Daily Mail: Driven insane by your own immune system...

[Firestormm]

Driven insane by your own immune system: One woman's terrifying story reveals how rogue particles in your brain may trigger mental illness

29 April 2013

The first inkling of trouble was when Liz Oldershaw became uncharacteristically scatty. ‘I arrived at the gym one day with nothing in my kit bag,’ says the 24-year-old. ​

‘At work, assisting my Dad, who is a company accountant, I would be in the middle of a spreadsheet and suddenly forget what I was doing. One day, I didn’t even recognise the cleaner we’ve had for 15 years.’​

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Over the next few weeks, Liz experienced more of these incidents, then she suddenly descended into such a severe psychotic state she had to be put into an artificial coma to stop her tearing her own eyes out.​

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Her devastating mental disintegration left doctors baffled. Fortunately, experts at Oxford University were able to diagnose the cause from a simple blood test. ​

The bright and ambitious psychology graduate from South Brent, Devon, was not cracking up — her body’s immune system was attacking her brain.​

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For rest of the article see here.​

 

[Firestormm]

Maybe if I'd added 'Rituximab' to the title of this thread it might gain more attention. Interesting article all the same. And of interest in our world I would think.

 

[adreno]

Seems that the strategy of blocking NMDA receptors (in order to reduce excitotoxicity) that many seem to advocate might not always be a good idea. I certainly get extremely brain-fogged from NMDA antagonists. Stimulating the NMDA might actually be a more viable option in these cases.

 

[Bob]

Interesting article, thanks Firestormm.

There seem to be a number of parallels with ME/CFS. (e.g. Rituximab, Herpes virus, and auto-immunity.)

 

[Firestormm]

Interesting article, thanks Firestormm.

There seem to be a number of parallels with ME/CFS. (e.g. Rituximab, Herpes virus, and auto-immunity.)

Not that I read the Daily Wail you understand, Bob Charles flagged it on MEA Facebook earlier. Makes one think and I do like articles like that. It's all biology at the end of the day - however it's categorised.

 

[Ian]

She probably has an amalgam filling

 

[Marco]

Seems that the strategy of blocking NMDA receptors (in order to reduce excitotoxicity) that many seem to advocate might not always be a good idea. I certainly get extremely brain-fogged from NMDA antagonists. Stimulating the NMDA might actually be a more viable option in these cases.

It does depend on which antibodies you have :

Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis and late onset autism are recently recognised and related autoimmune disorders involving antibodies to NMDA(glutamatergic) receptors with prodromal symptoms reminiscent of a viral infection and that result in a wide range of movement and neuropsychiatric symptoms and neuroinflammation. (Dalmau et al, 2011).

Autoimmune encephalitis (where symptoms include psychiatric features, confusion, memory loss and seizures followed by a movement disorder, loss of consciousness and autonomic fluctuations) and related disorders have also been associated with anti GABA-B receptor antibodies and/or glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD – the enzyme responsible for converting glutamic acid to GABA) antibodies (Boronat et al, 2011). One recent hypothesis (Fitzgerald, Carter, 2011) proposes decreased GAD expression or activity as playing a key role in fibromyalgia.

Rituximab has also been used to treat anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis (Ikeguchi et al, 2012) supporting a close link between autoimmunity, glutamate/GABA and encephalitis.

 

[AbbyDear]

interesting. i have been trying to share this idea for some time - because of how i feel, and react (mcs). docs have no clue. here another link to consider (an old article - i not a fan of antidepressants...so read with a bit of caution):
http://www.cytokines-and-depression.com/chapter1.html
and books:
http://www.amazon.com/Cytokines-Stress-Immunity-Second-Edition/dp/0849320747/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367569510&sr=8-1&keywords=cytokines stress
...
http://www.amazon.com/Chronic-Fatig...=UTF8&qid=1367569560&sr=1-10&keywords=patarca