Some psych conditions may be autoimmune disease instead

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02 Jun 2023, 3:45 pm

Just came across this,

A catatonic woman awakened after 20 years. Her story may change psychiatry.
New research suggests that a subset of patients with psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia may actually have autoimmune disease that attacks the brain
By Richard Sima
June 1, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

https://news.yahoo.com/catatonic-woman- ... 30389.html
original,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness ... sychiatry/

Quote:

Markx and his colleagues discovered that although April's illness was clinically indistinguishable from schizophrenia, she also had lupus, an underlying and treatable autoimmune condition that was attacking her brain.

After months of targeted treatments - and more than two decades trapped in her mind - April woke up.

The awakening of April - and the successful treatment of other people with similar conditions - now stand to transform care for some of psychiatry's sickest patients, many of whom are languishing in mental institutions.

Researchers working with the New York State mental healthcare system have identified about 200 patients with autoimmune diseases, some institutionalized for years, who may be helped by the discovery.

And scientists around the world, including Germany and Britain, are conducting similar research, finding that underlying autoimmune and inflammatory processes may be more common in patients with a variety of psychiatric syndromes than previously believed.

Although the current research probably will help only a small subset of patients, the impact of the work is already beginning to reshape the practice of psychiatry and the way many cases of mental illness are diagnosed and treated.

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IsabellaLinton
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02 Jun 2023, 3:53 pm

My daughter has Lupus SLE which is attacking her kidneys primarily. That's called Lupus Nephritis. It's also attacking her joints like severe arthritis. There's a concern it will eventually attack her heart and brain as well. She's on a lot of immunosuppressant meds, and that's why she's so compromised and at risk with Covid.

On top of Lupus she's already dx with HFA, ADHD, and Epilepsy. Reynaud's too apparently. Oh, and Fibromyalgia.

LOL -- She has a lot of conditions.

She had a weird reading on one of her brain MRIs. Her brain was unusual. I've been digging through medical papers all week but so far the only two things I really want, her brain scan and my sleep study results, are missing.

Isn't that always the way?

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kitesandtrainsandcats
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02 Jun 2023, 4:03 pm

IsabellaLinton wrote:

Isn't that always the way?

Dang, what a situation.

A different thing, it brings to mind Dad's sister who is 16 years younger than him, at school age she was diagnosed with MS.
In her 50s the cause was discovered to be Not MS, but genetic, she had 2 sets of ethnic genes which are now known to not play well together, AND she had 2 different instances of that.

Me and my messy health?
I have neither the energy nor the money to research it and Mediwedontcare doesn't have the interest.

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kitesandtrainsandcats
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02 Jun 2023, 4:05 pm

IsabellaLinton wrote:

LOL -- She has a lot of conditions.

I can get in moods where just to see how people would respond to the words I'd take that and tell them, "Yes, I have a daughter, but she's conditional." :wink:

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kitesandtrainsandcats
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02 Jun 2023, 4:11 pm

IsabellaLinton wrote:

Reynaud's too apparently.

If you aren't aware you have that, you will become painfully aware that you do after taking a job overnight stocking frozen foods at Target.
Being diagnosed with that finally explained several things.

Fibromyalgia -

Brings to mind a thing someone said in a fibro group on Facebook when I was on there 2009 to 2015,
"You'll wish things on your worst enemy for vengeance but wishing this s**t on them is just plain sadistic."

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mrpieceofwork
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02 Jun 2023, 4:16 pm

I got stuck on "20 years" - just wild. I hope they're doing OK now.

Also, Isabella, same for your daughter. I can understand how tough that must be for y'all.

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02 Jun 2023, 4:21 pm

Uhm... well it is about time these folk caught on .. Many dis-ease processes influence the mind directly . :shaking2: :shaking:
Have been 'not'so priviledged to experience the before and after effects of release from diseases that affect a persons mind. Over a very long term ,illness situation.And the huge changes in points of veiw of my environment and the people around me . Took years of antibiotics of varying types . Pulsing them periodically.And taking care of the side effects of the treatments .
Technically: As a disease loses its foothold, side effects:Initial side effects can be Mind bending . Bacteria or other celluar level organisms , crossing the blood brain barrier, Start to die and pollutes your bloodstream with high level of dead bacteria,beyond what your body can get rid of through elimination. Wreaking havouc in the brain , of all kinds.
Stuff you take for granted about being alive, goes haywire . Interesting most docs do not seem to get this .

