Brain Freeze

A good friend avidly consumes two to three cans a day of Diet Coke. He recently suffered a stroke-like event with loss of speech. Thankfully he quickly recovered with return of function. His friends and family are worried and have urged him to cut out the diet sodas, yet he remains oblivious and continues his behavior. A study presented at the 2011 American Stroke Association Conference showed daily diet soda consumption had a higher risk of stroke. In a nine-year study of more than 2,500 people, those who drank diet soda daily were 48% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke or die from those events, compared with those who rarely or never drank soda.,for more...http://jeffreydachmd.com/diet-soda-aspartame-migraines-brain-tumors-and-...

I'm guessing the internship was not in Illinois although it was through Northwestern. The confusion experienced by commenters is understandable. The experience is worthy of more refined writing.

The only thing that confused me was his flying home to his mother's house in Chicago. Northwestern University is in Evanston which is just north of Chicago. No interim location was mentioned and I re-read the article a few times. What did I miss?

A lot of information is missing from this article. Did Mr. Gordon just accept the non-diagnosis, or did he go elsewhere for more medical help? He was discharged with just a, "Good luck buddy?" What about Physical Therapy? I find it exceedingly hard to believe that someone would just go home and lay around waiting, hoping to get well, while neither he nor his family seemed to have the curiosity to find out what is wrong and what could be done about it.

I find myself wanting more information, some context for this story.
I suffered a life-threatening illness in my early twenties. On reflection, I realize how much I changed after that but had no sense of how I was changing while it was happening. I think, like everything else, how we integrate what we experience is very individual.

Just curious -- if the writer was attending Northwestern, then his apartment must have been nearby. Northwestern is in Evanston, which is a stone's throw from Chicago. If his mother lives in Chicago, why would they have had to fly there? It would be ridiculous even in a small private plane. I must be missing something.
I'm glad he's recovered though -- very frightening.

Nicely written piece. Not having received a diagnosis must have added to the emotional burden of such a serious illness, and I wonder what your doctors told you about what they thought was wrong with you. Most cerebellar encephalitis in young adults is caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), for which there is no specific treatment, but it has a favorable prognosis. This condition is well-known among neurologists and infectious diseases specialists. Because this was not mentioned in your piece, I hope that your physicians ruled out EBV infection during the evaluation. Another distinct diagnostic possibility is the concern about this possibly being an antibody-mediated encephalopathy mentioned in another comment (a PANDAS-like syndrome). Also a concern since it might recur someday, but a Dx would allow prompt treatment (plasmapheresis and/or immunosuppression). MS is a less likely concern at this point, since it seems highly unlikely that a competent medical evaluation would miss that. I hope that you are seeing a board-certified neurologist and will follow up.

Though very moved by your piece, one bit of trivial information troubles me. You were at Northwestern, the first suburb north of Chicago. Presumably you went to Evanston Hospital or another North Shore or north Chicago hospital. Why then did you fly home to your mother's hometown of Chicago?

This is one of several odd and relatively low quality pieces of narrative writing to appear in the NYT in recent days. For more, see the odd pieces by Jeremy Glass in Metropolitan Diary.

I suspect that these are just attempts to drive traffic to the websites for which these writers toil. The mystery is why the NYT is publishing something of such poor quality. Could it have to do with laying off 100 experienced, brilliant journalists, combined with the holiday doldrums?

Does it strike anyone else as odd that he had no medical insurance and that despite a serious condition and unresolved medical questions, he was discharged to home, where he apparently had no skilled nursing care?

If you google Acute Cerebellar Ataxia, which is seemingly what Gordon is describing, it can clear on its own if caused by a virus. Presumably, the hospital ruled out other, non-viral causes before discharging him to home care.

How wonderful that the Northwestern supervisor of your senior-year internship checked in with you when you did not show up for two days and called an ambulance when he realized that you were impaired.

I have heard a number of opposite experiences of college students whose colleges ignored their absences and other indications of illness and treated them harshly when their illnesses caused them to do poorly in school.

It is great to hear an example of "in loco parentis" working effectively.

Congratulations on coming back from the edge!
http://www.thecriticalmom.blogspot.com

You never realized that not talking was enjoyable until you suffered the inability to talk? Your experience flies in the face of the adage, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." Are you now a better listener? If you are, I can think of individuals who might benefit from an episode of brain inflammation.

Isn't this a case for Lisa Sanders?

Good for you! At least you are getting your faculties back, albeit slowly. I can empathize. Internship is stressful. I noticed those hand tremors almost at the end of my internship.Myy Neurologist blandly told me I had Benign Essential Tremors. He prescribed three potent drugs - Inderal, Primidone and Neurontin. I was already in an Anesthesia Program At first the drugs seemed to be a god-send. My tremors had disappeared unless under stress or anxiety. Increased dosages kept them controlled. I had completed my Residency by then and since there was no more constant scrutiny (of course, a doctor is always under surveillance ) I was relaxed with a job I loved and having faith in my own, hard-earned skills. But the tremors started appearing again. The Neurologist was at the end of his ropes. The dosages were at the highest levels . I had ballooned out like a helium balloon. That's when he suggested Deep Brain Stimulation, a very invasive procedure to the brain with great risks like total paralysis and brain hemorrhage with perhaps loss of all my basic faculties. I decided to take the plunge anyway, since being branded an impaired physician would have killed me anyway. I took a few months off for the surgery, done in two stages.Post-op I was a changed person. Zero tremors!! Happy to say I'm back at work,saving lives,my life's purpose. But I speak is like a Frenchman, a massive change from my clipped British Accent. But patients can decipher the French English, thank the Lord!!

A behavioral economist might note the gentleman's immediate fixation on a very short-time horizon. The initial denial of the sickness, negligence regarding daily hygiene, and irrational exuberance regarding an immediate turnaround, resemble behavioral traits common in many individuals' normal cycle of attempting to adapt to jarring and catastrophic events. A type of psychosomatic self-reinforcing cycle has been created by the initial organic, cerebellum infection. Figurative collateral damage includes a type of psychical inflammation of the cerebrum. The young man's mom offered a more detached, rational perspective regarding the immediate triage of needs due his attention. As a result, she was able to employ a more Gestalt type systems overview or perspective, lacking in both the young man's outlook and clinical setting. By helping him to incorporate a more intermediate time horizon into his daily routines, the mom was able to aid him in his efforts at delayed gratification (immediate removal of illness), and develop a more accepting and patient outlook toward his illness. A large part of good parenting is adopting a longer term focus for kids. ROI's from over two decades of mutual time investment by such parents and kids often result in lengthy behavioral reinforcement patterns. Frequently, very patient payback periods for time investments by the parties to this compact evolve, as illustrated here, and can be very salubrious. [{JJL} 1/03/2015 11:57 a.m.] horizon

THE GREATEST GIFT . . .

...is to regain what you lost -- especially if it's important. This has the capacity to make you appreciate aspects of your life you never thought about.

there isn't always a silver lining when one is sick but in Jeremy's case he is fortunate enough to have recovered and learned one of life's truths at a young age. It took me until my 50's to realise so much of people's conversation is just to be heard and not because they have anything interesting or important to say.

But, this is such a vignette without context. Did the writer get back to his internship? Was there a diagnosis? How is he now?

You should be checked for paraneoplastic syndrome, in other words an occult tumor causing an auto-immune inflammatory response in the brain. For example, have a body PET scan.