Dr. Sudhir Kumar, a neurologist at Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad, recently shared an incident on the X platform. He highlighted and explained how an a-53-year-old man faced a medical emergency due to 'excessive laughter.'
As per the sources, Mr. Shyam Kumar (name changed) was enjoying watching a famous comedy show on television in the evening with a cup of tea, and he started to laugh continuously for a few minutes. Everything seemed fine until he suddenly lost control of his teacup and fell off the chair, losing consciousness.
Mr. Shyam was admitted to the emergency ward upon arriving at the hospital and after a few minutes there was a sigh of relief when he regained consciousness, he had recovered but he had no memory of what happened to him. The case was reviewed by a neurologist Dr. Sudhir, who analysed Shyam's condition.
What is laughter-induced syncope?
Laughter-induced syncope is a rare entity and is thought to be caused by a vasovagal mechanism. This increase in intrathoracic pressure due to excessive laughter reduces venous return to the heart and stimulates the baroreceptors. This in turn causes inappropriate parasympathetic tone with stimulation of the vagus nerve, decreasing heart rate with accompanying vasodilation, and causing a sudden transient decline in cerebrovascular profusion due to low BP and loss of consciousness.
I listened to the entire history and clinically examined him. He had no history of any medical illness, and he was not on any medications. The diagnosis was clear to me. The diagnosis was: laughter-induced syncope.Dr. Sudhir Kumar, Neurologist, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad
What precautions should be taken to prevent a diagnosis of laughter-induced syncope?
Dr. Sudhir discussed the diagnosis with the patient Mr. Shyam and advised him to avoid common triggers for syncope such as:
Excessive laughter
Prolonged standing
Excessive physical exertion
Dr. Sudhir further guided him to follow some health tips:
Keep well-hydrated
Lie down if he feels dizzy or if have a sense of backing out, so that blood flow to the brain will not reduce
No medication needs to be taken
Should do cardiology evaluation
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Tabsum Amjad Baig/MSM)