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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Laughing at a seizure

100 replies

AtLastEarwax · 09/08/2020 13:39

Not sure if this is in the right section but anyway...

Sister in laws partner told a 'story' the other day about someone he knew had a seizure whilst with him in a shop. He said he couldn't help her and had to run outside because he couldn't stop laughing.

He doesn't know I have epilepsy, well controlled but it's likely I'll have another seizure in my life. Knowing that has made me so anxious though that if it happened to me people would laugh??

AIBU thinking like that??

OP posts:

bruffin · 09/08/2020 22:08

@AtLastEarwax

He said it in a 'hey, guess what happened to me the other day' instance

In a seizure I would say protect the head, just make sure that is safe and recovery position if you can. Or turn on the left side

I know I would be extremely grateful to someone who helped me

For the laughter part, no I would not laugh at a heart attack, nor would I laugh at any other instance where someone could be hurt

But do you understand that some people laugh because of stress and anxiety in this tupe of situation, not because they find it funny.

EmbarrassedUser · 09/08/2020 22:20

@bruffin As someone with epilepsy, whilst I know you’re trying to be kind, any sort of laughter is not nice to hear. Shame is a huge thing amongst people with the condition so to hear laughter just makes people think (rightly or wrongly) that they should be embarrassed about something over which they have no control.

Cam2020 · 09/08/2020 22:20

My first thought was hysteria - some people do laugh at inappropriate times but they don't then brag about it. He's just a dick.

BubblesThaDragoon · 09/08/2020 22:23

@EmbarrassedUser this 100%.

TheoneandObi · 09/08/2020 22:25

God there's nothing funny about a seizure. It's terrifying for participant and onlookers.

FrogspawnSmoothie · 09/08/2020 22:26

How the fuck could anyone find that funny! I've occasionally almost sniggered at taurettes outbursts I've seen on tv ("fat ginger wanker") but even then reminded myself that it must be horrible for the sufferer.

PurpleDaisies · 09/08/2020 22:28

God there's nothing funny about a seizure. It's terrifying for participant and onlookers.

Exactly. Doesn’t that make you think that this laughter probably wasn’t coming from the usual place of finding something amusing?

bruffin · 09/08/2020 22:33

Op didnt say he was bragging about it .

seven201 · 09/08/2020 23:06

I once laughed when I was told a relative had died. Sometimes you can't control it.

I don't think anyone actually finds seizures funny, I think they can be quite a shock to witness so maybe that set him off.

Cam2020 · 10/08/2020 07:03

Exactly. Doesn’t that make you think that this laughter probably wasn’t coming from the usual place of finding something amusing?

Op didnt say he was bragging about it .

I got the impression that he was recanting the tale as an amusing anecdote, not in a this happened the other day and it was awful. or I got the giggles and felt awful/embarrassed. Most people don't go around broadcasting the shameful things they've done for entertainment. He's telling the story to get a laugh. That is bragging - he's telling it for his own imagined kudos.

Yeahnahmum · 10/08/2020 07:15

What an pathetic man

Illuyanka · 10/08/2020 09:07

I'm with bruffin and PurpleDaisies.
You are with in laws and extended families. You are not close enough to know family member's medical condition yet, basically surrounded by people you really don't know that well.
Would you go and tell something that makes you sound like total sociopath? I'm sure most adults find and knows having a seizure is something serious and there's nothing funny about it.

nicky7654 · 10/08/2020 09:14

Seizures are not funny. My Husband constantly worries Incase he has one as in the past he has broken his nose falling down the stairs in mid seizure!! It has caused great upset over the years as it started when he was 14 and had his first while riding a bike. Anyone who laughs is sick in the head!

Original poster

AtLastEarwax · 10/08/2020 16:16

@Illuyanka

I'm with bruffin and PurpleDaisies. You are with in laws and extended families. You are not close enough to know family member's medical condition yet, basically surrounded by people you really don't know that well. Would you go and tell something that makes you sound like total sociopath? I'm sure most adults find and knows having a seizure is something serious and there's nothing funny about it.

