Re: Laughter raises IgA, killer T cells

[Guest guest]

I've heard of the IgA and laughter but really never made that

connection that our kids could be laughing to try to fight off

illness. That's very interesting. Never saw anything written

anywhere about this connection but would be totally interested in

reading more if you find some.

TamiW

Gavin's mom

>

> This isn't new news:

> http://humormatters.com/articles/researchresults.htm

>

> I'd been wondering about the tendency of some injured kids to

> laugh " for no reason " - as some put it. I've had a suspicion that

the

> behavior might not be pointless. Like the author of this article

> states, it's difficult to track down the research supporting some

of

> these claims but it looks like there's support for the idea that

> laughter boosts IgA and immune factors. Wondering if anyone had

seen

> more information on it.

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Group:

I used to laugh or smile at improper times. I would do it without thinking

if I saw someone fighting, or yelling at me, or I saw someone sad. How crazy

is that. Anyhow, I stopped doing it about 15 years ago by paying attention.

I usually didn't realize I was doing it until someone yelled at me for it.

Anyhow, I think I did it because the moment was tense, I was anxious, and I

wanted to ease my stress. I don't do it anymore, and don't even have an

inkling too. I am actually considered absolutely normal, so don't think I am a

nut. But anyhow, just thought I would share some insight.

Heidi

************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at

http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

[Guest guest]

Well, I have always and still do this at the age of 42. I'm not

crazy or anything, except the normal craziness that we all feel in

dealing with all of this vaccine insanity. It is ALWAYS a response

to extreme stress, household chaos, being pulled in too many

directions at the same exact moment, etc. I have always said that

sometimes I just laugh to keep from crying and I believe this is a

built in coping mechanism for me. And it isn't something that you

say, " okay I'm going to start laughing now since I'm stressed " , it

just happens spontaneously.

I never thought about it before either, but often this is when my dd

will start giggling and laughing - during times of stress - ie..

trying to sleep at night but can't, having to sit down and be quiet

during church, being in a grocery store with those darn flourescent

lights, things like that.

Sheresa

>

> Dear Group:

>

> I used to laugh or smile at improper times. I would do it without

thinking

> if I saw someone fighting, or yelling at me, or I saw someone

sad. How crazy

> is that. Anyhow, I stopped doing it about 15 years ago by paying

attention.

> I usually didn't realize I was doing it until someone yelled at

me for it.

> Anyhow, I think I did it because the moment was tense, I was

anxious, and I

> wanted to ease my stress. I don't do it anymore, and don't even

have an

> inkling too. I am actually considered absolutely normal, so don't

think I am a

> nut. But anyhow, just thought I would share some insight.

>

> Heidi

>

>

>

> ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-

new AOL at

> http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I have done this also, found myself laughing at very inopportune times, in

reaction to stress, once, at a funeral where I actually had to get in my car and

leave and just laugh like some kind of hysterical, crazy person. Another time

when I was about to present a very important paper to people who could decide my

professional future, ahhhh. I can only stop this, with a great deal of effort,

if I think of something horrible, like something terrible happening to my kid.

Also, when I am really, really tired I think just about anything is funny. It

only takes one little thing to get me started and then...I'm done. This

absolutely will drive my dh to distraction.

[ ] Re: Laughter raises IgA, killer T cells

Well, I have always and still do this at the age of 42. I'm not

crazy or anything, except the normal craziness that we all feel in

dealing with all of this vaccine insanity. It is ALWAYS a response

to extreme stress, household chaos, being pulled in too many

directions at the same exact moment, etc. I have always said that

sometimes I just laugh to keep from crying and I believe this is a

built in coping mechanism for me. And it isn't something that you

say, " okay I'm going to start laughing now since I'm stressed " , it

just happens spontaneously.

I never thought about it before either, but often this is when my dd

will start giggling and laughing - during times of stress - ie..

trying to sleep at night but can't, having to sit down and be quiet

during church, being in a grocery store with those darn flourescent

lights, things like that.

Sheresa

>

> Dear Group:

>

> I used to laugh or smile at improper times. I would do it without

thinking

> if I saw someone fighting, or yelling at me, or I saw someone

sad. How crazy

> is that. Anyhow, I stopped doing it about 15 years ago by paying

attention.

> I usually didn't realize I was doing it until someone yelled at

me for it.

> Anyhow, I think I did it because the moment was tense, I was

anxious, and I

> wanted to ease my stress. I don't do it anymore, and don't even

have an

> inkling too. I am actually considered absolutely normal, so don't

think I am a

> nut. But anyhow, just thought I would share some insight.

>

> Heidi

>

>

>

> ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-

new AOL at

> http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

My son giggled at times of deep emotion because he didn't know how to handle his

feelings. After using Facilitated Communication for a while he was able to

talk about this on his computer board and eventually respond appropriately to

emotional circumstances. He was embarassed about his feelings, but sharing them

and having them validated after 10 years of not being able to communicate

changed his thinking about them.

For more info, read his poetry book on amazon.com--Embracing the Sky!

Barb

[ ] Re: Laughter raises IgA, killer T cells

Well, I have always and still do this at the age of 42. I'm not

crazy or anything, except the normal craziness that we all feel in

dealing with all of this vaccine insanity. It is ALWAYS a response

to extreme stress, household chaos, being pulled in too many

directions at the same exact moment, etc. I have always said that

sometimes I just laugh to keep from crying and I believe this is a

built in coping mechanism for me. And it isn't something that you

say, " okay I'm going to start laughing now since I'm stressed " , it

just happens spontaneously.

