Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Irritability
Introduction
Irritability is an excessive response to stimuli. Irritability takes many forms, from the contraction of a unicellular organism when touched, to complex reactions involving all the senses of higher animals. In plants, response is usually different from that seen in animals, but is nonetheless present. The term irritability is used for both the physiological reaction to stimuli and for the pathological, abnormal or excessive sensitivity to stimuli.
Irritability may manifest in behavioral responses to both physiological as well as behavioral stimuli, including environmental, situational, sociological, and emotional stimuli.
Causes
Causes
Irritability can result from conditions such as:
- anemia
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD, ADD
- certain personality disorders
- caesium, exposure to
- combat stress reaction
- constipation
- depression
- diabetes
- drugs– Armodafinil, Lacosamide, Methylphenidate, Nabilone
- dysmenorrhea
- emotional/psychological stress
- fatigue
- fever
- frustration
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- headache
- hunger
- Hyperparathyroidism
- hyperthermia
- hyperthyroidism
- hypothyroidism
- insomnia
- lead poisoning
- mastoiditis
- Nabilone
- meningitis
- pain
- Premenstrual syndrome
- psychoactive substances, use/abuse of certain varieties
- post-traumatic stress disorder
- schizophrenia
- sleep apnea
- stress
- rabies
- systematic candida
- thyroid disease
- menstrual cycle.
- Parkinson’s disease
- Wilson’s Syndrome
Other uses
Other uses
- This article is about the medical condition. For the webcomic, see Irritability (webcomic).