How common is this disorder after having a stroke. ?
Hi and welcome
The answer is " pretty common" It wonât ( shouldnât be) be much of a surprise to anybody on here
Caio
Simon
Hi @Shellie & welcome to the community.
Youâll find it is very common after a stroke. Is it something youâre struggling with?
I had to consult the internet to discover what this effect was.
I couldnât say whether or not this is common, I donât think it is much discussed though.
It turns out I had experienced this a few months after leaving the stroke ward when I was settling in at home.
I experienced bouts of emotion which were mild, not long lasting and didnât cause my wife or myself any distress. In fact they were cathartic and left me with a sense of relief. Both laughter and tears would appear without warning and in floods.
I am a man and men are not supposed to behave in this way, perhaps one reason why this is not much talked about.
I put it down to the stress of confronting and coming to terms with the debilitating effects of the stroke. For want of a better term I see this as a period of grief for what I had lost from my life.
It did not last for long and never recurred once it subsided. I think it was just a natural part of what is a stressful and traumatic event. Iâm sure it is a necessary process allowing one to emerge out of the other side to find a way forward and begin to make a start dealing with what stroke has dumped in your life. It is a necessary sort of emotional re-balancing exercise.
I am now in my third year since that life changing event. I feel there is quite a way to go but as with all life there is never any absolute certainty.
I wish you well as you find your way forward. I think this effect is an emotional re-adjustment rather than a disorder. There is no need to control or treat it, just experience and observe, enjoying the peace it brings.
You have far to go. Be kind to yourself and those around you.
Incidentally, speaking about matters that are usually not a subject one shares can relieve the strain. As long as you donât go into depth describing who you are, where you live and so on then you can regard posts made here as anonymous, although others can read here and there is much of value shared in this community. With a little care nobody will know who exactly posted here.
As I pointed out, others can learn from our experiences and we gain on the principle that a trouble shared is a trouble halved.
keep on keepinâ on
Bobbi is right in that itâs not discussed much (compared with other topics).
There are seven threads that mention it explicitly including yours Often as an answer; the thread runs for a while before somebody names what the original author was asking about.
The other six are:
Maybe not quite so accurate (definitely wrong as an âin all casesâ) is that it is an emotional adjustment. It is often an inappropriate reaction without emotional relevance, link or trigger.
Itâs known in at least the following conditions (and note this list doesnât include any of the neurological acquired brain injury causes such a stroke)
PBA has possibly been mentioned on here many other times because the name is less commonly known than the description. Other descriptions might include any of the following:
Some such as emotional liability encompas more or different phenomenon to just inappropriate laughter or crying. Example emotional liability is feeling emotions more strongly and visibly than one might have in the past - so factors may not be distinct in the laymanâs mind
If you read the above youâll get a good understanding of what weâve discussed in the past. You might also like the welcome post
You might also find the following comparison useful
If it is causing you some concern you may find more help on
Caio Simon
Hi @Shellie and welcome to the forum
Iâd say itâs probably more common than even the experts realise. Particularly as many will put it down to the stress and shock of having a stroke, PTSD even. For these reason they may not even discuss it with their stroke team/gp, particularly if its not severe in them.
Certainly what I experienced could be put down to any of the above including Pseudobulbar affect. It just wasnât a priority area for me, I was more concerned with working on the physical disabilities and regaining independence. But it did settle down sometime in that first year post stroke.
Does that make the word expert an oxymoron in this context?
I suppose it does actually
My contact with this tends to indicate that is a phase one passes through, a result of trauma and shock. It is an indirect effect, one of many, that is now being analysed and recognised by professionals who care for those who have been through the stress of stroke.
I believe recognition and early treatment for this and the other psychological effects produced by this experience should be available from day one of the event. There is hope that this might be the case.
While one can deal with things oneself, most just donât know what hit them.
Thank you for your replyâŚ2days after my husbands stroke he went into an uncontrolable session of laughter, the more he tried to stop, the more he laughed untill he laughed so much, he felt quite ill. Nine months ago ââthis happenedââ & it doesnât seem to have lightened up any. On balance, his ''emotionalism is 95% hysterical laughing & 5% tearful. We went to a friends funeral 2 weeks ago & he went into a fit of laughter, it was a silent session so ââI donât think anyone noticedââ but he is reluctant to go to anyone elses funeral now. He would have gone to on last Friday but because of the previous experience, he declined. It can be the most minor thing that ââsets him offââ⌠He laughs till his stomach hurts. We hadnât even heard of such a condition prior to his stroke.
Itâs common that we only discover most of the ramifications of a stroke after weâve had one and there are very many.
Your husband might like to consider a sunflower lanyard - the hidden disability one?
Wishing you all the best
Simon
When it happened to me my wife just allowed it to happen, I did the same.
I didnât feel the need to control it and just allowed it to occur.
It could be one of those things you just donât fight and it comes to an end of its own accord.
My wife didnât make me feel I needed to stop it and I did think it was strange but letting it happen seemed okay.
However I was never in a situation when I or anyone else felt uncomfortable.
Come to think of it I feel less inhibited about expressing myself verbally or emotionally these days. As far as I am aware I do not upset anyone though.
Maybe time will allow this problem to resolve itself. After stroke one passes through many stages, some completely mystifying.
I canât give you a simple straight forward answer, but I do wish you well.
keep on keepinâ on
@Shellie If you havenât already perhaps have a look at this leaflet. It might help explain things a little.
It has occurred to me since writing the above that both he and you might benefit from meeting up with others who have experienced stroke.
There are a number of ways you might accomplish this. You might find there is a stroke group meeting occasionally in your area, failing such a face to face meeting, there are online group meetings or you could have a number of personal telephone calls with someone whose experience matches your own.
Finding that there is another real person going through the same experience as yourself can put things into perspective.
All of this can be arranged through the stroke association. Find out more by ringing and asking for advice on this number:
Stroke Helpline: 0303 3033 100
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
Sat 10am-1pm
Sun closed
or check out this web page:
https://www.stroke.org.uk/stroke/support/caring-for-a-stroke-survivor
Always let us know how you are getting on here. It is a long journey and good to know there is somewhere to return to when you need to share.
keep on keepinâ on
Have you looked on the https://www.pbainfo.org/ website? They also have a facebook support group, where you might get more advice and support.
It might also help to search other brain injury sites such as the two Iâve mentioned below.
This is a PDF document from the MS Society website âmssociety.org.ukâ on Pseudobulbar affect.
Anger, laughter and tears: Understanding emotional outbursts in MS
https://www.mssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-02/Anger%20laughter%20and%20tears%20July%202015-L%20(revised%20Feb%202022).pdf
This is from the MS Society website âmssociety.org.ukâ
And this article is from the headway.org.uk website
Pathological laughter - it's no joke | Headway
I had this when in hospital 3 days after my stroke I just was sobbing out loud
It only lasted a couple of days and went before I was sent home
Mind you I was on antidepressants and missing them while in hospital so a nurse borrowed some from hospital for me to take maybe my antidepressants stopped it going further x
That must have been upsetting for you, Itâs nice to hear you made it through. I hope you are emotionally well now. Thank you for your reply.
I had a google what this a mean , and yes , i havehad bursts of cry and a laugh for no a reason , i prefer the laughing it happens straight after at a hospital and still , two month on