I was reading a blog the other day, which lead me to another blog, then to an article, which I read and found an interesting MS symptom which I had never heard of.  Still following?! The article linked to this page on the the NMSS page about Emotional Changes with MS. I have done a lot of reading about the emotional effects of MS, mostly because there are times where I feel like I'm on crazy pills and I want something to blame it on, but also just because I like to be informed. Anyway, the new symptom I found was was Uncontrollable laughing and/or crying (also called the Pseudobulbar Affect). To be totally honest I sorta laughed out loud when I read it. What an interesting symptom.

I personally have never had any experience with this one, and as I said had never even heard of it, but since I first saw it, I have been seeing info about this everywhere. I was doing my usual clinical study search and found a local study in Ann Arbor that was testing a medication to treat this...crazy! The medication that was being tested was for MS as well as ALS, so I called them up to get some more information. No one answered but I thought the symptom was interesting as well as that it had a connection to ALS. So I guess if you're experiencing this symptom, I guess there are drugs available to treat it.

I often wonder how much we can blame MS for our emotional symptoms. I often feel that as a woman, my emotions get totally disregarded because the world wants to blame anything other than smiles and giggles on PMS. Anytime you have an emotion that's over the top, it can't possibly be a REAL emotion. I don't really think that my MS has effected my emotions, but even if it has I won't allow myself to blame it on the MS. I still feel like even if your MS changes your brain, or you have a raging case of PMS there needs to be a level of calm that you can find within yourself. No one responds to a crazy person.

So in the mean time you should check out the NMSS's page on the emotional changes in the brain after MS. I don't think that you can deny that there are changes that happen after a MS diagnosis, whether those changes are actual physical changes in the brain, or if they are just how we deal with our futures. So while some of us deal with bowel issues, constant crying, and/or depression...some of us get this sweet symptom:

Inappropriate Behavior
A very small proportion of people with MS exhibit inappropriate behavior such as sexual disinhibition. This type of behavior is thought to result in part from MS-related damage to the normal inhibitory functions of the brain. These behaviors may also reflect very poor judgment related to cognitive dysfunction caused by MS. Such behavior is generally beyond the control of the individual and is not a sign of moral weakness or sociopathic tendencies. The treatment of these problems is complex. The person with MS may require some form of psychiatric medication, perhaps along with psychotherapy. Family members will probably need supportive counseling since these behaviors are often shocking and disruptive. In some cases, the affected individual may require supervision to prevent the manifestation of the behaviors in question.


I would venture to say I've probably been inappropriate before and after my MS diagnosis, but damn...this one is good. Next time someone questions my "moral weakness" or "sexual disinhibition" I"ll just be like , "Hey I have MS, I'm coping best as I can..." Perhaps now I could tell some dead babies jokes without consequence....

 


Comments

Anne P

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:49:20

My bf can only WISH I'd get me some of that sexual disinhibition!

Uncontrollable crying has happened to me before and it is always a flare-up warning. What Montel did on Oprah? Yep, been there; but like I said, that's my alert that it just might be time to be thinking about some steroids.

The "MS-related damage to the normal inhibitory functions of the brain" is probably also the filter between my brain and my mouth; if that is not working correctly I tend to actually TELL stupid people they're stupid instead of just thinking it.

Been living with this crap for a long time and I can say without reservation that MS mood swings are vastly different than PMS or hormonal swings. And finding that "level of calm" within myself is exactly where I have to go to determine where a mood swing is originating.

For being so young, you're both pretty smart girls!




 

Amy

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:09:42

My filter has been malfunctioning lately and I get in trouble at work a lot - I've never been the corporate type to smile and nod - I have an opinion and I'm not afraid to say it. I actually have some pages from the Society printed up and at my desk in case I need to throw down...

 

Val

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:39:28

ugh I just want it all to make sense. (said the crazy person trying to keep my emotional outburts/misdirected anger in check)

 

Sara

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:17:38

My grandfather had awful road rage and other sudden mood changes before he was diagnosed with MS. He's mellowed out in his older years and the medicine he's on has helped with that. I don't think he's ever had uncontrollable laughing or crying, though. But I can definitely see how that can happen since it can cause other mood swings. My grandfather's temper actually caused my grandmother to write "Jay is a fink" in permanent marker on a wooden beam in the unfinished basement at one time. That was before he was diagnosed and they figured out why he had mood swings (so then it was more understandable), but it's still really funny.

 

Jackie

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:46:26

So do you ladies think that we're all crazy because we have MS? Or do you think we're all crazy because...we're women and by nature I guess that makes us total nut jobs? I'm pretty sure that when we get a vagina...it means that we also get zero ability to rationalize logically...

 

Anne Pappas

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:10:32

Jackie,

If I could reach you, I would slap you. Because we have a vagina we have zero ability to rationalize logically? Get the F out of here! I believe it's our ability to rationalize that prevents us from killing most of the other people we know....ok well, maybe that's just me.

I don't believe being a woman makes us naturally insane. Naturally smarter? Yes. Naturally more nurtering? Of course. But I think every one of God's creatures has craziness potential inside and entire lives are spent working to control it. Obviously not everyone works on that...how many people kill large numbers of others, especially recently?

Having MS definitely works against us though, I have no doubt. Who hasn't had a flare-up cause loss of focus and rationalization? If we're lucky, both those things return when the flare ends but probably some damage remains and those skills are dulled maybe significantly quickly, maybe slowly over a period of many years.

 

Anne P

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:13:01


To clarify: By "smarter" I mean "more common sense."

 

Leon

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:08:20

I'm sorry to but in, but last time I checked, I had no vagina, and I'm still a major nutcase sometimes. So the "privilege" (as you will) of being crazy has nothing to do with gender. It has nothing to do with MS either, I know a lot of people that don't have MS and still have a couple of screws loose, and I was cuckoo long before I was diagnosed.

But regarding the emotional thingies... Yes, I know for a fact that I'm more emotional now, than I was a couple of years ago. I can cry when I hear beautiful music for example, or see an emotional scene in a movie (and not even extremely emotional, no the silliest little things can bring tears to my eyes - I'm just like a woman sometimes ;-) )

On the other hand: I can become more angry with the smallest little things too....

Just this morning: had to go to the hospital for physical therapy (again) and decided to try out my new wheelchair, that I got last saturday. On my way back, I could not fold it to put it in de back of my car (remember: I'm European, so we have smaller cars - uhhmm, I have a Saab, so that might not be entirely true for me). I tried and tried to fold the darn thing in, and I got so mad, I almost threw the thing across the parking lot. Before, I would have just rationally looked at it, and would have come to the conclusion I was doing something wrong. (Which I was). From that moment on, I got angry with everything and everybody, and it took a while to cool down (I'm OK now, I think ;-) )

 



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