The Strange

My sister and her husband were fascinated (well, fascinated might be too strong a word) by some of the stories of neurological disease I had to share with them, so I thought I'd pass along a few.

Neglect syndromes: After a lesion to the parietal lobe of the brain, patients can have what is known as neglect. This can be limited to 'not seeing' parts of their visual field. This would manifest itself if the patient were to draw a clock, it might only show the numbers 1-6 and be drawn in a semi-circle. Alternatively, the patient could no longer recognize a part of their body as belonging to them. We had a patient whose arm was limp after his stroke, and when the attending brought his arm over within the patient's sight, and asked whose arm it was, the patient replied that it was the attending's. Curious.

Amok: I learned what amok was today. Doubtlessly you are familiar with the phrase "to run amok". Well, now I know what the etymology is. Amok is a psychotic disorder found primarily in Malaysia. The patient suffers from persecutory delusions, procurs a weapon, and attacks everyone and anyone he sees. The episode usually ends in the death of the patient, either by suicide or by perishing in the frenzy caused by his attacks.

Koro: I have not seen a case of this. Koro is a delusional disorder in which a man believes that his penis is disappearing, and that when it does in fact disappear, the man will die. Don't believe me? Check out this abstract. Be careful, however, not to confuse Koro with Kuru, an encephalopathic disease similar to Mad Cow, but which is caused by the cannibalistic consumption of brain. It is found exclusively within the Foré tribesman of Papua New Guinea.

-SS.