Unusual diseases, disorders, syndromes. What have you seen??

[fedupnurse]

We have a really nice pulmonologist where I work and he was telling me about RITE Syndrome. I said what the ____is that?? He said Roach in the Ear. The can't go backwards so you see it pretty regularly in some hospital ER's and clinics.

Mine was "cholesterol showers" I forget if it had a special title but we had a patient who was stroking out due to literal showers of cholesterol in her system. Sad to watch cause there is nthing you can do. Haven't seen it since.

So what have you seen or heard of that you thought to yourself, Hmmm...never gonna see that again...

[Sleepyeyes]

Vaso-vagal response in a person under age 50, causing asystole. whewie! scary!!

[hoolahan, ASN, RN]

Tardive dyskinesia after giving compazine in PACU, waaaaaay strange body movements, tongue thrusting, soooo bizarre, I'll never forget it!

Also, another drug s/e, I forget the name of the syndrome, but it is a lack of enzyme to breakdown the skeletal muscle relaxants. A nurse we recovered in PACU had this lack of an enzyme, and was paralyzed for over a day until the drug finally started to break down in her system, she eventually woke up and was fine, thank God.

Also, watched a man with early symptoms of gullian barre go from weak movements to complete paralysis in a matter of hours, and stayed that way in our unit for 3 months. No one suspected it at first b/c it started with weakness in the upper extremities and airway compromise, and usually this syndrome starts with LE weakness. They thought at first he had epiglotitis, but couldn't explain the fact that he couldn't move his arms. They eventually did a LP which showed the true problem.

Excellent idea for a thread fedup!

[CashewLPN, LPN]

hmm... the wierdest thing I've ever seen was in my nicu rotation when I was in school...

this baby had prune belly syndrome... basically he had no abdominal muscles... you could see his guts basically hanging out with only the skin holding it in... what didnt help is that the baby was born to a hep c, alcohol, crack and heroin addicted mother... and... the baby only had one kidney... where the other one should have been was a giant fluid filled cyst...

poor kid... yet, extremely freaky

--barbara

[cbs3143]

How about "Roach in the Trach Syndrome?" I don't know why she couldn't cough it out. Maybe it was hanging on too tight.

Chuck

[amy]

Roach in trach?!? NOW THAT'S GROSS!

[cbs3143]

One of my co-workers had some chronic problems consisting of persistent low-grade fever, uveitis, and dizziness over a period of three to four years. She had seen her internist, and then his nurse practitioners for the last several visits. She was referred to an ophthalmologist and to an ENT specialist without improvement. One of the nurse practitioners even said to her, "You just want to be sick, don't you?" It got to where she was really reluctant to seek any medical care because she'd be labeled a hypochondriac and lose all of her nurse credibility.

She continued to progress and couldn't even walk down the hall without leaning on the wall to steady herself. She made an appointment to see her physician, not one of his nurse practitioners, but got suddenly worse before the appointment. A CT scan of her head revealed hydrocephalis. A couple of days later she collapsed at home and was found the next morning by a friend, and was hospitalized.

A spinal tap indicated an intracraneal infection of some sort and she was treated for meningeal TB. After several weeks, a V-P shunt was placed and she has improved dramatically since that time. The five to six weeks between her collapse and her shunt placement are lost to her. She has no recollection of any of it except for the pain of her liver biopsies. I talked with her yesterday, and she seems like her old self again. She's undergoing intensive rehab and is ambulating with a walker or assistance X 1. She's looking forward to getting back to her life and to work.

Scary Huh?

Chuck

[amy]

The day I learned that maggots do not like betadine...pour on the wound, maggots march squiggling out FROM INSIDE.

[Furball]

A nurse at work went home with an earache/sorethroat. Her sister called a few days later to check on her and her speech was garbled. Called 911, rushed to the hospital, died 2 days later of severe bacterial meningitis.

[fiestynurse]

Had a homeless guy come in through the ER with weakness, paralysis, and difficulty breathing. Ended-up intubated in the ICU

Final diagnosis: BOTULISM

[RNinICU]

When I did my OB rotation as a student, I was in the delivery room when a baby was born who was a cyclops. She had only one eye, imbedded in just a hole in the middle of her forehead, and had no nose. She looked perfect from the mouth down, but had only one lung, one kidney, and only the left side of her heart. She died after about 8 hours. Neither parent wanted to see her, they were very young and it was their first child. The whole thing was very sad. Since then they have had two normal children.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Gosh my tularemia in the cafeteria worker and typhoid fever in the laboratory supervisor seem mild in comparison.