A puzzling case of periodic paralysis

✍ Scribed by Robert C. Griggs; Adam N. Bender; Rabi Tawil

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 256 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0148-639X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4598(199603)19:3<362::aid-mus13>3.0.co;2-u

✦ Synopsis

T h e following case is described as the patient presented to the authors for evaluation. Such cases occasionally perplex clinicians experienced in the evaluation of neuromuscular disease.

HISTORY

A 42-year-old Caucasian man presented with a 9-month history of episodic paralysis. Nine months prior to admission, he began to have episodes of weakness. He would awaken in the morning and feel that his legs were "heavy." When he would try to get up and take a step, he would fall. He had two attacks of such severity that he could not walk for 3 -4 h; on both occasions he returned to normal in 8-1 0 h. He also had four less severe spells of weakness each lasting 2-3 h. On one evaluation, while he was weak, he was found to have a low potassium level (2.6 mEq/L). The evaluation also included normal electrocardiography, electromyography, nerve conduction studies, and hepatic, renal, and hematologic function. Blood total and free thyroxine were normal. He did not use diuretics, did not