PBA- emotional lability

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wendya432

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Does anyone else with PLS have this?

Mine is doing much better since starting effexor. I've only had a few instances, but I was able to get it under control quickly.

Anyway, despite my husband being witness to it, I don't think he understood what was going on. But the other day I saw a commercial about it. I was like, look! look! That's what I have! I think he might have gotten a better idea about it since he saw it's a real thing.

All in all I think he's doing pretty well rolling along with it. One of my biggest triggers was being intimate. It would send me into a laughing fit that I couldn't stop. I would get laughing so hard I would cry, then I would end up crying hysterically. Once it was done we could go about our business. :) lol

Also had the random crying at other times. And tiny things that might normally get a smile out of me would get me laughing so hard my sides hurt.

And I have had times that I would be fine and then all of a sudden I would flip out and get so angry. Not sure if this is included in PBA or not.

Anyway, luckily the effexor is regulating things pretty well. Neuro says if it stops working we'll find something else, that everyone reacts different to different meds. But he's pretty confident I'm at the point I would start laughing at a funeral for now. (which I could totally see happening)

Sorry this is all over the place, just wondered if anyone else had seen the commercial?
 
PBA?....please fill us in. I am not familiar....thanks
 
I cry every day. Sometimes it is because I relate to what I see on the TV, other times I just delve into my own head and think of what will never be.
 
Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) I have seen the commercial several times. It explains it very well. I am thankful I do not have that problem. I would imagine how hard it would be to have then try to explain to someone else.
 
I try to explain PBA like this:

Some reflexes everyone knows about. Hit your knee a certain way, and it kicks. It doesn't kick because you wanted to hurt whatever was in front of it, it is a reflex.

Crying is also a reflex, and people have this reflex at different strength and triggers. (See how different people respond to cutting onions!) At it's base, it is a protective reflex your eyes have at their disposal. Expressing grief is actually a secondary purpose, the psychosomatic use of tears, if you will.

So just as you can be hyperreflexive in the knee and have it kick out with much less pressure than a doc tapping it with a hammer, you can have a hyper reflex in your crying - it just goes off at seemingly anything. Just as with your knee reflex, you don't cry in this case because you want to, because you are sad or upset. It is just a really, really annoying reflex.

As an example, I use reading space opera fiction. "And then the USS This Ship let out a broadside of missiles into the USS That Ship's aft." There's no emotional content there, but now I'm crying. I'm annoyed that I'm crying, because all this water is getting in the way of me reading whether the USS That Ship's point defense systems kick in or not!

If they can understand it with crying, and really get that, then explaining the yawning and laughing comes a lot easier.
 
Bad Balance, It's when you laugh or cry for no reason, or maybe something can be just mildly sad and you burst into tears. Sometimes I will be somewhere and it is quite and something random will remind me of something humorous and I just laugh like crazy until my sides hurt and I'm crying and can't stop myself.

Beky, that's a great explanation! I didn't know yawning was under the same "thing" (sorry I seem to have the dumb today, can't find the right word!). I do yawn quite a bit more now than I did before.

I also hiccup all the time. And not just little hiccups, they are huge and painful. It makes everyone look at me like what the heck?!? My friend says I sound like a pterydactyl. lol Not sure what they sound like, but apparently something like when I hiccup!

I'm so glad that not many people have seen me "in action"! Mostly my husband, and we can laugh about it (but not too much! lol). I was talking to my mom and sister today about it, and my daughter says "Oh yeah mom, you laugh like a crazy lady." Thanks hon!

I am so glad that things seem to be under control lately. I had been avoiding going to certain things if I was having an off day because I didn't want to get any looks.
 
I yawn LOTS. I didn't know that could be part of it.
 
I have had the constant yawning for about a year now. Baclofen slows them down some for me. Now I have noticed that lately I have been laughing or giggling at things that I do not really find funny. The laughing brings tears and sometimes will go into hysterics. It frustrated me because its hard to stop. Luckily, I have only had a couple times that I went into the histerical part. I never thought about it being part of the PLS progress. Certainly something to think about.
 
I started this last week.
Mostly laughing at really juvenile things that I take as jokes or crying at things I fear or have guilt about.
Thank god it has been mostly at home...a grown man sobbing and wailing is not a pretty thing...<sigh>
 
In addition to inappropriate laughing and crying I also have excessive yawning and worst of all excessive smiling.
 
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