Medical Mysteries ABC yesterday

[Apparition]

A part of the show was about people who suddenly wake up with perfect foreign accents. The other part featured people who from their early childhood dreamt about having a part of their body amputed. These illnesses aren't that rare apparently. There's a doctor in Europe who actually performs the amputation of healthy limbs in people obssessed with this.

Made me think again how complex we really are. Although I don't believe in it at all, it also made me think of reincarnation -- how it could explain these conditions. And that doctor...on the one hand, he mutilates the patiends, on the other, he alleviates their suffering and fulfills their lifelong wish...

Has anyone seen it? What'd you think?

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[hunter1077]

I think they just want to get on disability and live off the govt.

 

[Depakote]

People with brains are crazy.

 

[RxnMan]

A part of the show was about people who suddenly wake up with perfect foreign accents. The other part featured people who from their early childhood dreamt about having a part of their body amputed. These illnesses aren't that rare apparently...

Has anyone seen it? What'd you think?

A portion of the brain gets disconnected during sleep (this gives you your sensation of sluggish limbs that won't let you outrun the stumbling zombies chasing you in your nightmare). So the lack of feeling or amputation during a dream is not too far out of the realm of possibility.

Good ol' Phineas Gage led to the discovery that there are specific areas of the brain responsible for specific functions. It's concievable that damage to one area of motor control (controlling the facial muscles or tongue) would lead to a speech impediment that would sound like an accent.

But a doc that chops people up? That's taking advantage of an at-risk population for personal benefit. The first rule is do no harm. The second rule is do no harm.

 

[Pose]

I saw that on Nip/tuck.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

I found the people who have the desire to chop off their limbs so they go ahead and freeze them in dry ice to be much more odd.

 

[JakeHarley]

A portion of the brain gets disconnected during sleep (this gives you your sensation of sluggish limbs that won't let you outrun the stumbling zombies chasing you in your nightmare).

I have an interesting anecdote about this.

I've experienced waking paralysis 3-4 times per year throughout my adult life. The sensation is completely bizarre and very unsettling: My eyes open, and I am conscious of my surroundings, but for up to a minute I have no ability to move my arms or legs. This invariably causes me to panic, and I feel a flood of adrenaline. Soon after, I regain control of my body but have to take time for my system to calm down again before I can go back to sleep.

Never experienced and amputation, or a new accent. I wouldn't mind a cool new accent though...

 

[McDoctor]

A part of the show was about people who suddenly wake up with perfect foreign accents. The other part featured people who from their early childhood dreamt about having a part of their body amputed. These illnesses aren't that rare apparently. There's a doctor in Europe who actually performs the amputation of healthy limbs in people obssessed with this.

This Foreign Accent Syndrome is an epidemic in Europe and parts of Canada. (I think Madonna has been afflicted as well). Finally, ABC news is covering the stories that matter.

On a related note, I met a patient today who disclosed to me (in confidence, of course) that he was from a distant galaxy and involved in a CIA plot to change the world with subliminal messages encoded within hip-hop music ("'cause that's what the kids are listening to these days..."). Finally I have found a media outlet who is willing to report this story at face value, without a hint of skepticism or journalistic responsibility.

Watch for it, next week on ABC news Primetime Live...

 

[McDoctor]

BTW, I am aware that after a stroke there are rare cases where an individual's speech takes on characteristics that resemble accents of non-native language when the speech centers of the brain are affected. The story on ABC made no attempt to clarify this to the viewing audience. I have strong suspicions that the woman they chronicled as having "Foreign Accent Syndrome" suffers from a mental illness.

The parts of this show that I saw irritated me to no end. They made no effort to articulate the nuances of Long Qt Syndrome to better serve the viewing public, opting instead for hyperbole.
"Literally, one in three thousand people have a ticking time bomb in their chest!"

That's right, they said "Literally..." not figuratively...

 

[RxnMan]

BTW, I am aware that after a stroke there are rare cases where an individual's speech takes on characteristics that resemble accents of non-native language when the speech centers of the brain are affected. The story on ABC made no attempt to clarify this to the viewing audience. I have strong suspicions that the woman they chronicled as having "Foreign Accent Syndrome" suffers from a mental illness.

The parts of this show that I saw irritated me to no end. They made no effort to articulate the nuances of Long Qt Syndrome to better serve the viewing public, opting instead for hyperbole.
"Literally, one in three thousand people have a ticking time bomb in their chest!"

That's right, they said "Literally..." not figuratively...

Hey, get used to it. In engineering school I'd watch movies and nearly scream when they'd use some snippet of pseudo-science jargon to make it sound like their super cataclysmic "Danger Will Robinson" plot/device was possible. I still can't watch "Chain Reaction" with Keanu Reeves (though that may be due in part to Reeves' acting ability).

