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reasonsforhope · 8 months

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Story from the Washington Post here, non-paywall version here.

Washington Post stop blocking linksharing and shit challenge.

"The young woman was catatonic, stuck at the nurses’ station — unmoving, unblinking and unknowing of where or who she was.

Her name was April Burrell.

Before she became a patient, April had been an outgoing, straight-A student majoring in accounting at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. But after a traumatic event when she was 21, April suddenly developed psychosis and became lost in a constant state of visual and auditory hallucinations. The former high school valedictorian could no longer communicate, bathe or take care of herself.

April was diagnosed with a severe form of schizophrenia, an often devastating mental illness that affects approximately 1 percent of the global population and can drastically impair how patients behave and perceive reality.

“She was the first person I ever saw as a patient,” said Sander Markx, director of precision psychiatry at Columbia University, who was still a medical student in 2000 when he first encountered April. “She is, to this day, the sickest patient I’ve ever seen.” ...

It would be nearly two decades before their paths crossed again. But in 2018, another chance encounter led to several medical discoveries...

Markx and his colleagues discovered that although April’s illness was clinically indistinguishable from schizophrenia, she also had lupus, an underlying and treatable autoimmune condition that was attacking her brain.

After months of targeted treatments [for lupus] — and more than two decades trapped in her mind — April woke up.

The awakening of April — and the successful treatment of other people with similar conditions — now stand to transform care for some of psychiatry’s sickest patients, many of whom are languishing in mental institutions.

Researchers working with the New York state mental health-care system have identified about 200 patients with autoimmune diseases, some institutionalized for years, who may be helped by the discovery.

And scientists around the world, including Germany and Britain, are conducting similar research, finding that underlying autoimmune and inflammatory processes may be more common in patients with a variety of psychiatric syndromes than previously believed.

Although the current research probably will help only a small subset of patients, the impact of the work is already beginning to reshape the practice of psychiatry and the way many cases of mental illness are diagnosed and treated.

“These are the forgotten souls,” said Markx. “We’re not just improving the lives of these people, but we’re bringing them back from a place that I didn’t think they could come back from.” ...

Waking up after two decades

The medical team set to work counteracting April’s rampaging immune system and started April on an intensive immunotherapy treatment for neuropsychiatric lupus...

The regimen is grueling, requiring a month-long break between each of the six rounds to allow the immune system to recover. But April started showing signs of improvement almost immediately...

A joyful reunion

“I’ve always wanted my sister to get back to who she was,” Guy Burrell said.

In 2020, April was deemed mentally competent to discharge herself from the psychiatric hospital where she had lived for nearly two decades, and she moved to a rehabilitation center...

Because of visiting restrictions related to covid, the family’s face-to-face reunion with April was delayed until last year. April’s brother, sister-in-law and their kids were finally able to visit her at a rehabilitation center, and the occasion was tearful and joyous.

“When she came in there, you would’ve thought she was a brand-new person,” Guy Burrell said. “She knew all of us, remembered different stuff from back when she was a child.” ...

The family felt as if they’d witnessed a miracle.

“She was hugging me, she was holding my hand,” Guy Burrell said. “You might as well have thrown a parade because we were so happy, because we hadn’t seen her like that in, like, forever.”

“It was like she came home,” Markx said. “We never thought that was possible.”

...After April’s unexpected recovery, the medical team put out an alert to the hospital system to identify any patients with antibody markers for autoimmune disease. A few months later, Anca Askanase, a rheumatologist and director of the Columbia Lupus Center,who had been on April’s treatment team, approached Markx. “I think we found our girl,” she said.

Bringing back Devine

When Devine Cruz was 9, she began to hear voices. At first, the voices fought with one another. But as she grew older, the voices would talk about her, [and over the years, things got worse].

For more than a decade, the young woman moved in and out of hospitals for treatment. Her symptoms included visual and auditory hallucinations, as well as delusions that prevented her from living a normal life.

Devine was eventually diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which can result in symptoms of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She also was diagnosed with intellectual disability.

