Diagnoses you never thought you'd see?

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What's the most unusual patient you've ever had? I've had a couple--one was a woman whose admit orders included that she was NOT to have any food from home. They suspected that her husband was POISONING her.

The other was a woman who was a former LPN with a textbook case of Munchausen's syndrome. There was really nothing wrong with her but she kept insisting (moaning, actually) that she was SO sick. Very weird.

I can't believe you really see cases of it. Prions freak me out. :nailbiting:

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Specializes in Community Health/School Nursing.

I have "googled" myself to death tonight! lol Very interesting!!

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Specializes in ICU.
I have "googled" myself to death tonight! lol Very interesting!!

Hahaha same here!!

I've also had a CJD pt, a pt with dextrocardia insitus (or w/e it's called)...coxackie virus, "terminal" anorexia...very very sad.

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Maple Syrup Urine Disease. Seriously, google it. The treatment was IV d10 and IV lipids.... plus a diet of zero protein.

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Specializes in Rehab.
I once cared for a pt with conversion disorder. Their admitting Dx was CVA, and they presented with R-sided paralysis, and yet there was no manifestation of a stroke in any of the tests that were done. The paralysis had no known cause.

We later learned that this pt had conversion disorder. Basically, this is a rare mental disorder where a psychological stress is converted into a physical symptom.

The pt truly felt that they were paralyzed, but they were not. With rehab, the pt could move the affected limbs if instructed to do so, and eventually overcame most (if not all) of their paralysis.

I wonder sometimes about the mind's coping mechanisms. What benefit could there be to a self-imposed paralysis? It was an interesting case.

I have seen this twice. Both in women who were victims of abuse. The body can do amazing things to get itself out of a bad situation.

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Specializes in Step-Down.

Alice in wonderland syndrome. Very intersting case. I had to take a seconf look at the dx on the paperwork when I first saw it

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Specializes in ER/ICU.

Things I've seen ambulance rides for:

- ear infection

- scabies

- "I gots nowhere to sleep tonight"

- superficial burn to the scalp and cheek (this one was a helicopter ride)

- blood alcohol level of 0.06

Things I've personally transported in the ambulance:

- chapped lips

- "I'm cold and hungry"

- vomiting secondary to etoh ingestion (this is a common one)

- "I just don't feel right and I want to be checked out" (common)

- ingrown toenail

- rash on the abdomen

- bug in ear (this person was actually transported twice by me for the same complaint. Had baby roaches crawling all over the walls of his house.)

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

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Specializes in ER/ICU.
Dissecting aortic aneurysm. I so strongly suspected it that I mentioned it to the doc when I called him. Found out later that I was right.

I had one of these a few months ago in the ambulance. Classic s/s - chest pain straight through to the back, described as tearing, bp lower in left arm than right, left arm numb and tingly and cool to touch. Ended up having a dissection from the ascending aorta down to the iliac arteries. I don't know if he survived.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

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This really makes me realize in only two years all of the crazy things I've seen. We have had a pt with foreigner's gangrene...worst drsg change I have ever had to do. We have had a pt with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease...such a sad thing. In just a few months she didn't know her husband or children or what was going on. We also had a pt with "wet brain" due to ETOH abuse...She also did not remember her family or how to do daily activities.

Crazy the things we see!

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I've only just finnished my first term of clinical rotations, I havn't seen anything yet!

Though I did have one interesting patient. 30ish male, a few years ago had a shotgun accident. You wouldn't think it would be a pretty sight after taking a shotgun to the head. The optic nerve was severed, so he is blind. He also has some short term memory deficits, but other than that he's pretty much normal. Funny, and nice as can be, just blind. I thought it was kind of amazing that his condition wasn't any worse.

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while looking up cjd i came across info on fatal familial insomnia. scary! also have many of you encountered refeeding syndrome?

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Specializes in LPN.
Having worked labor and delivery for many years, I have seen many anomolies. We had a cyclops (single eye in forhead) and a mermaid (different hospitals!)

Thank God we had so very many healthy kids.

I know this post is years old, but what is a "mermaid"?

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