I am emotionally hurt and laugh instead of crying for a situation. Am I normal?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am having an issue that is extremely difficult and bothering me, but my psychiatrist said he has never heard of it, and it is worrying me. I have been diagnosed with BPD, bipolar and OCD. I am 36 years old. I had kidney cancer last year and had surgery. I have been on Seroquel 50 mg for about three months now and I noticed all my symptoms, anxiety, psychosis etc. All showed up at the same time about three to four months ago, when COVID-19 started. The issue I am worried about is that something sad can happen, where I want to cry and I should cry. I usually cry but it is like something in my head wants me to laugh and tries to get me to laugh. This has never happened before in my life. But it hurts me because I am a woman of strong faith. I will read the books and something sad will come up or someone will die and instead of crying, something is trying to get me to laugh and it hurts me because I cannot express the emotion I truly feel and it confuses me because I know I do not want to laugh. Please help me to figure out what is going on. I can usually hold back from actually laughing but it is almost like mocking laughter. Please help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern and would explain that your symptoms could be related to bipolar disorder. You should know that bipolar disease can lead to episodes of depression and also mania (uncontrolled euphoria or laughter).

An obsession could also mimic this situation (the obsession that you are about to laugh and you cannot control it even if you want and it is pushing into you in inappropriate situations).

I recommend trying Lithium to help improve your situation, but it should be carefully monitored through repeated blood tests.

It is also necessary to check your kidney and liver function tests in order to exclude possible diseases that may lead to increased fluid retention and leg swelling.

I hope this helps.