Eydawn Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 I just happened to stumble across this video, and thought it was absolutely fascinating. I know we all think about encephalitis as being something more viral or bacterial in nature, but this would really be something to consider especially in our younger patients that are presenting with neurological issues. This is an auto-immune type of disorder, sometimes associated with tumors and sometimes not, and it causes an acute psychosis along with seizures, memory loss, etc. Today Show Clip: Case Study Here's a medscape article I found regarding the treatment of Anti NMDA-Receptor encephalitis which also helped to explain more about what it is... http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/582263 What do y'all think? Ever heard of it before? Seen it? Wendy CO EMT-B
medicKristina Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 What do y'all think? Ever heard of it before? Seen it? Wendy CO EMT-B Hi Wendy, I happened to see the same video on NBC (can't remember if it was Today Show or Dateline...) and was AMAZED! As I watched the story develop I felt certain that the diagnosis would be a brain tumor and was so surprised to hear encephalitis.... When the woman talks about not remembering ANYTHING of the time before her treatment took effect is mind blowing and numbing - how many "Legals" "Crazies" or "Drunks" have we picked up, strapped down and dumped on a hospital bed? God bless her family for keeping tabs on what was going on and for not resting with the simple answer "Your loved one has had a psychotic break". I can only hope that if I'm in a similar situation that my family stands behind me and the responders (both EMS and Hospital) have an open mind. On a side note, I believe that the article brought up a good point - how many people, especially young ones that we don't expect to have psychotic episodes, have been committed and not fully evaluated simply for lack of having a family that is insisting for a true diagnosis... Thanks for bringing this to the attention of EMT City Kristina EMT-P
JPINFV Posted January 17, 2010 Posted January 17, 2010 What do y'all think? Ever heard of it before? Seen it? I know that psychiatric disorders have been associated with measurable neurological changes. For example, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have been associated with a decrease in sensory gating when compared to non-affected individuals.
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