Emotions

A key symptom of MND is exaggerated response to emotions. Whether it is uncontrolled laughter or crying. These episodes last for a few minutes and sometimes also cause breathing difficulty to the point of choking.

I have had many such instances in the past. While having lunch and watching a standup comedy, I laughed uncontrollably to the point of choking with my mouth full of food. In another instance, during my Yoga practise, laughed uncontrollably to the contraptions used miserably by one of my fellow students. Ideally I would have been the first one to go and offer help and advise, ended up laughing and embarrassing him and myself! I laugh at seemingly ordinary moments as well and any small witty lines or comedy gets me laughing out loud 🙂

The opposite also happened yesterday. While performing the bow pose (Dhanurasana) during my yoga practise, I could barely catch my legs with my hands. Infact the yoga teacher and another fellow student came to my help. Despite repeated attempts I could not hold on. A pose I could do with ease a few months back and with slight difficulty a few weeks back, was out of my competence. My strength was failing me. The very thought that I would be dependent on others for basic poses made me sad to the point of crying. At this time I walked out and burst into crying. I could not control it no matter what, so much so that I was gasping for breath and choking. Usually I’m not a person to cry. My wife got me home hurriedly and I again started. The very thought of the pose made me cry even more. This went on for a good 30 minutes before normalcy was restored. My wife later told me that she was glad I cried as I had not shown even a tinge of sadness during my diagnosis and treatment. Deep down I’m sad and always think about the disease and its prognosis. She is of the opinion that my outburst would have lessened my stress levels