Startle Reflex
 

So I've noticed that my startle reflex is working overtime lately. :rolleyes:

The most common noises make me jump out of my skin! What is going on? I didn't used to be like this.

Yesterday my 2016 calendar slid down the wall onto the floor right beside my desk (where I was sitting). I nearly fell out of my chair. I jumped like someone set off a firecracker behind me. :confused: Total over reaction to a simple event.

If I'm walking down the hallway and step on a cat toy or something else that happens to be in the way it nearly makes me fall. Thank goodness I've always got my rollator.

Why am I reacting to things like this? I never used to. Any unexpected noise (loud or not) just makes me physically jump and my heart starts beating rapidly......almost like momentary panic. I'm usually very, very calm. Rarely do I get angry. This has got me baffled.

Kelly, it's called panic disorder and I've had It for all of the MS years..
Paxil ls the only med that took it away:). I must try it again ASAP.:eek:

I have found my Startle Reflex control has regressed with MS. The Startle Reflex can be seen in babies, a very basic neurological reflex (stiffening of body, etc.), less seen as we mature unless something happens to elicit it and ideally for self-preservation. Startle reflex is momentary but on-going panic attacks should be treated with help of professional. MS has made me more jumpy and when I taught Emotionally Disturbed teens my way was never let them see me sweat. Cool and collected back then, now not so much. I get discombobulated easier now. Always the question for me-age or MS?

MS seems to cause more swing of affect (emotions) in me also. Quicker to cry or laugh or anger.

I haven't noticed any other fluctuation of emotions.....just this startle reflex.

The thing is I don't feel anxious or "panicky" before or after. It just startles me.....and then it's over. My heartbeat immediately slows after the initial jolt.

I really don't want to start another med unless it just gets so bad that it's affecting my health.

I have the same issue. My startle reflex goes into overdrive when someone speaks to me while my back is turned. I throw up my hands and make a vocal sound. Have had this challenge for years.

IMO that is startle reflex(expected) and not an anxiety attack. Not a big med. fan, see no need for it. BOO! (did I get you?)

I believe in meds when really they help.

I got upset when an old neurologist (of course I use him no longer) gave me Antidepressants for my MS discomfort when I showed no signs of clinical depression. He never followed up with any questions and I took them long enough so if they worked they would have, then discontinued them. He never told me anything, just gave them to me!! My problem was he handed them out like they were candy. Our society in general acts like here's a pill for anything wrong. They do help some with MS pain but HE NEVER followed up.

Hi Kitty,

I ran across a MSAA publication quite some time ago, it was written in 2008. Not sure it will be helpful for you, but I thought it was interesting.

I have an exaggerated startle reflex but mine is due to PTSD and not related to MS.

I used to have that. It was because the people around me had me on High Alert all the time. Once I got those people away from me it went away. Haven't had it now for years.

That's why I'm pretty certain it's just another MS symptom. I'm not in a stressful situation or one where I need to be on high alert. Just wish there was a way to make it stop without having to take yet another med.

Thanks Snoops:)

I'm o Buspar for that. Not working too well:confused:

Doc is also giving me Ritalin, hoping it will work in reverse on me???

I'm a Guinea pig:D

Wow thanks for bringing this up, Kelly...I've been experiencing this as well lately. Once I'm off of post-surgical pain meds, I'm going to keep track to see if it stays. DH thinks I'm overreacting, but I can't help it:(

I don't really have many ideas on it, other than it's something I've always had. I can't cook toast without popping it up myself or I spaz for a moment (jump and shriek like a bomb went off instead of a bagel). People speaking when I'm not expecting it from the side or from behind will cause a jump and the occasional swing, like some unknown assailant is asking me "What's up?" instead of a friend or family member.

Heaven forbid anything should touch me unexpectedly... to my body That Means WAR! And the little ball of lint better come prepared for a total smack down. My DH (still married me:rolleyes:) came over one day while I was reading a book, I didn't hear him come in, didn't hear his combat boots thumping across the floor, didn't hear him call me... It was a realllllly good book... He grabbed my leg... I swear my head hit the ceiling as my other foot clocked him upside the head, had him on the floor with one hand choking him and the other ready to knock him out before I calmed down enough to realize it was him.

