Hi
I originally posted the following on he carers forum but was advised to post here as well for maybe some more advice
purple pixie
hiya
emotional labilty. its hell! mri confirmed i have a plaque on my āemotions bitā. i have no control over laughter and crying. i still still struggle but i (and my 3 kids) have had to find a way of coping. the kids ask me if its real or just the ms? thats not being insensitive but understanding cos they know i have no control over it so i think its good they check. i have just been told my neighbour has died-understandable tears.
all i can suggest is honest discussion. boring but true i am afraid!
take care, both of you, ellie
Hi PP,
I had this recently for nine days. I t was deeply unpleasant. I woke up one morning and I was really angry and i continued to be angry for nine days. It is pretty exhausting. I decided to try cinnamon as i thas good anti-inflamatory properties. I took 1/2 a teaspoon in h;ot water and after half an hour I could feel it working. I have been taking it ever since. Here is a recent post I shared http://www.mssociety.org.uk/forum/everyday-living/cinnamon-and-symptom-relief.
I hope that this helps.
Adrian
I had mood swings like thatā¦ Just generally horrible tommy family, lose my temper at the slightest most stupidest of things, say horrible things and that includes to my young son (4) which is an awful thing to admit to. Have to say I was put on citalopram an anti dep and anxiety med. within a few weeks I felt a massive change and I feel so much happier it is unbelievable. I could see what I was doing but could not control it. I know some people have opinions on anti deps but for me it works so I will be sticking with it. Our family life is so so much better and I know for one my son has a better life because of this medication. Hope he gets sorted Hun xxxx
Hello
Your husband needs to seek help from his doctor for the mood swings, itās not fair on you or the children to continue to live under this kind of stress. You can see the gp for yourself about your own health and how your husbands behaviour impacts on you. Your children canāt be in a happy place either.
Iām sorry about your husbandās terrible accident/illness but your marriage will not last if you continue like you are, without any intervention.
Good luck x
Thank you all for replying - Iām lying awake worrying as usual. Will read all your comments tomorrow when my heads not so fuzzy. Thanks for taking the time and Iāll catch up with you all tomorrow. Even though Iāve only used this twice now I donāt feel just as lost as I did before - so that can only be good. Hope you all sleep well and thank you again Purple pixie xxxx
Hi, Iāve been having similar problems as your husbandā¦feeling anxious, angry and on edge for no real reason, snapping and being short with my family, including my 10 and 12 yr old children, which then makes me feel even worse :(. I was only diagnosed in Feb, and so met with my MS nurse to talk over my symptoms. Sheās asking my GP to prescribe pregabalin, which she said should help with my anxiety, as well as calming the irritating sensory issues I have all the time. I agree with the other posters that talking to your GP and/or nurse would be the way to go, and really good luck with finding something that helps. Iām sure your husband appreciates all of your support, and his behaviour probably makes him feel bad too xx
Hi i have had mood swings not sure if mine was the MS or the PTSD but was real bad would fly at the slightest thing and use my fists or hands if it was something like a cupboard door it was be punched til it fell off the wall or snap something that wasnt going right and then right back to tears and upset so from 1 end of the scale to the other, in as per recently in our flood id fly and argue with the workmen or representatives , okay they were caught lying but nonetheless i flew, ive now been put on BP meds and my temper and mood swings have dropped hugely and i feel calm but also my therapist helped alot , touch wood for the future and also in the past i have never struck anyone that didnt deserve it but im learning to control the anger the low mood the antidepresants though big dose are doing the trick but the down side is with all that im now at a point where i feel emotionless and empty , but this is far better than before , my advice is seek help for it as its not the way to be goodluck and i hope it all works for you too
respect sheep
I wish so badly I could offer advice, all I CAN say is we need a magic wandā¦I am the most horrible, snappy nasty person alive for some time now, I already have anti depressants, diaxepam, gabapentin and other meds for my various illnesses. I no longer know or care if it is MS or one of my other illnesses making me so moody and uncontrolled angryā¦whatever it is I hate it and have laid here night after night thinking life is bad and my angry me is making it worse.
I want to get off the treadmill of downs, tried CBT and every other thing offered.
So hope you can get help from gp, maybe the meds will work for hubby maybe for you or maybe for bothā¦good luck.
I truly mean it, I do hope it works ok for you.
Hello anon Have you given different antidepressants a try? There is no magic pill Iām afraid. Itās about acceptance and changing what you can change with your life. Antidepressants are only part of the answer. Good luck 
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Thanks so much for your reply, Alison.
I had some counselling not long after being diagnosed - but looking back, it was far too soon for me to get much out of it.
