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by GingerSue

reading about hepatic encephalopathy (in the section about cirrhosis),
there is description of mental and neurological changes because of ammonia that crosses the blood-brain barrier.

And euphoria is one of them

why does the person experience euphoria?

[all4schwa]

Re: why euphoria when ammonia of hepatic encephalopathy crosses the blood-brain barri

euphonia is just one of the many aspects of crazy. i deal with a lot of pts with neurologic changes and (where and how the brain is being affected decides the outcome) count my lucky stars when my pts are experiencing euphoria...
...as opposed to rage, paranoia, catatonia...

[earle58]

Re: why euphoria when ammonia of hepatic encephalopathy crosses the blood-brain barri

in its' early stages, the pt can display euphoria, anxiety, agitation, lethargy, lability, etc.
it's just one of the potential se's of neurotoxic insult.

leslie

[misserella8036]

Re: why euphoria when ammonia of hepatic encephalopathy crosses the blood-brain barri

My best friend and uncle both passed away due to liver problems. They both suffered from encephalopathy. They never seemed euphoric. The biggest factor was confusion or forgetfulness. They would forget who I was and get agitated. It's an extremely bad side-effect. I could only hope they occasionally had bouts of euphoria.

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

Re: why euphoria when ammonia of hepatic encephalopathy crosses the blood-brain barri

I guess I've seen what you might call euphoria, but most often it's more like bewilderment. Best way I know to describe it. The ammonia interferes with neurotransmitters... amino acids...

By the time we see them in the hospital, they've often gone past any euphoria, and are lethargic to obtunded.

[Indy]

Re: why euphoria when ammonia of hepatic encephalopathy crosses the blood-brain barri

Yeah, what they said. I haven't seen much euphoria. People talk to dead folks, try to pull out their chest tubes, and some of 'em just enter another world altogether. We had one lady who lived on Sesame Street. I had to sing the "eleven" song to her to check her blood sugar without a fight. Of course I shut the door, no was was I gonna explain that.