I never thought about it before either, but often this is when my dd

will start giggling and laughing - during times of stress - ie..

trying to sleep at night but can't, having to sit down and be quiet

during church, being in a grocery store with those darn flourescent

lights, things like that.

Sheresa

>

> Dear Group:

>

> I used to laugh or smile at improper times. I would do it without

thinking

> if I saw someone fighting, or yelling at me, or I saw someone

sad. How crazy

> is that. Anyhow, I stopped doing it about 15 years ago by paying

attention.

> I usually didn't realize I was doing it until someone yelled at

me for it.

> Anyhow, I think I did it because the moment was tense, I was

anxious, and I

> wanted to ease my stress. I don't do it anymore, and don't even

have an

> inkling too. I am actually considered absolutely normal, so don't

think I am a

> nut. But anyhow, just thought I would share some insight.

>

> Heidi

>

>

>

> ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-

new AOL at

> http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I do too, at 36. I always put it down to some sort of hysterical

stress thing. It takes a hell of a lot of control to stop it when my

little one was being riduculously disruptive, its only in the midst of

chaos I find it hard to control laughing.

[Guest guest]

In our house we call those the 'tired sillies'.

> >

> > Dear Group:

> >

> > I used to laugh or smile at improper times. I would do it

without

> thinking

> > if I saw someone fighting, or yelling at me, or I saw someone

> sad. How crazy

> > is that. Anyhow, I stopped doing it about 15 years ago by

paying

> attention.

> > I usually didn't realize I was doing it until someone yelled at

> me for it.

> > Anyhow, I think I did it because the moment was tense, I was

> anxious, and I

> > wanted to ease my stress. I don't do it anymore, and don't even

> have an

> > inkling too. I am actually considered absolutely normal, so

don't

> think I am a

> > nut. But anyhow, just thought I would share some insight.

> >

> > Heidi

> >

> >

> >

> > ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the

all-

> new AOL at

> > http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

It seems that, if a topic of research doesn't ultimately lead to

selling a drug to fix it, it's not going to get much funding, but

there's got to be something out there on it.

The laughter thing is pretty fascinating. We're certain that our

son's giggles are more than yeast. It's actually a family trait-

easy laughter, early laughter. Before he regressed, at about the age

of three months, he'd bust a gut over some pretty sophisticated

sight gags which had to do with comic timing/absurdity. If it wasn't

something an adult would find very funny, he couldn't muster as much

laughter. Just like an adult who likes to laugh, he'd TRY to laugh

at stuff that was just so-so but couldn't get himself worked up into

a full tizzy. He began to expect us to pull gags for him out of the

blue, catch him off guard. He loved the deadpan delivery. I remember

being the same as a kid and my mother said her brother was precisely

the same as a baby as well.

Once, when these idiot Early Intervention therapists were at the

house and being typically dour, he was staring at them and every

time they'd turn to look, he'd start cracking up. They asked if he

often laughed " at nothing " . I said he wasn't laughing at nothing,

they just looked very serious, which around our house was usually a

set up for a gag. I read later that these genes-only people think

that effected children only smile and laugh as a " reflex " . Like that

crap about how pre-regression signs of sociability are

just " rudimentary " in children later dx'ed with ASDs.

This was just malarky in our son's case and I always assumed it was

probably crap in a lot of cases. When he did regress later from

consuming milk (which he'd never been exposed to prior to 2.5), he

generally stopped laughing, though when he began to emerge a bit

from the funk, he'd begin by " laughing at nothing " . I saw it as

a " place marker " for normal behavior, arising from a psychic and

biological need despite the fact that he was too cut off and in a

fog to pick up on the social cues which had made him laugh before.

It seemed like, fog or no fog, he needed to laugh and if he couldn't

decipher the cues as an impetus, he'd laugh at a bug, at a leaf, at

a shadow to keep the mechanism alive and operational. And if he was

really busting a gut at " nothing " , for a brief flash, he'd catch my

eye and share the moment. It was like he'd fallen down a hole and

laughter was the bit of shoelace still trailing up over the brink

that I could grab and try to haul him back with.

When we put him on GF/CF, the first thing that signaled

his " return " (on the same day he began to talk again for the first

time in seven months) was looking to us for gags again. I'll never

forget it. Five days after we began GF/CF, he was in the bathtub and

I felt a squirt of water hit me in the leg. I turned to him and he

was looking me full in the eye with a big smirk. I said, " Eeeew,

YUCKY! " and he cracked up and spent the next half hour spitting

water at me, looking me full in the face and guffawing. I came out

of there soaked and thanking heaven. I had the impression that the

laughter was part of the snowball of recovery. The more he'd

recover, the more socially-based humor he'd find funny; the more he

laughed, the more he'd recover.

I sort of suspect it's more than just oxygenating the blood or even

boosting immunity and I think all kids do it because they need to-

some just need it more. It might take me a while, but I'll post

anything on it I run accross.

> >

> > This isn't new news:

> > http://humormatters.com/articles/researchresults.htm

> >

> > I'd been wondering about the tendency of some injured kids to

> > laugh " for no reason " - as some put it. I've had a suspicion that

> the

> > behavior might not be pointless. Like the author of this article

> > states, it's difficult to track down the research supporting

some

> of

> > these claims but it looks like there's support for the idea that

> > laughter boosts IgA and immune factors. Wondering if anyone had

> seen

> > more information on it.

> >

>