Narcolepsy and ticks

[narcotick]

Two questions: Firstly, I am narcoleptic, but in a relatively mild way: I was only diagnosed because I have an identical twin brother with a more serious case. I am on no medication for it, have manageable excessive daytime sleepiness, but frequent sleep paralysis with hypnogogic hallucinations. I only rarely experience cataplexy, and then relatively mildly.  Recently, though, I have noticed that I am a lot more susceptible to cataplexy (and in more extreme forms, i.e. complete loss of muscle tone rather than just weakness at the joints) when I am around my narcoleptic twin. Is this presumably psychosomatic cataplexy common?

Secondly, for about ten years now I have been suffering from a variety of ticks (I'm not even sure that they are ticks - it's more like a compulsion to do something, like blink repeatedly or screw up my cheeks). I can go days without them, but when I think about them they come back aggressively - just writing this has brought them on.  When I first develop a 'new' tick, it plagues me for days before leveling out.  Other than this, I have no other neurological symptoms that I know of.  Is Tourettes a possibility, or could it be in some way linked to the narcolepsy?



Many thanks.

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT]

I suppose that technically anything can be psychosomatic, but it's also possible that your narcolepsy, which has been untreated, may be getting worse. Consider initiating medication such as provigil, although you may have to be careful with stimulants as this may exacerbate your tics.  



It certainly sounds like tics, which is an abnormal movement disorder (can be vocal or motor) the patient feels the need or compulsion to express followed by a sense of relief afterwards and can be suppressed. I did an extensive literature search and spoke to a sleep specialist colleage, but could not find any reports of Tourette's associated with narcolepsy. Although Tourette's is associated with sleep disorders, they're usually related to the inability to sleep and arousal disorders rather than narcolepsy.

[missatonia]

A related discussion, Family Members trigger Cataplexy was started.