have the same thing.
Glad to see that I am not the only one.

I am 26 years old and I have always had this "symptom", the 2 hands when I am laughing. Everytime I was laughing in class I just could not write anymore until I calm down (which make my other friends laugh).

[lisa774]

I have this same problem, it's so weird! If I laugh in class or at work, I can't hold my pen to write anymore. It only lasts a few minutes, at the most 15 minutes. And it's only in my right hand, my left hand is totally fine.

I found some articles talking about this type of symptom occurring in people with narcolepsy and/or cataplexy, but I don't have either of those problems- just the hand. I hope it's not progressive! Yours never got any worse did it?