They , Doctorsimmediately do what their triange training gives them and go right to the symptom book . And will diagnose a symptom , Wrongly as being a particular disease . Once in a awhile they can get it right .But So often it is a chain of a different disease symptoms/ effects. :skull: . Messing with other body systems . :evil: . These situations seem to occur with long term infections of a very slow progressing nature .
This post is based on first hand Research and experience recovery,with the help of many Researchers and smart and patient Doctors(that must of been Angels in Disguise ).

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kitesandtrainsandcats
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02 Jun 2023, 4:56 pm

Jakki wrote:

Stuff you take for granted about being alive, goes haywire . Interesting most docs do not seem to get this

I'm going to say that seems to be disturbingly common.

Participated in a health care survey which had a nice big page on which to vent, so I did, and told about things which had been wrong and inadequate, sometimes chronically so. Think somewhere along the way I said that a disturbing number of health care providers come across more as trained monkeys than anything else.

And before I fall in to vengeful ranting, I'll drop these here,

JNP The Journal for Nurse Practitioners
Guest Editorial| Volume 15, ISSUE 6, PA10, June 2019
When You Hear Hoofbeats, Think Horses—But Be Prepared for Zebras
Ann Marie Hart, PhD, FNP-BC, FAANP
Karen S. Moore, DNP, ANP-BC, FAANP
https://www.npjournal.org/article/S1555-4155(19)30287-9/fulltext

Quote:

As you were first learning about the differential diagnosis process, you were likely exposed to the maxim, “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” In other words, when diagnosing patients’ signs and symptoms, remember that many diagnoses (horses) are common, and the chance that a patient has a rare diagnosis (a zebra) is small. This wise phrase is attributed to Theodore Woodward, MD (1914-2005)

Penn Medicine News Blog
In Neurogenetics, Hoofbeats Mean Zebras, Not Horses
September 19, 2019 | by Hannah Messinger
https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news- ... not-horses

Quote:

“There’s a genetic connection to common neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease that we weren’t addressing before. There are also a number of people who have a genetic disease which started when they were kids, but they’ve remained undiagnosed as tools for genetic testing didn’t exist when they were younger,” said Pedro Gonzalez-Alegre, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Neurology and co-director of the Neurogenetics program. “Now, they are coming to us as adults and we’re diagnosing pediatric diseases in people who are 45 years old, simply because the field has advanced.”

“Doctors are taught ‘when you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras,’ meaning a doctor should first think about what is a more common—and potentially more likely—diagnosis. But in genetics, we think of all the zebras,” Bardakjian said. “If a clinician isn’t as familiar with rare conditions, they may spend too much time looking for the proverbial horses. But neurogenetics prevents them from trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole.”

There are three types of patients the program generally cares for. First, there are patients who have seen many neurologists with symptoms but no diagnosed condition. “It’s common for patients to jump from doctor to doctor without an understanding of what’s happening to them. Based on symptoms, there are guesses for their conditions and they may be going through unnecessary treatments, tests, scans, spinal taps, and more,” Gonzalez-Alegre said. “One of the great benefits of diagnosing those cases is that we stop their ‘diagnostic odyssey’—we step in, do a test, and can bring them clarity with a diagnosis.”

Thorac Cardiovasc Surg Rep. 2018 Jan; 7(1): e35.
Published online 2018 Jul 5. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1660808
PMCID: PMC6033608
PMID: 29984129
“If You Hear Hoof Beats, Think Horses, Not Zebras”
Andreas Boening1 and Heiko Burger2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6033608/

Quote:

What is to be learned here? It seems that—although “common is common and rare is rare” is a valid medical principle—sometimes the sound of hoof beats should lead to consider the possibility of zebras, not only of horses.

Because of my own health, I have inhabited online spaces having multiple herds of zebras.

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Persephone29
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02 Jun 2023, 6:09 pm

I believe this. Celiac disease and Hidradenitis Suppurativa here...

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Neurocognitive exam in May 2019, diagnosed with ASD, Asperger's type in June 2019.

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02 Jun 2023, 6:34 pm

I’ve a chronic mystery condition for 25 years. Doctors said I was just depressed and that is why I felt pain.

No, I’m in constant pain…and that is depressing.

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IsabellaLinton
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02 Jun 2023, 7:15 pm

kitesandtrainsandcats wrote:

IsabellaLinton wrote:

Isn't that always the way?

Oh we have genetic issues too. I didn't even go there. That's freaky about your auntie, though.
Good thing she found out and stopped the MS treatment.
Sorry your health stuff costs money.
I'm really grateful we don't pay a penny for it here.

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03 Jun 2023, 3:13 pm

IsabellaLinton wrote:

kitesandtrainsandcats wrote:

IsabellaLinton wrote:

Isn't that always the way?

Geez.. judt dealing with the medico community, at their current level of Knowledge and non- treatment, can be crazy making .

.......

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