She was on a laundry list of drugs — two antipsychotic medications, lithium, clonazepam, Ativan and benztropine — that came with a litany of side effects but didn’t resolve all her symptoms...

She also had lupus, which she had been diagnosed with when she was about 14, although doctors had never made a connection between the disease and her mental health...

Last August, the medical team prescribed monthly immunosuppressive infusions of corticosteroids and chemotherapy drugs, a regime similar to what April had been given a few years prior. By October, there were already dramatic signs of improvement.

“She was like ‘Yeah, I gotta go,’” Markx said. “‘Like, I’ve been missing out.’”

After several treatments, Devine began developing awareness that the voices in her head were different from real voices, a sign that she was reconnecting with reality. She finished her sixth and final round of infusions in January.

In March, she was well enough to meet with a reporter. “I feel like I’m already better,” Devine said during a conversation in Markx’s office at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, where she was treated. “I feel myself being a person that I was supposed to be my whole entire life.” ...

Her recovery is remarkable for several reasons, her doctors said. The voices and visions have stopped. And she no longer meets the diagnostic criteria for either schizoaffective disorder or intellectual disability, Markx said...

Today, Devine lives with her mother and is leading a more active and engaged life. She helps her mother cook, goes to the grocery store and navigates public transportation to keep her appointments. She is even babysitting her siblings’ young children — listening to music, taking them to the park or watching “Frozen 2” — responsibilities her family never would have entrusted her with before her recovery.

Expanding the search for more patients

While it is likely that only a subset of people diagnosed with schizophrenia and psychotic disorders have an underlying autoimmune condition, Markx and other doctors believe there are probably many more patients whose psychiatric conditions are caused or exacerbated by autoimmune issues...

The cases of April and Devine also helped inspire the development of the SNF Center for Precision Psychiatry and Mental Health at Columbia, which was named for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which awarded it a $75 million grant in April. The goal of the center is to develop new treatments based on specific genetic and autoimmune causes of psychiatric illness, said Joseph Gogos, co-director of the SNF Center.

Markx said he has begun care and treatment on about 40 patients since the SNF Center opened. The SNF Center is working with the New York State Office of Mental Health, which oversees one of the largest public mental health systems in America, to conduct whole genome sequencing and autoimmunity screening on inpatients at long-term facilities.

For “the most disabled, the sickest of the sick, even if we can help just a small fraction of them, by doing these detailed analyses, that’s worth something,” said Thomas Smith, chief medical officer for the New York State Office of Mental Health. “You’re helping save someone’s life, get them out of the hospital, have them live in the community, go home.”

Discussions are underway to extend the search to the 20,000 outpatients in the New York state system as well. Serious psychiatric disorders, like schizophrenia, are more likely to be undertreated in underprivileged groups. And autoimmune disorders like lupus disproportionately affect women and people of color with more severity.

Changing psychiatric care

How many people ultimately will be helped by the research remains a subject of debate in the scientific community. But the research has spurred excitement about the potential to better understand what is going on in the brain during serious mental illness...

Emerging research has implicated inflammation and immunological dysfunction as potential players in a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, depression and autism.

“It opens new treatment possibilities to patients that used to be treated very differently,” said Ludger Tebartz van Elst, a professor of psychiatry and psychotherapy at University Medical Clinic Freiburg in Germany.

In one study, published last year in Molecular Psychiatry, Tebartz van Elst and his colleagues identified 91 psychiatric patients with suspected autoimmune diseases, and reported that immunotherapies benefited the majority of them.

Belinda Lennox, head of the psychiatry department at the University of Oxford, is enrolling patients in clinical trials to test the effectiveness of immunotherapy for autoimmune psychosis patients.

As a result of the research, screenings for immunological markers in psychotic patients are already routine in Germany, where psychiatrists regularly collect samples from cerebrospinal fluid.

Markx is also doing similar screening with his patients. He believes highly sensitive and inexpensive blood tests to detect different antibodies should become part of the standard screening protocol for psychosis.

