Cataplexy: the woman who falls asleep every time she laughs

Cataplexy: the woman who falls asleep every time she laughs    

Claire Scott has a rare disorder which means that when she gets an attack of the giggles she falls over and blacks out. This mother of two suffers cataplexy – a rare sleep disorder that makes her pass out whenever she gets the giggles. 

She said, "The other week, my little girl told me a joke she'd made up at school. It didn't even make sense but I burst out laughing. The next thing I knew, my husband was picking me up off the kitchen floor." Mrs Scott, from Jersey, Channel Islands, has always had the condition but was only diagnosed recently. The 24-year-old added, "Sometimes, I am aware before it happens – other times I completely black out and I'm left paralyzed. Once, I collapsed while walking through the middle of a high street. People do look at you strangely when it happens. It's really embarrassing." 

The rare disorder that Mrs. Scott suffers from is said to affect 5 people in 10,000. Cataplexy sufferers can experience a sudden and temporary episode of loss of muscle tone, often triggered by emotions.