Ep 30 Encephalitis Lethargica: Sleep Perchance to Dream (& Dream & Dream)

This Podcast Will Kill You

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

Health & Fitness, Science

4.8 • 17.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2019

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Imagine this: a sickness where millions fell into a deep slumber from which they never woke. Of those that did, many remained trapped in a cage of their own bodies, unable to move or speak but fully aware of the world around them. Imagine that this sickness appeared suddenly, without warning, and spread across the globe, affecting millions in just a few decades. Then, just as quickly as it emerged it disappeared. Survivors were left to suffer, eventually forgotten, while hundreds of questions remained unanswered. This is the story of encephalitis lethargica, the subject of our first ever medical mystery episode. Encephalitis lethargica was a ‘sleepy sickness’ epidemic which afflicted millions in the early 1910s and 20s but has caused only sporadic cases since the 1940s. This mysterious illness revolutionized the fields of neurology and psychiatry and forced physicians to examine where the brain ends and the mind begins. What could cause such an illness and why haven’t we seen it since? Tune in to hear us tell you the story of this fascinating medical mystery. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is exactly right.
0:03.6	I first saw Leonard L. in the spring of 1966.
0:10.7	At this time, Mr. L. was in his 46-year, completely speechless and completely without voluntary
0:16.3	motion except for minute movements of the right hand.
0:19.9	With these, he could spell out messages on a small letterboard.
0:22.9	This had been his only mode of communication for 15 years and continued to be his only
0:27.5	mode of communication until he was given L. Dopa in the spring of 1969.
0:33.0	It was obvious to me for my first meeting with Mr. L that this was a man of most unusual
0:37.4	intelligence, cultivation and sophistication.
0:40.7	In the six and a half years I have known him, he has taught me more about Parkinsonism,
0:45.4	postencephalitic illness, suffering, and human nature than all of the rest of my patients
0:50.3	combined.
0:52.6	The picture which Mr. L presented in 1966 had not changed since his admission to the
0:57.8	hospital.
0:59.0	He showed extreme rigidity of his neck, trunk and limbs and marked dystrophic changes in
1:04.0	his hands, which were no larger than those of a child.
1:07.6	His face was profoundly masked, but when it broke into a smile, the smile remained for
1:11.7	minutes or hours, like the smile of the Cheshire cat.
1:15.8	At the end of my first meeting with Leonard L, I said to him, what's it like being the way
1:19.9	you are?
1:20.9	What would you compare it to?
1:22.5	You spelt out the following answer, caged, deprived, like Wilkes Panther.
	...

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