Diagnoses you never thought you'd see?

[KarafromPhilly]

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.

[Staragate, ADN, ASN, RN]

I'm a student and the most unusual case I've had was a encephalitis from herpes. It occured a few years earlier and she was in the hosp for a different reason. She was prone to seizures and contracted. Difficult to discern how much she understood, so I assumed the best. My instructor loved to give me interesting cases.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

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

Here you go, it's a congenital anomaly usually inconsistent with life as the lower body is fused, often no to minimal renal system and no outlet for waste.

Sirenomelia: Mermaid Syndrome

Mermaid Syndrome Facts

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

fatal familial insomnia

Grand, now I have a new fear!

I believe one of the saddest things I have ever seen is locked in syndrome...caused by negligence in our MICU.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

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

There's a book called The Family That Couldn't Sleep. It's a great book that covers FFS in depth, as well as the history and research of other prion-related diseases to a lesser extent.

[sapphire18]

There's a book called The Family That Couldn't Sleep. It's a great book that covers FFS in depth, as well as the history and research of other prion-related diseases to a lesser extent.

I've heard of FFI before and it scares the bejeezes out of me, along with anything else prion-related, bc I already have "regular" insomnia and the idea of not sleeping for months, years...ay yi yi. I'd have to end it right there.

I wonder how many of those deaths are suicides?

Trigeminal neuralgia sufferers have a high suicide rate as the pain is so bad, most people can't understand or relate to that, and sometimes it goes undiagnosed.

I've taken care of post-surgical patients who had surgery to repair (read: sever) the trigeminal nerve. Very interesting, and sad, disease.

[VioletKaliLPN, LPN]

I have a LTC resident with neurosyphilis. He contracted syphilis and was never treated, then the condition progressed to the point where it is incurable.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

I've heard of FFI before and it scares the bejeezes out of me, along with anything else prion-related, bc I already have "regular" insomnia and the idea of not sleeping for months, years...ay yi yi. I'd have to end it right there.

I wonder how many of those deaths are suicides?

You should read the book.

It's not like you're acutely aware of not sleeping for months. (There is a slow form of the disease that takes years and that manifests itself in psychosis, mostly.) There's often an initial "manic" part, followed by a longer period of intense lethargy and tiredness. Patients appear to fall into a restless sleep, or hallucinate in the same manner that you might see a delirium or dementia patient hallucinate. But they have no REM and thus no true sleep.