What is it like to have mood swings?

Symptoms and treatments
1

Hello,

I work as a customer service representative. I set most of the time on a computer. I receive calls from customers and after the calls, I do what they want.

One day, while I was doing work, one of my colleges told me that my facial expressions make him feel like as if I’m working as a minister or a president of a country. He also mentioned that my face looks so series. He always says this to me whenever I’m in deep thought or while thinking about my work.

Someone else asked me: “Did somebody make you sad? Are you made of anybody?”

My manager called me. I looked at him. He told me: “Don’t freak out. It’s okay. I’ll not punish you :smiley: I’ll just talk with you about how things are going”. This situation is also repeated.

Also, I hear people talking about me and they say that they don’t feel comfortable with me due to my behaviors.

From the situations above, I started to observe my feelings and emotions because they control my facial expressions. I found out that sometimes I feel sad without a reason or for trivial reasons. The feeling is big but the cause is small. While I was feeling sad and somebody says a joke, I may laugh for a long time and then I feel sad again. Those symptoms increase if I’m sleep deprived. I had optic neuritis before with two tiny brain lesions and MS is not confirmed yet. Actually, I don’t know if those are weird symptoms or just normal feeling that may be due to being tired at work and things like that. Should I put that into consideration and take it seriously as it started affecting my relationships? Or I should ignore it as everybody can feel sad?

Happy new year everyone!

2

I find it more odd that people working have time to notice your facial expressions. I mean really if your talking to someone ont he phone how do they know what the other party is saying, they may be saying something sad or complicated. some people express their feelings in their faces, its quite common i have found in continental people. my mum would sometimes she would look very sad, but she was merely being thoughtful about a problem. My daughters friend is the same she looks miserable all the time, but she isnt lol. Its just how she expresses her thoughts.

I would just say well thanks for mentioning it, but i am fine, and try to start smiling a bit even if you dont fee like it.

It seems a very odd thing for work people to pick up on like i said if they are all doing the same job. OR are you distancing yourself on breaks?

You are aware now of this issue so just consciously try and change it a bit. think nice thoughts, or use musc to cheer you up. MS is full of emotions. I can cry for nothing, and laugh for nothing. I can have uncontrollable sadness, feel despair, I hate being let down it makes me cry. I used to be a strong person not anymore. I have changed. But no one really says anything but then i am on my own a lot.

I think perhaps your workmates need to do more working and less watching you lol.

good luck.

1 Like
3

how strange of your colleagues to talk about your facial expressions.

as crazy chick said, try to smile more.

i was fed up of people saying that i looked stern so set myself a target to smile more.

my face just naturally looks serious in repose.

so i spent some time looking in the mirror.

i noted that if i used my eyes it made a difference, so eye contact is important.

also i noted that my facial muscles had forgotten how to make a smile, so i practised around the house (feeling like a proper nutter!).

these days i just let myself be.

maybe it is the other person’s fault!

also there is an ms symptom called ‘lability’ which can make you go from happy to sad in seconds for no reason.

hysterical laughter to sobbing,

it is also called ‘pseudo bulbar affect’ the ms trust has a leaflet about it.

anyway don’t give yourself grief about it. it is unintentional after all.

carole x

1 Like
4

Hi Michael

I’d try to ignore the people who think they have the right to question the look on your face. After all, many people are genuinely miserable to be at work, and that shows.

As Carole said, there is also a condition of emotional lability. This is the link to the Trusts webpage: Pseudobulbar affect (pathological laughing and crying) | MS Trust You may have a mild version of this.

It is said that if you force yourself to smile when talking on the phone, it comes out in your voice. That isn’t to suggest that you force a rictus smile on your face - that might look more scary than happy!!

Meanwhile, try not to worry. It sounds like you have enough to worry about going through the process of possibly being diagnosed with MS.

Sue

5

Hello, I think it’s quite nice that your work colleagues notice you are not yourself and are trying to reach out to you in their way. The year I got diagnosed, my dad had just died suddenly, someone else was being unpleasant about me behind my back, my long term partner and I got married to give our son stability, tax reasons and love of course, all whilst waiting for confirmation I had MS. In our wedding photos, instead of my usual happy smiling face, I look sad and worried. I guess that must be how you may be feeling. Once you have MS confirmed or not, hopefully you’ll find a way to be happier in yourself. Once I had the MS diagnosis, I became determined to do all I could to help myself and find positives where I could.

6

Hi,

I done that job for many years and it’s tough being happy and helpful all the time even when your customers are being total idiots (let’s keep this nice) to combine that with a potential diagnosis of MS hanging over you must be horrendous. Whilst those environments are in the main quite supportive they are also highly target driven so I am also surprised your colleagues have time to notice BUT they have and they seem genuinely concerned so try not to alienate them. As already suggested try a smile and a “yes I’m fine thanks “ do you trust your manager enough to confide in him / her what’s worrying you ?

If it helps in any way I zone out when deep in thought or concentrating and go almost blank faced and emotionless but my team know to come back in 5 or put coffee in front of me

good luck

7

“I done that job” - spell check didn’t save me there!

8

I work as admin with property developers, and i get days where I really not in the mood keeping up with their ego and i just say as it is and a lot of times i tick people off, on a good day i bite my tongue hard but when they push you to your limits and you say something to the point, they dont know how to handle as in their eyes Im just an admin for them.

Woke up today proper moody, last night went to sleep in a very good mood but my body is not accepting that we need to get on with the day at work. i feel like a zombi, in a shit emotionless mood and on top fighting with fatigue…

9

Ms has similarities to Bi-Par Illness. Basically your mood swing can move one way or another without notice. Your MS illness makes you susceptible to this kind of emotional juggernaut.

To make my discussion of my illness make sense, I will explain my history and you can see how MS, depending upon type of MS, can drive you crazy.

I was diagnosed at age 19 with a mental illness “that there is not a name for it yet, there is not much research, and you will never get rid of it”. Sound familiar! 27 years later, after participating in a depression support group for Bi-Polar individuals and families or friends of such people. I discover that most of the people in the group were seeing the same ‘shrink’. I got an appointment and after a few sessions received the following diagnosis:

Bi-Polar II, Rapid Cycler, with Long Term Depression Disability - what, that will get you. Up to that point I had live with no drugs, consider and/or tried suicide several times. I have been married three times. The third time was with a lady in her 40’s who had several problems (later MS) but we bonded and she was the love of my life until she passed away last June 2018.

Bi-Polar means you have tremendous mood swings.

Bi-Polar I means your mood swings are mostly on top of the world. These people buy multiple of anything that hits them. The group had a man whose wife who bought TV’s, and electronics over and over. He side their garage was full of duplicates. Another person would come home and find a new car in the drive way and no memory of who, what, and when but properly titled.

By-Polar II is the opposite. The person spends most of their time depressed. The suicide rate is much higher in this group. Like MS, you get really depressed and you might want to leave this world rather than continue the fight. The Rapid Cycler can change moods so quickly that you feel the change in your body. You may even see waves like driving on a very hot high way, or a hot day at the beach. Some people want to sleep a lot to get away from the the depression or you are so weak you need to lay down and sleep. The Long Term Depression Disability means you are depressed most of the time. Put these three things together and you probably have a short future.

My first instance where I became aware that something was wrong, I was about 5 years old. I am now 72 and I lost the love of my life except for my two daughters and two grandchildren. Now I struggle with being with my remaining family or being with my now gone wife.

I may not have made very much sense with this dialog, so I am open to any and all inquires. (I am not a healthcare professional.) Jim Veendam47