Also on the horizon: more targeted immunotherapy rather than current “sledgehammer approaches” that suppress the immune system on a broad level, said George Yancopoulos, the co-founder and president of the pharmaceutical company Regeneron.

“I think we’re at the dawn of a new era. This is just the beginning,” said Yancopoulos."

-via The Washington Post, June 1, 2023

#mental illness #schizophrenia #schizoaffective #psychotic disorders #psychology #neurology #autoimmune #autoimmine disease #neuroscience #medical news #medical research #catatonia #immunotherapy #immune system #clinical trials #good news #hope

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petalsandpurity · 1 year

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My brother found out he has Covid and straight after seeing the positive test goes up in my face and tells me he has Covid 🙃🙃🙃

#like thank you for that now I will have it too ?? fuck sake #and sits downstairs and starts coughing without putting his hand over his mouth ffs #last time I got it I was the sickest I’ve ever been and I lost my smell for six months and it’s still not right! I don’t want it again :(#I’m aware being in the same house and having been around him all day I probably will catch it anyway but it’d be nice if he showed he #actually gave a shit about giving it to everyone else yknow

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ground-muttmeg · 1 year

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screaming and crying and screaming and crying and screaming and crying and screaming and crying and

#I’m just sick #I’m so sick of being sick this is like my 5ifth time this year #and ofc i can never just get A Little Sick yknow!!#because of my ffffffucking disorders #no it has to be like the sickest i’ve ever been in my life every time i’m tired of it I’m tired of it!!!#i wanna die i hate this i hate this i hate this i hate this

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hussyknee · 11 months

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The young woman was catatonic, stuck at the nurses’ station — unmoving, unblinking and unknowing of where or who she was. Her name was April Burrell. Before she became a patient, April had been an outgoing, straight-A student majoring in accounting at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. But after a traumatic event when she was 21, April suddenly developed psychosis and became lost in a constant state of visual and auditory hallucinations. The former high school valedictorian could no longer communicate, bathe or take care of herself. April was diagnosed with a severe form of schizophrenia, an often devastating mental illness that affects approximately 1 percent of the global population and can drastically impair how patients behave and perceive reality. “She was the first person I ever saw as a patient,” said Sander Markx, director of precision psychiatry at Columbia University, who was still a medical student in 2000 when he first encountered April. “She is, to this day, the sickest patient I’ve ever seen.” It would be nearly two decades before their paths crossed again. But in 2018, another chance encounter led to several medical discoveries reminiscent of a scene from “Awakenings,” the famous book and movie inspired by the awakening of catatonic patients treated by the late neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks. Markx and his colleagues discovered that although April’s illness was clinically indistinguishable from schizophrenia, she also had lupus, an underlying and treatable autoimmune condition that was attacking her brain. After months of targeted treatments — and more than two decades trapped in her mind — April woke up. The awakening of April — and the successful treatment of other peoplewith similar conditions — now stand to transform care for some of psychiatry’s sickest patients, many of whom are languishing in mental institutions. Researchers working with the New York state mental health-care system have identified about 200 patients with autoimmune diseases, some institutionalized for years, who may be helped by the discovery. And scientists around the world, including Germany and Britain, are conducting similar research, finding that underlying autoimmune and inflammatory processes may be more common in patients with a variety of psychiatric syndromes than previously believed. Although the current research probably will help only a small subset of patients,the impact of the work is already beginning to reshape the practice of psychiatry and the way many cases of mental illness are diagnosed and treated. “These are the forgotten souls,” said Markx. “We’re not just improving the lives of these people, but we’re bringing them back from a place that I didn’t think they could come back from.”

– A catatonic woman awakened after 20 years. Her story may change psychiatry.