I mean, seriously - "You get out more than you put in?" (poor Boltzmann and Gibbs are spinning in their graves) or, "The reaction is at two million degrees Kelvin." For one, the 'reactor was a tube of plexiglass, and second, you don't say 'degrees Kelvin,' you just say 'Kelvin.'

It's still a bit of an issue for me. You have to shut down your brain or turn off the TV.

 

[McDoctor]

The problem is that they call themselves a "news" show. How can I be expected to take anything reported by ABC news seriously? I think they've reached a new height of absurdity (if that was even possible) wherein I have no choice to be skeptical of and unimpressed by everything that is reported.

Remember a few months ago when all of these news channel reported about Ricin powder at the University of Texas? Where was the story to clarify that this, in fact, was false and there was no Ricin found. At this point, I could see a story on the evening news reporting that my Cocoa Puffs were, in fact, laced with botulinum toxin and I would just yawn and reach for the milk.

 

[dr_joe]

There is an aspect that adds another dimension to the people who want their limbs to be amputated, and that problem is that they are already willing to hurt themselves. There isn't much preventing them from killing themselves in frustration or by accident (loss of blood trying to dismember themselves).

 

[RxnMan]

The problem is that they call themselves a "news" show. How can I be expected to take anything reported by ABC news seriously? I think they've reached a new height of absurdity (if that was even possible) wherein I have no choice to be skeptical of and unimpressed by everything that is reported.

Remember a few months ago when all of these news channel reported about Ricin powder at the University of Texas? Where was the story to clarify that this, in fact, was false and there was no Ricin found. At this point, I could see a story on the evening news reporting that my Cocoa Puffs were, in fact, laced with botulinum toxin and I would just yawn and reach for the milk.

Fine. But never take anything as Gospel (which, in of itself, is a sort of a joke). Always try to be informed, use many news sources, and always make your own judgements. One reason I want to be a doc is that I want to know how to take care of my family. Frankly, I don't want someone screwing it up again.

 

[maxhealth]

I have an interesting anecdote about this.

I've experienced waking paralysis 3-4 times per year throughout my adult life. The sensation is completely bizarre and very unsettling: My eyes open, and I am conscious of my surroundings, but for up to a minute I have no ability to move my arms or legs. This invariably causes me to panic...

This happened to me one time as well! It was the strangest sensation ever. It happened to me long ago when I fell asleep in study hall in high school. I remember waking up, my face still resting against my backpack (using it for a pillow) and not being able to move at all! I don't remember a sensation of panic, I think I just fell back to sleep and then woke up normally shortly thereafter. Weird.

 

[aggie-master]

I have an interesting anecdote about this.

I've experienced waking paralysis 3-4 times per year throughout my adult life. The sensation is completely bizarre and very unsettling: My eyes open, and I am conscious of my surroundings, but for up to a minute I have no ability to move my arms or legs. This invariably causes me to panic, and I feel a flood of adrenaline. Soon after, I regain control of my body but have to take time for my system to calm down again before I can go back to sleep.

Never experienced and amputation, or a new accent. I wouldn't mind a cool new accent though...

I've had this happen once before as well. I was staying at someone's house and I felt a presence in the room (probably just some random sound) while I was asleep. I instantly woke up and tried to get up and look around, but I could not move at all for at least 10 to 15 seconds. I thought that I was paralyzed but then everything started working again. I was so freaked out that I had trouble going back to sleep.

 

[deleted87716]

I remember waking up...and not being able to move at all! I don't remember a sensation of panic, I think I just fell back to sleep and then woke up normally shortly thereafter. Weird.

Sounds like a hypnagogic hallucination. Common, and nothing to be concerned about in most cases.

 

[aggie-master]

Sounds like a hypnagogic hallucination. Common, and nothing to be concerned about in most cases.

After clicking on your link I did a search on "sleep paralysis" and found this:

Sleep paralysis is most often associated with narcolepsy, a neurological condition in which the person has uncontrollable naps. However, there are many people who experience sleep paralysis without having signs of narcolepsy. Sometimes it runs in families. There is no known explanation why some people experience this paralysis. It is not harmful, although most people report feeling very afraid because they do not know what is happening, and within minutes they gradually or abruptly are able to move again; the episode is often terminated by a sound or a touch on the body.

In some cases, when hypnogogic hallucinations are present, people feel that someone is in the room with them, some experience the feeling that someone or something is sitting on their chest and they feel impending death and suffocation. That has been called the “Hag Phenomena” and has been happening to people over the centuries. These things cause people much anxiety and terror, but there is no physical harm.

It's freaky to see that other people have had the same thing happen to them and it's been going on for centuries.... maybe evil spirits were in the room and paralyzed us.

 

[JakeHarley]

EDIT: Posted to wrong thread.