I think itās a good idea to try it again. Ta!
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Hi, I too experience mood swings. At times I feel OK and that I am coping. Other times I feel so bad that I think if I could, I would end it all - except that I donāt want to upset my lovely daughter! And I can be horrible to my poor husband. But I find I am worse when I am tired and when I am upset and frustrated because I canāt do something I want to be able to and used to be able to do without even thinking about it. So sometimes rest and doing something else nice instead helps and my mood lifts.
I was referred to see the MS OT at the hospital recently, who is the gateway to counselling and that sort of support. It helped a lot just talking to her and she gave me some information, leaflets, websites, UTube clips to watch.
Google Russ Harris/āThe Happiness Trapā - and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Mindfulness etc. Has anyone else heard of him or used his resources?
Perhaps PurplePixieās husband needs much more help, and PurplePixie and family more support, than reading self-help books, watching UTube clips, but what I mean is that there is all sorts of help out there if we start by asking the right people to point us in the right direction. The GP, or MS Nurse, is probably the best place to start.
Good luck PurplePixie, let us know how things go.
Mouse x
It wa a good few years down the line that I started. Looking back I think that, as in your case, earlier would have been less useful for me.
Alison
Hello to everyone
Very new to this, and nervous about talking about something that (in the grand scheme of things) is rather a trifling issue when others are dealing with so much more than me. Anyway, here goesā¦
RRMS & Mood swings - I joined this site this weekend after thinking about it for some time, then yesterday I finally plucked up courage. I have joined to hopefully find some advice because my husband suffers from mood sings and regrettably, I am a very sensitive type and find his snappiness difficult to manage. I keep telling myself to ālet it goā but I find it upsetting and I distance myself for a while, as a result. I know this is not the right thing to do, but it is what comes naturally to me in such situations. He has RRMS so his symptoms come and go, but the short temper is there often. At first I thought it was stress from work, and although that doesnāt help, I now think it is his RRMS. He will snap/bite my head off, at the most inane things (yesterday, it was me offering to drive).
We never discuss how his MS might progress, but privately, I worry about it and how I am going to cope with him, should he get much worse. Does anyone else have experience of RRMS and what might be ahead of us? We have not been married too long (4 years) but been together for 7 years. I am guessing mood swings might be the least of our problems, but what I would really like to know (crystal ball required possibly) is whether I should be preparing now financially for care bills for him, and what I should expect in his state of health.
Sorry, this has ended up about mood swings and care bills, not sure how I did that!
Reading your post has left me with the impression of two suffering people, each locked in his/her own private bubble of distress. He articulates his distress by foul temper; you articulate yours by withdrawing. Both of you keep your needs and wants and hopes and fears to yourselves. Why? Because you are frightened about what might come out once you started talking seriously? Because you are both afraid of upsetting the other one? I have seen marriages operate on much that basis for decades and so have you, most likely, and it is a bleak and sterile way to live.
I think you need to be brave and gently start inching your way across the emotional no-manās land that seems to have come between you by opening up a little to him about how things are for you. For sure, you risk coming under fire to begin with - you will be invited to get into a game of accusation/counter-accusation, most likely. But if you are brave enough to relax your defences and speak honestly but without rancour, he should eventually reciprocate, if he is the man you married. I hope so, anyway.
Alison
I get terrible mood swings, so bad I could scream rant and rave. Seeing my GP this week, as I am just fed up of being like this. It just comes on without warning. I do think fatigue and pain is the trigger though. I found the above posts very interesting.
Sounds like itās more of coming to terms and accepting what he has, and nearly dying a while back will add to it. Itās always the nearest and dearest who get it worse, so this is the best path to start from between the both of you. Itās not emotional lability thatās a different issue altogether.
Picking up from what Alison saidā¦
hubby and I are practically alone 24/7, with breaks weekly when 2 carers take me out, plus 1.75 hours in a morning.
There are many silent hours. He is not a talker and certainly cant do emotion. And as for argumentsā¦he`ll walk away if he gets the slightest sniff of confrontation. He sidles off to his man cave (garage, to smoke)
I feel as if we are just 2 people who share a house, with the huge exception that he does look after me, as I am quite dependent on others now.
But I still crave excitement, adventure, something to look forward toā¦Thats why I google holidays for wheelies a lot. Hubby is not at all interested in holidays with me. Hes actually said so, saying A holiday with you, is not a holiday for me.
What can you say to that?, except, ok, Ill go with my carers then! He goes nowhere with me, aprt from delivering and collecting me locally. I often ask him if we can go somewhere, but he isnt interested.
polx