Real Stories

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Impact of PBA Hero

Sequena is a real patient living with PBA and Liyah is her caregiver. Image reflects patient’s health status at the time the image was captured.

Connect With Our PBA Ambassadors

Hear from real patients and caregivers living with Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA) as they share their experiences, from their first uncontrollable crying and/or laughing episodes to the discovery that their symptoms have a name and can be treated with NUEDEXTA.

Karen
Experiencing Symptoms

Karen was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and started to experience strange crying outbursts that left her and her doctors confused.

Karen couldn’t figure out why she was still crying and laughing uncontrollably in inappropriate situations.

Sequena
Learning About PBA

Sequena learned about PBA for the first time after months of uncontrollable crying that started after she had a stroke.

Sequena was being treated for depression. But when she discovered PBA, she thought it could be the true cause of her crying episodes.

Jill
Talking to a Doctor

Jill lived for years with uncontrollable crying and laughing episodes, until a new provider asked important questions about her medical history.

Jill spent a lot of time trying to get help for her uncontrollable crying and laughing with little success. Then her psychiatric nurse practitioner asked if she’d ever experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Mary-Beth
PBA DIAGNOSIS

Mary-Beth, who has epilepsy, struggled to find the cause of her crying and laughing symptoms for years before landing on a PBA diagnosis.

None of the medications that Mary-Beth took for mood disorders helped with her uncontrollable crying episodes. That’s when her neuropsychiatrist decided to assess her for PBA.

Carol
Treatment

Carol was persistent in her search for an effective treatment for her crying episodes, which began after a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Carol was anxious about trying another medication, but after discussing it with her doctor, she started taking NUEDEXTA. Then she started seeing results.

Individual results vary. All ambassadors are real patients living with PBA. Images reflect patients’ health status at the time the images were captured.

Watch Jill Share Her Journey to a PBA Diagnosis

 

“I want to encourage others with PBA — especially the skeptical ones like me — not to give up hope.”

— Jill, a patient living with TBI and PBA

 
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Liyah

Sequena’s daughter and caregiver

 

I would go to the doctor’s appointments with [my mom Sequena] and I would recite stories [of her crying episodes]. I would explain that she’s crying because she can’t control it.

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Tim

Carol’s husband and caregiver

 

Within a few days [of Carol seeing the doctor for her head injury], the crying started and she couldn’t control it. I kept taking her to appointment after appointment.

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Robert

Patient living with TBI and PBA

 

It took a long time for PBA to be recognized, not only by myself, but for the doctors, neighbors, friends — to get them to understand what I was going through.

Individual results vary. All ambassadors are real patients living with PBA or caregivers for real patients living with PBA. Images reflect patients’ health status at the time the images were captured.

Want To Connect?

Speak with someone living with PBA through the PBA Talk Peer Mentor Program.

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Real patients living with PBA. Image reflects patient’s health status at the time the image was captured.

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Mary-Beth (right) is a real patient living with PBA. The other person depicted is not a real patient. Image reflects patient’s health status at the time the image was captured.

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