Cray Cray

I am a blogging fool today, hm?

I found the following on an MS forum. It was written by a doctor who happens to have MS herself.

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I'm not sure we have covered this topic lately, but since I recently went through it, I thought it might be time.  MS affects more than sensory nerves, muscles, internal organs and such.  It is very much a gray matter disease also.  It can affect our thinking (or lack thereof) our percerptions, our emotions, our attention spans, and our control over our responses. 

One of the things that people with MS frequently complain about is sudden and inappropriate anger at relatively minor situations.  A situation that might otherwise urk us can suddenly become a massive breaking point in which we abruptly begin yelling or arguing or acting out of character.  Yesterday my sister did something that I have been annoyed about for a long time.  Instead of discussing my hurt feelings with her, like I have before, I went berserk, and then both of us were crying.  Where in the heck did that come from?  My response was all out of proportion to the event. 

The converse can also happen.  A serious situation can evoke gales of inappropriate laughter that we can't control.  This response can be very embarassing.   

Inappropriate and exagerated emotions are actually frequent in MS.  It is called the Pseudobulbar Effect and was described decades ago.  It can even be a clue that someone has MS. 

One of our earliest members had an episode where she suddenly became unable to walk.  She was in the ER and they were trying to see whether or not she could even bare weight on her legs.  She was laughing hysterically.  After assuring that she wasn't high, the doctor pulled her husband aside and told him that he was suspicious of her having MS - which she was eventually diagnosed with. (Good pick up!). 

This is something that our family and friends should probably know about.  One so that we don't alienate everyone around us, and two, so that they don't haul us away.  We also should know about it, so we don't start considering basket-weaving class.  Having just had such an epsiode, it makes you truly question your sanity.  It's good to know that there is a well-known and physiologic  basis for it. 


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I do not think I am cray cray yet, but I am trying to be aware of this.