Inappropriate laughter | ADHD Information

Yes. Imagine during a city council meeting when your a councilman. And someone is talking about helping seniors with a holiday meal.

Gasp.

only me. It could only happen to me.

I'm a nervous laugher too. I don't know why but it's the worst when I have to tell someone bad news. I couldn't look at my bridesmaids during my wedding because I knew I was going to burst out laughing, and my husband was so serious and touched by the ceremony and I felt like cracking up. I think arguments are funny too, you just say and do the dumbest things when you're arguing and it gets so ridiculous sometimes.

i also had a complete fit of the giggles when we went to see my grandmother - laid out in her coffin. i caught my sister's eye and she made a funny expression at me which just set me off but my mother was so upset so i couldn't show that i was laughing ---- it was terrible, so i had to make out i was overcome by tears and needed to leave the room instead. terrible! my grandmother had a good sense of humour tho - i don't think she'd mind.

so, cg - you're not the only one. all sorts of inappropriate things make me laugh, and the more you are not supposed to laugh the more difficult i find it not to. church with three siblings deliberately trying to make you snort out loud was hopeless as a child; seeing Lenin's mausoleum - where it is enforced, respectful dead silence again, but he looked so FLAT as if he had been stuffed wrong - and such serious-looking guards etc. set me off.... there was such a queue however i couldn't escape and had to snort into my handkerchief step-by-step as we filed, slowly, painfully around to the exit.

when my friends hamster died - and she wasn't sure it was dead and was poking it to see if it was still alive - very upset, completely killed me. was lying on the floor laughing so hard.

when a glass plate exploded with burning candle-wax all over the floor of my room leaving 30 flaming tiny points of burning lights - everyone jumping up, panicking, trying to stamp them out and check no-one was hurt. doubled over in hysterics - everyone shouting at me to help and i couldn't move i was laughing so much.

when friend was being chased by vicious-looking cow/heifer/bull running for the gate and i was other side of gate but crying with laughter.

all the time i am always saying 'i'm so sorry, i'm not really laughing, i'm just laughing, i'm sorry' etc. etc. between gasps for air. and i mean it - i didn't mean to laugh at my friend running from the cow or any of the above but something about it obviously strikes me as funny.

so i'm right up there with you.... the harder you try to stop it, the harder you laugh.

most of the time i find it funny. excepting the case with my mum (cos i felt so bad for her).

but even then, i know it's bad but my sister and i had complete hysterics just talking about it afterward. she said she'd made a face cos she had thought she had heard a 'whoo-ing' noise (like a ghost) it was probably just the wind but she thought i had heard it too. and knowing that just cracked me up all over again.

i guess its a family trait. and it could well have been my grandmother doing it on purpose - knowing her sense of humour too!

chjones38744.8122222222

I've never had that (never really laughed as a child or until recently actually). But I remember strongly a kid in my 2nd grade class who was being yelled at by our teacher (aka Satan Woman). He began to smirk and holding back laughter. This made her more mad - and he laughed. And laughed. Barrel laugh - very big and loud. The nastier she got the more he laughed. I could see even then it was nerves but the teacher, instead of backing down which would have calmed him just went ballistic. Spanked him and sent him to principal. Don't remember him doing it again but I know that I then saw laughing as a bad bad thing sometimes.

Nervous laughter is no .. ahem .. laughing matter. It affects some and I feel totally bad for you girl having that. It must make certain things very embarassing if it suddenly hits you.

Ouch, yep.

My mom has this thing, when she gets mad her eyes go back and forth really fast. I think she must be looking from one of my eyes to the other -- at any rate it ALWAYS made me laugh when she was really mad at me.

*wince*

I dont't think this is an AD(H)D thing. Many people--not just AD(H)Ders laugh when feeling sadness. It's VERY common.

I once laughed uncontrollably at a close friend's viewing. We were both in our 20s. He'd died very young of an unusal heart condition. During a prayer, I could just hear him whispering irreverances in my ear. (He actually did that, intentionally, to make me laugh during my Father's first communion following his confirmation [he was in his 50's when he'd decided to get confirmed]). I apologized to my friend's brother for my chuckling and he said he'd had to work very hard because he had the same experience--hearing Tony whispering sacrilidges in his ear. At that point, I was convinced that Tony's spirit actually was there doing what he'd have undoubtedly have done had he been alive in body as well as spirit.

