Angry outbursts
Quite embarrassed and ashamed to write this but had a major irrational flip out tonight about something relatively minor. I feel like I've been harbouring resentment against a person for a while, a build up of several things that culminated in an aggressive and hysterical outburst this evening. I mean it was bad. I feel shocked how aggressive I was now I've calmed down. Honestly I'm nice and calm and friendly 99.99% of the time and I hate confrontation which is why it's so weird! It was like I was a different person and I couldn't control what was coming out of my mouth, it didn't last long and soon after I was apologising and feeling terrible about it. It has happened a couple of times in the past 5 years or so to be honest but very rare, I mean I never have little tiffs with people, just a big outburst every couple of years. I have always thought that ms is caused or at least triggered by stress. But now I'm thinking maybe it's suppression of anger, maybe its because I bottle stuff up and then explode. Straight after my leg pain flared up too. Does anyone else have angry outbursts or suppressed anger and resentment and do you think it's a cause or symptom of ms?
Stress will most certainly exacerbate your symptoms to a certain degree. Emotional issues are a factor in MS as well. Check out 'Emotional lability'. there is a thread about it on here somewhere.
I had one outburst like yours two years ago. Somebody was being very insensitive and I just wasn't prepared to go along with it. I was told later that I came across as aggressive, even menacing (!). Like you, I am normally placid and tolerant, but since the MS I think my self-defence mechanism has become so ingrained that if I am challenged, I stand up for myself, regardless of the cost. Right? Wrong? Don't know, that's the way it is. Please don't hate yourself, you're fighting a battle with MS and there are bound to be casualties somewhere along the line. xxxx