Jul 9, 2020 06:16 PM
(This post was last modified: Jul 9, 2020 06:17 PM by C C.)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...x-men.html
INTRO: A man who became manic after being infected with coronavirus got so delirious he confessed to his wife that he used to have sex with men, doctors have revealed. The unidentified 41-year-old, who was treated at St Thomas' Hospital in London, also became 'highly aroused' and uninhibited, questioning and inappropriately touching nurses tasked with treating him. He also became obsessed with 'grandiose ideas' and tried to smear water on fellow patients as if he were baptising them, medics said in a bizarre case report.
The man was sick with a cough and fever for 10 days before he ended up in hospital and tested positive for Covid-19, which doctors believe triggered unusual symptoms. He eventually had to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act because he became so out of control.
Describing the experience in his own words after recovering as 'fascinating', the man said he thought he was 'trying to help the doctors as much as I could'. He added: 'I began to think that I was part of a TV show, in which I was sent back from the future to save the NHS, and I was curious to see how this would end.'
The doctors said it was possible his episode was the first sign of a condition such as bipolar disorder — but did not diagnose him with that and instead put it down to the coronavirus despite admitting they can't prove it for certain. One mental health expert told MailOnline it is well documented that immune system reactions can affect the brain and trigger mania such as what the man suffered, calling his episode 'bizarre but not extreme'. There is growing evidence that Covid-19 can affect the brain and nervous system in various ways, the most common of which is losing the sense of smell and taste.
Writing in the BMJ Case Reports medical journal, Dr Jamie Mawhinney and colleagues said: 'This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of an acute episode of mania or psychosis as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection.'
The man went to A&E in the early hours of the morning at the London hospital where Prime Minister Boris Johnson was treated for Covid-19. He had woken in the middle of the night feeling like his 'brain was racing' and telling his wife he thought he would die, doctors reported. He had told his wife about sex he had had with men, 'mostly' before they were married, which she had never heard him talk about before.
The man also confessed to other 'uncharacteristic' sexual behaviours and became uninhibited and acted inappropriately while in the hospital. In the report the doctors said: 'He was loud and highly aroused with sexual disinhibition and overfamiliar behaviour, inappropriately questioning and touching members of staff. His speech was pressured, and his mood subjectively and objectively elevated. His thoughts were grandiose with persecutory elements, and he had persistent strong religious ideas, manifestations of which included attempts to anoint fellow patients with water. He also obsessively wrote down every personal interaction and bodily sensation. He said he found this experience "liberating".'
The man's behaviour became so uncontrollable he had to be sedated and was transferred to intensive care and supported with ventilation. Investigations confirmed that he was positive for SARS-CoV-2 - the virus which causes Covid-19 - but the virus was not found in his spinal fluid, which would have proved it was in his central nervous system and could have travelled to the brain.
After 24 hours on ventilation, he was moved to a ward where his coronavirus symptoms lessened, but mental state remained abnormal. Infection with the coronavirus can cause delirium, stroke and nerve damage in 'a higher than expected number of patients', a study has found. Experts from University College London have reported a 'concerning increase' amid the pandemic of a rare brain inflammation known to be triggered by viral infections. Typically seen in children, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis — or 'ADEM', for short — affects the both the brain and spinal cord... (MORE)
INTRO: A man who became manic after being infected with coronavirus got so delirious he confessed to his wife that he used to have sex with men, doctors have revealed. The unidentified 41-year-old, who was treated at St Thomas' Hospital in London, also became 'highly aroused' and uninhibited, questioning and inappropriately touching nurses tasked with treating him. He also became obsessed with 'grandiose ideas' and tried to smear water on fellow patients as if he were baptising them, medics said in a bizarre case report.
The man was sick with a cough and fever for 10 days before he ended up in hospital and tested positive for Covid-19, which doctors believe triggered unusual symptoms. He eventually had to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act because he became so out of control.
Describing the experience in his own words after recovering as 'fascinating', the man said he thought he was 'trying to help the doctors as much as I could'. He added: 'I began to think that I was part of a TV show, in which I was sent back from the future to save the NHS, and I was curious to see how this would end.'
The doctors said it was possible his episode was the first sign of a condition such as bipolar disorder — but did not diagnose him with that and instead put it down to the coronavirus despite admitting they can't prove it for certain. One mental health expert told MailOnline it is well documented that immune system reactions can affect the brain and trigger mania such as what the man suffered, calling his episode 'bizarre but not extreme'. There is growing evidence that Covid-19 can affect the brain and nervous system in various ways, the most common of which is losing the sense of smell and taste.
Writing in the BMJ Case Reports medical journal, Dr Jamie Mawhinney and colleagues said: 'This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of an acute episode of mania or psychosis as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection.'
The man went to A&E in the early hours of the morning at the London hospital where Prime Minister Boris Johnson was treated for Covid-19. He had woken in the middle of the night feeling like his 'brain was racing' and telling his wife he thought he would die, doctors reported. He had told his wife about sex he had had with men, 'mostly' before they were married, which she had never heard him talk about before.
The man also confessed to other 'uncharacteristic' sexual behaviours and became uninhibited and acted inappropriately while in the hospital. In the report the doctors said: 'He was loud and highly aroused with sexual disinhibition and overfamiliar behaviour, inappropriately questioning and touching members of staff. His speech was pressured, and his mood subjectively and objectively elevated. His thoughts were grandiose with persecutory elements, and he had persistent strong religious ideas, manifestations of which included attempts to anoint fellow patients with water. He also obsessively wrote down every personal interaction and bodily sensation. He said he found this experience "liberating".'
The man's behaviour became so uncontrollable he had to be sedated and was transferred to intensive care and supported with ventilation. Investigations confirmed that he was positive for SARS-CoV-2 - the virus which causes Covid-19 - but the virus was not found in his spinal fluid, which would have proved it was in his central nervous system and could have travelled to the brain.
After 24 hours on ventilation, he was moved to a ward where his coronavirus symptoms lessened, but mental state remained abnormal. Infection with the coronavirus can cause delirium, stroke and nerve damage in 'a higher than expected number of patients', a study has found. Experts from University College London have reported a 'concerning increase' amid the pandemic of a rare brain inflammation known to be triggered by viral infections. Typically seen in children, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis — or 'ADEM', for short — affects the both the brain and spinal cord... (MORE)