There have been many other instances of "normal" people laughing "inappropriately." It's a very common reaction to stress and grief of all people. Apologies to people who don't, though, are a good idea since they might misunderstand it and it could make them feel even worse. It's much of like "tears of joy" which also can seem inappropriate. Remember that movie w/ Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson as middle aged folks who both cried after a "wow" sexual experience?

My sister and I are cut out of the same mold. We can be at the most serious events and we can cast a glance at each other and just can't stop laughing. It's as if we just can't stand the tension of everyone being so somber and quiet, we just start to laugh and it's hard to stop.[QUOTE=Countrygirl]

Once at a funeral something struck me funny and I had uncontrollable giggles. How embarrassing - later, not then, Actually, I wasn't embarrassed, but should have been. I had to pretend the giggles was crying and made way too much noise. I just couldn't stop!

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me too, but i really hated that guy anyway... the dirt napee

Anybody else have a problem with this? Inappropriate laughter, I mean.
I was pulled over tonight and when the officer got to the window and said, "State Trooper, mam" It struck me so incredibly funny that I started giggling and could not stop. I was thinking "No s#i+! Ya think I can't see that?" "And then I think, wait, did he say Superman?" Anyway I could never get it under control. The harder I tried not to laugh, the more I laughed and giggled. I even snorted a couple of times.

I got a written warning for a headlight being out. I told him I was just nervous. giggle, giggle, snort, snort. I have to wonder if he just gave me a warning because he thought I was a mental case. THEN, I drove away, forgetting to put on my seatbelt He turned on his lights again, I buckled up while driving on the highway - and he let it go! Yeah, don't mess with the laughing lunatic lady!

Once at a funeral something struck me funny and I had uncontrollable giggles. How embarrassing - later, not then, Actually, I wasn't embarrassed, but should have been. I had to pretend the giggles was crying and made way too much noise. I just couldn't stop!

Dust in the wind.
All we are is dust in the wind

Sorry, a booK? Great place to collect dust! Guess it's better than looking like a spitoon. Cousin Charlie! Don't spit in there! That's Uncle George!

And I too apologize in advance for being once again so incredibly inappropriate. meant only in fun, not disrespect.

Lo siento, por favor, pero, un libro? Es muy gracioso, no?

[QUOTE=Countrygirl]

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Well, I guess thats one of the nice things about coming from a family with a whole truckload of ADDers! When my grandfather died, his viewing room sounded like a new years eve party! We just kept telling story after story about him and laughing and having a good ol time! Others would kind of look in with their faces visably in mourning and think we were just terrible. I know I just couldnt stop laughing at the urn I had found in the funeral home. It looked like a book... come on.... a book? " oh look a new book." your friend could say as she picked it up.. " but it looks a little dusty" ( friend blows on book) WAIT you say running across the room.. that was Uncle George!!!!

Apologies in advance to anyone who thinks I'm too inappropriate

Sherry

Laugh at inapppropriate times? Oh my, yes!

And just like Scatty Sarah says, it's my way of coping. Sometimes I laugh for no reason at all. It just comes out...and it drives people crazy! Once a young child said something, and I laughed my wild, loud laugh, and they asked me, with a scowl on their little face, "Why are you laughing at me? I didn't say anything funny." Poor kid. :(

And GlenW, true, it isn't always a laughing matter. I had a disability hearing before a judge recently, and when I met with my attorney for the first time the day before, he told me that I may laugh and take all this lightly, but this is a serious matter. Oh! I'm so sorry, I told him. I don't take this lightly AT ALL. But that I always laugh when I'm nervous, I can't help it. In fact, if I could, I would probably be crying instead. But laughing is what I do. He told me I had better try not to do that in front of the judge. (And I didn't laugh once at the hearing!!!

... in fact, came across very credible.)

Many people, even non-adhders, laugh when nervous or scared. It's quite natural. But when it becomes that uncontrollable giggle...OMG..yes, so very embarrassing.

(But that usually feels good, too, at the same time, doesn't it?

)
I laugh at serious things all the time, it's my way of coping. I used to dread someone telling me bad news because I would giggle. Deep down I would be devastated. Weird!

I laugh at inappropriate times too. I used to think that others just didn't "get it." But I think that it might be an ADD thing, if you guys all do it too.

I know that when my kids would have a tumble, the mishap would seem so funny that I would hold back the laugh and hurry to see what was wrong - not with really serious injuries of course. It's just that it strikes me as funny - kinda like The Worlds' Funniest Videos."