Tatia,

You've been very helpful to me. Because of our discussion, I gathered the courage to ask my neurologist to consider ion channelopathies (he's a good doctor, who has never treated me disrespectfully, but I am not over the fear of being pegged a hypochondriac, or having my illness labeled psychosomatic--I'm sure you know what I'm talking about!). He's going to look into it, and talk with his partner.

I also read somewhere--maybe on the same site--that many people with HKPP only have attacks in their sleep and don't even know it, for many years. So, that makes me think it's possible that a patient does start under the age of 24, but doesn't know she has it until she's 43.

I have not had an episode in several days. This is most likely because I'm in the "good" part of my monthly cycle. In fact, I've been feeling quite good--the best I've felt in a couple of years, with the exception of six weeks after a successful course of IVIg. I went (gasp) to the DMV this morning, and took the kids to a (very) nearby lake in the afternoon. Sounds like I"m "normal," right? But when I pumped gas, I could only manage ten gallons before my hands completely gave out. And I hadn't even noticed they were weak. So, there's that: I'm not normal between episodes. I read that neither are people with HKPP--it's just that they're used to the weakness, and think of it as normal, especially against the background of periodic extreme attacks.

I really just meant to say: I greatly appreciate your suggestions, and I'm following through. I have the general impression that there are many diseases that the textbooks say show up in childhood that actually sometimes show up much, much later. CMS is one of them.

Abby