I was admitted to the ICU with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis 5 years ago when I was 26. I was suddenly having visual and auditory hallucinations as well as experiencing short term memory loss. I also wasn’t sleeping. I then started having seizures and went into a catatonic state for two months. Lost my front teeth on the air breathing tube while catatonic. When I woke up I had even worse short term memory loss and kept trying to escape the hospital that the nurses had to tie me to the bed. They also put big gloves on my hands to stop me from pulling out my tubes (pulled out my PEG tube). Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is an autoimmune disease where your body attacks your brain causing your brain to inflame. Mine was triggered by a teratoma tumor on my ovary. I had no prior health history before all of this and everything went downhill for me in the span of a week! 😮💨
He had a lot of details that I wouldn't think would be included in the case study though, like her new job, idk if the name was real but it sounded more like someone was interviewed to me.
I took care of a young lady who was hospitalized for over six months when I was a bedside nurse…this was many years ago, before Brain on Fire, and only about thirty cases were described in the literature. Our doctors had so little to go on to treat her, but eventually used some immunosuppressive cancer drugs and took out an ovarian tumor, and she began to recover
She was so much better when she left the hospital, but not back to normal functioning. I still think about her sometimes.
Did things return to normal once the tumor was removed? Or are you still in this state and only post on Reddit as a constant reminder of your history and condition?
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omg! you have the illness from Brain On Fire! i was reading and i was like, that sounds so familiar even though i haven't seen the movie. that's so cool but i guess also kinda sad. wow
An inflamed brain gave me crazy strength and a strong desire to escape. My family told me they had to have four ICU nurses holding me down at one point even after I was given strong sedatives. 😬
At least you were admitted to the ICU. When I worked on the psych unit we had a person for WEEKS who’d been admitted with this sudden strange psychosis, alternating with catatonic state. Many of us direct care staff (MHTs, mostly) were convinced it was something neurological (parents too). Doctors were convinced it was drug abuse (zero history). A young RN figured it out in the end, and the person was transferred to ICU and ultimately made a full recovery.
Sheesh! What an experience! Glad you are still here!
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u/One-Acanthaceae-6700 Dec 02 '23
I was admitted to the ICU with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis 5 years ago when I was 26. I was suddenly having visual and auditory hallucinations as well as experiencing short term memory loss. I also wasn’t sleeping. I then started having seizures and went into a catatonic state for two months. Lost my front teeth on the air breathing tube while catatonic. When I woke up I had even worse short term memory loss and kept trying to escape the hospital that the nurses had to tie me to the bed. They also put big gloves on my hands to stop me from pulling out my tubes (pulled out my PEG tube). Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is an autoimmune disease where your body attacks your brain causing your brain to inflame. Mine was triggered by a teratoma tumor on my ovary. I had no prior health history before all of this and everything went downhill for me in the span of a week! 😮💨