Is this going to turn into a regular series on interesting cases and assorted neurodrama? I’d read the heck out of it.
I love this kind of medical mystery writing. Back in the 90s I had a subscription to Discovery magazine. They had a great column called “Vital Signs” that was very much like this. I think they’ve since been digitized and OCRed so you can read them online.
this reads like an epiosde of House, but without the false sarcoidosis diagnosis first.
" It’s not lupus."
Someone is seriously underestimating the age at which your average BoingBoing reader gets bored of watching videos of dogs getting excited and then keeling over.
I can’t tell you how excited I got when the doctor told me I might have sarcoidosis…
That excitement quickly wore off when the other things he listed were TB, HIV or cancer.
Turns out I was fine, which was - you know - nice to hear.
Cataplectic dogs
I now have a name for my other indie band.
works way better than
Great article. This could be a running series, like Boing Boing’s version of the Times’ Diagnosis. …unless you already write for that.
Wait, what could have caused someone to not get headaches before?
Sweaty nipples make for an awesome headline, ayup.
I’m curious about the repeated hyphenation of “headache”. Is there a need to distinguish it from he adaché, or something?
Good enough band name, and “Fainting Goats” is presumably taken already.
My brother in law has sarcoidosis, but it was the last thing the docs thought of, not the first. And, as @dmsplat notes, it’s not any fun.
Already been done
edit: whoops, meant Sweaty Nipples, not Cataplectic Dogs
I’ve known a couple of people who have told me they’ve never had a headache. Don’t know if there’s an explicit reason for that.
Memory problems, maybe?
Nope, apparently 5 to 10 percent of people don’t have headaches or face pain.
Wait, was he unconscious until then?
Wait, what?
I’ve always thought that was part of being human: having headaches, and having no cures for headaches.
I know doctors like to encourage the use of killers to stop headaches, but they hurt, and they cause rebound headaches.
I have had headaches, on and off, as far back as I can remember, usually several times per week, sometimes continuous for days, weeks, or months, and currently continuous for more than a year.
Treating headaches as an unusual symptom sounds like treating sleep as an unusual symptom. Certainly too much or too little or the wrong quality can be an unusual symptom, but the presence of what always seemed to be an inherent function seems a bit… usual…?
Thank you for a GREAT article helping to raise awareness of narcolepsy - currently it can take an average of 14 years from onset of symptoms to correct diagnosis! One note: cataplexy CAN happen in the absence of any identifiable strong emotion, and while it can be as dramatic as a full-body fall, it can also be as subtle as a sagging jaw. Much appreciate the rarely seen doctor’s perspective.