#block JavaScript in site settings if article is paywalled #April burrel #disability #schizophrenia #lupus #mental illness #catatonia #chronic illness #institutionalization #psychiatry #medical science #healthcare #autoimmune disease #Washington post #knee of huss

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bunjywunjy · 2 years

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Hello! While I’ve been on a dinosaur kick as long as I have breathed air, I have recently run across a new-to-me Dino that I think has the sickest name ever. Dreadnautus. Any chance you have some cool Dino facts?

fun fact, Dreadnoughtus means "fears nothing", and it's called that because the paleontologist who was describing the type specimen took one look at the incredibly absurd scale of the bones he was analyzing and went "this fucking guy didn't afraid of anything". and he was absolutely correct.

a 5'7" human would have been roughly even with this thing's KNEES. just an absolute Kaiju of an animal.

#cursed biology #paleo

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luvhughes43 · 1 year

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lovesick | trevor zegras x singer!reader

luvhughes43 masterlist🌷

request: what if … kpop idol!reader where the reader is like. a well established idol in a popular group and they date a hockey player that they had been childhood friends with and they get exposed by dispatch 🤭 perhaps with trevor??

note: i decided not to make this specifically kpop related because i think it would make more sense! thank you for the request i love it!

story note: the group members are jennie, rose, and lisa !

word count: 1.3k

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ynoffical

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ynoffical on tour with my girls🫂🖤💗 #lovesicktour

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lovesickgirls 🖤💗🖤💗

jennie having the most fun

rose some exciting people in the audience tonight!🤭

fan01 what?? who

fan02 idk but they’re performing in california tonight

trevorzegras excited to watch the show❤️‍🔥🔥

ynoffical 💗💗

fan03 ??? what who is that?

fan04 fan03 thats trevor zegras hes some hockey player. he plays in cali i think

fan03 fan04 oh do u think hes the special guest rose was talking about?

fan04 fan03 idk i can’t really picture yn with a hockey player tbh

you and Trevor had known each other since you were children. your parents met because your brother and Trevor played hockey together when they were younger, and so your parents quickly became friends. your parents' friendship led to many nights at the Zegras household and so on.

you and Trevor had very similar lifestyles. the two of you never seemed to be in the same place for too long so it was increasingly difficult to ever spend time together. like last year for instance when Trevor was on off season you were busy in different states and countries performing at sold out arenas and shows.

despite it all though, you and Trevor remained friends. which is why you were so excited to see him at your show tonight.

you had got him to come to the arena early, so he could watch you and your group do soundcheck. “Visitor here!” your security guard called out as he walked into the empty arena where crew members were busy getting things ready for the show.

“Trevy!” you screamed, rushing down the stage steps and into his awaiting arms. he spun you around quickly, the both of you laughing as he finally set you back down. “i’m so excited you’re here!” you smiled up at him and he smiled right back.

“i’m so excited to be here! this is so cool" Trevor replied, letting go of you so he could survey the arena. the barricade was just being set up and the lighting was being tweaked.

your group members had all greeted Trevor and then you guys moved on to soundcheck, marking your dances and performing some of your tracklist to adjust the sound.

trevorzegras just posted !

trevorzegras

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trevorzegras sickest concert i’ve ever been to💯🔥

tagged: lovesickgirls, and ynoffical

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jackhughes WHAT? I want to go??

trevorzegras you don't even like pop music

jackhughes i could get into it.

fan05 trevor likes the lovesick girls?

hockeyfan01 uhhh🤔

ynoffical so glad you could come💗

trevorzegras so glad you invited me❤️‍🔥

fan06 HE WAS INVITED BY YN???

the show was great, but in your opinion the private after party was better. after the show, Trevor met you backstage and you gave him a quick tour.

“God this is so cool!” Trevor marvelled at basically everything you showed him, “and you guys were so good tonight too, like unbelievable” Trevor continued, rambling about how cool this whole experience was for him.

“Hey yn?” one of your group members jennie approached you two. “the girls and i are going to head back to the hotel now,” she stated as the other girls gathered their things.

you looked towards Trevor, making a quick decision that you knew you wouldn’t regret. “i still never got to see anaheim,” you prompted him, which got him to excitedly invite you over to his place to hangout.

you talked to your security, and since you were performing another show in cali tomorrow evening, you were free to spend all the time you wanted before rehearsals tomorrow with Trevor.

things got heated pretty quickly once you got to where Trevor lived. he gave you a quick tour around his neighbourhood, and you took it all in with wonder.

