Abstract
IN 1886 Eulenberg<sup>1</sup>described "paramyotonia congenita," an inherited syndrome in which episodes of myotonia and weakness were induced by exposure to cold. A similar condition was reported independently by Rich.<sup>2</sup>During the ensuing years additional cases were published, emphasizing the myotonia rather than the episodic weakness which was also part of Eulenberg's original description. A link with periodic paralysis was not considered until 1957, when French and Kilpatrick<sup>3</sup>studied a patient with paramyotonia who was subject to attacks of generalized weakness. An oral dose of potassium chloride induced an attack of weakness lasting several days, without a fall in the serum potassium level. Just prior to the report of French and Kilpatrick, Helweg-Larsen et al<sup>4</sup>in Denmark and Gamstorp<sup>5</sup>in Sweden described a hyperkalemic form of periodic paralysis, "adynamia episodica hereditaria." Myotonia was not mentioned in these Scandinavian cases, but paralysis could be induced by
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