I've been with my husband 15 years. I don't choose to broadcast my condition with every person in my life.

He said it to get a laughter reaction - he didn't succeed

OP posts:

AryaStarkWolf · 10/08/2020 16:26

@Wankerchief

It's not uncommon sadly. I had a fit in public and someone filmed and ended up in the internet and had tens of thousands of strangers laughing at me. Some of my family forwarded with a lol is this you, I haven't spoken to them since

I've had some since and been helped too so I can't say all bad experiences.

That's awful, there some really shitty people out there

Illuyanka · 10/08/2020 18:01

So he was making fun of the person who had seizure? It wasn't clear from your op, hence my comment. And I was assuming what he would have felt, not you OP, in my comment. I just wondered if the decent adult surrounded by in laws would deliberately try to look like a horrible person in front of them. But sounds like he is, if he said he said it to get laughter reaction. What was other people's reaction? No one told him he was being horrible?

Original poster

AtLastEarwax · 10/08/2020 23:20

No one laughed, he just then said he had to ring his mate who was her boyfriend

OP posts:

Illuyanka · 12/08/2020 19:35

Nothing you say really make sense to me. Hope you sort it out with your in laws and be happy. As people said on this thread, majority of people would never laugh at someone who is having a seizure, and if they do because they actually find it amusing(not a nervous laugh which is the response to fear or overwhelming emotions or whatever, which people do sometimes), there is definitely something not right about their personality.

PablosHoney · 12/08/2020 19:38

😱😱😱 Not much shocks me but these experiences are appalling, filming seizures, wtaf!! I’ve seen through work and once at a gym class, they look the opposite of funny. I don’t think the people who get hysterical with fear when they see things like this help the situation either.

Purpleartichoke · 12/08/2020 22:41

Every day I learn more about how awful some humans can be. I can’t even wrap my head around how a seizure could trigger laughter.

GlamGiraffe · 12/08/2020 23:15

I have severe uncontrolled epilepsy. People are generally brilliant when I have seizures and really help me. The chances of encountering such an inconsiderate and thoughtless person whilst you are having a fit are in my experience almost nil. On the whole the world is full of decent people.

bruffin · 13/08/2020 07:11

I can’t even wrap my head around how a seizure could trigger laughter
Read up on Nervous laughter then

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nervous_laughter
Op story doesnt really make sense anyway

GlassHalfFull10 · 13/08/2020 08:02

Seizures in public are traumatic for the sufferer. I’ve seen many due to my mother having epilepsy and also happen to have seen a few (and helped) in public. There is a huge lack of knowledge about what to do if someone has a seizure. For example one man tried to put something down the throat of another man mid-seizure before I stopped him.

None of it is funny. If I’d laughed involuntarily, I’d be so mortified, I’d never recount the story! He sounds uneducated at best and a prick at worst

GlamGiraffe · 13/08/2020 11:09

I had a massive seizure two days ago in the street. Apparently the number of people who ran to help me and looked after me was huge. My husband arrived and took over. People sat with my little girl whilst it was sorted out. People are nice on the whole.
There are idiots in every aspect of life, luckily they are few and far between.
If you can survive a seizure and eventually pick yourself up and carry on with a little dignity, a grown man (nervously laughing or not) who cant sensibly continue is a pretty hopeless specimen to be Frank . I dread the day something unfortunate might happen to him...I wonder how he'd feel if people laughed at him when he was at his most vulnerable, because that's what it amounts to, whatever a person is laughing someone very vulnerable is being laughed at. Try it next time he really hurts himself...maybe put it on social media too😉🙄 (clearly I'm joking, but that's what it feels like to to a person in my position)

bruffin · 13/08/2020 13:29

Not everybody can cope She is a wonderful friend but falls to pieces in this type of situation and gets in a right state.
When my ds had a febrile convulsion in Mcdonalds mens toilets i had to comfort the poor man who witnessed it. I heard the bang as he fell from the ladies next door. He had a lovely black eye .
Everyone is different and no one is perfect

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