Sad thing is... I've never been in the military, or armed forces... Never been in any kind of life or death situation where someone was attacking me (aside from usual tussles with siblings) I hated jack-in-the-boxes from the very first one I ever encountered at age 1. And shrieked like a banshee and came up swinging from being touched unexpected straight out of the womb.

It's taken a lot of work to dull that side of me. I try very hard not to get wrapped up in books. To be aware of my surroundings and ready to run into people I'm acquainted with out in town. And obviously I have a jack-in-the-box ban at my house and always ensure my toasters have a cancel button. Still for the things you can't control, like a calendar falling off the wall. I shriek, and freak, and then just pretty much laugh at myself for it. So long as I don't attack anyone I figure it's a good heart health check on occasion.

It does take a long time for it to go away. Try relaxing more.

I've had exaggerated startle responses for many years, probably since the onset of MS about 35 years ago.

It may be part of MS spasticity. Our reflexes tend to be hyper, and this exaggerated startle response might be just one more instance of it--?

I used to call it " The Startle Factor ".

Very probably so Agate!!!:eek::D

I think so, too, Sally and Agate. I know there is something people with brain injuries and/or brain diseases have that makes them laugh or cry at inappropriate times. I guess our reflex meter is out of sync. I've never had the inappropriate laughing or crying.......yet.

There is such a thing.


I had it for about a year after my stroke.

You have my sympathy....
I have the same startle response and have had it for decades. Mine came from Lyme Disease...never had it before that. It is not only noises, it is sudden movements like my cats silently jumping up on the bed when I don't see them coming.

I have found MS and Lyme Disease have many overlapping symptoms.
Many times folks with LD are incorrectly dx'ed with MS and vice versa. Me included.

On my first brain scan had a lot of what they called back then, UBO's that apparently looked like the same brain lesions caused by MS.

I make my family and friends nuts with my oversized startle response because I sometimes shriek or drop things. It is SO out of proportion to the stimuli. I have a friend who has had several concussions and he said he has the same startle response.

Just another symptom to try and grin and bear.
My best, D.

I totally forgot about this.....I nearly jump out of bed when my cats jump up and I don't see them coming. Sometimes I'm almost asleep and it scares me so badly it takes forever to fall asleep again. :rolleyes:

The PBE is one I'm not sure if I have or have always had or if I'm just in general an inappropriate person. I used to get into to so much trouble at school because I would start laughing any time the teachers scolded me. And I don't mean a little chuckle, we're talking about ready to pee myself laughter to where I certainly couldn't tell them that I didn't think it was funny at all. It's not very convincing when you're holding your sides and wiping tears from your eyes from laughing so hard, that you can apprieciate the seriousness of your transgression.

I never really seem to cry inappropriately though, just laugh. If I'm sad I might cry... or laugh... if I'm in trouble for anything it's always laughter... If I'm in pain it's almost always laughter though I have cried occasionally, rarely but it has happened. I do cry when I'm mad, like really fuming and nearly homicidal raging mad, but at the same time I only ever get that way when I'm sincerely disappointed in someone or if someone tried to harm me or mine. So I don't know if I'm crying because I'm so sad that some could disappoint me so much or crying because I have visions of the worst that could have happened to me and mine, or if I'm just messed up. :p

But everyone around me pretty much takes it as a part of me, it always has been, so if I'm rolling on the ground laughing my head off, they know I just hurt something really bad... If they try to pull the 'authority' figure on me and I laugh... well that's just what I do. (And you would not believe the number of tickets you can get out of doing that... I was shocked :eek: I've only ever had 2 tickets in my entire driving record, but I've been pulled over near countless times... It seems trying very hard to restrain laughter makes you seem like a quite the jolly driver who's not going to give an officer a hard time at all, so you must respect them very much. Which I totally do, don't get me wrong and all my transgressions were outside of residential areas and generally going with the flow of traffic where I was picked out of the crowd.)

My uncle did apprieciate that facet of me though when he was going in for his heart surgeries, my mother too. Since I'm certainly one to keep things light in serious situations.:p