“It’s crazy how different our lives have gotten,” you spoke up in the quietness of his bedroom.

“I know. From family friends to global superstar," Trevor replied, nudging into your side before he moved on to get his sweatpants out of his dresser drawer.

“Oh you're one to talk! Mr. hockey superstar! I’ve seen all the highlights” you laughed, causing Trevor to turn away from his clothes to smile at you.

“you watch me play?” he asked.

“i said i watch the highlights, i’m much too busy to watch full games,” you joked. “No but seriously i do watch some of your games” you added. “I’ve actually been waiting for you to invite me to one…” you teased, sitting on the edge of Trevors bed that he gave up for you to use for the night.

Trevor laughed in response, gathering all of the things he needed for the night out of his bedroom. He leaned against the doorframe, “i’ll see you in the morning” he smiled, turning around to leave his room.

“Wait!” you shouted, and Trevor turned back around.

“Yah?”

“You don’t have to leave,” you said, shocking yourself. “I mean… there’s plenty of room here for the both of us” you said sheepishly.

“No i mean its fine, i can sleep on the couch. It’s actually pretty comfortable and-” Trevors rambling was quickly cut off by you.

“stay with me. please Trev?” you basically pleaded, and Trevor only nodded. He got ready for bed and laid down beside you.

The two of you stayed up practically all night. you told Trevor that tour life was really getting to you. stating that you often grew tired of all the travelling and the loneliness that came with it. he of course understood, and you felt your feelings for him change into something more.

the morning came too soon, and you had to be back in Inglewood for your show later that evening. the drive was mostly silent, which was a little confusing if you consider how loud Trevor is all of the time.

when you got to your hotel you stayed sitting in Trevors passenger side, his big orange car doing nothing to conceal the two of you from the people out on the street.

you turned towards him, and whispered a thank you.

“when will i be able to see you again?” he questioned, and you wished that yours and his life was more stable so seeing him could be an everyday thing.

“I’ll be done with my tour soon, there’s only a few more dates and then we could… i dont know” you trailed off.

“i don't want you to leave,” Trevor admitted, and you thought you finally found the cause of his silence on the drive here.

“i don’t want to leave you” you admitted.

the both of you stared at each other for a minute, cars honking all around you as you took way longer than you should’ve in front of the hotel.

Trevor made the first move. he cupped your cheek, pulling you in for a soft kiss.

you made the second move, pulling him in once he pulled away a little too soon.

trevorzegras just posted !

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trevorzegras you make me feel alive❤️🌹

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hockeyfan HE HAS A GF???

luvzegras11 this is the worst day of my life there's no way😭

ynfangirl now whys he using yn lyrics …

ynsflowers WAIT U THINK THIS IS THE GUY SHES SEEING??

ynfangirl i mean he lives in anaheim so maybe?? the girls were just in cali for like a week.. omg? also isn't this the guy she invited to the show?

jackhughes oh i see how it is !

trevorzegras you’ll always be my number 1 girlfriend dont worry !❤️

luvzegras11 HE CONFIRMED! I HATE MY LIFE.

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enews

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enews #lovesickgirls own yn was seen out last night with rumoured boyfriend, NHL player Trevor Zegras! The two are reportedly childhood friends who recently started dating after a #lovesicktour concert! The link to the story is in our Bio.

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ynoffical

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ynoffical so the rumours may be true…❤️🌹

tagged: trevorzegras

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jennie you guys are the cutest ever

rose can’t believe love is real

trevorzegras i love and miss you

ynoffical i love and miss you too❤️ luvzegras11 THEY’RE IN LOVE?? IT KEEPS GETTING WORSE

#trevor zegras x reader #trevor zegras imagine #trevor zegras blurb #trevor zegras fic #nhl fanfiction #nhl fic #nhl imagine #jack hughes x reader

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