Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

sciencedirect.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 187 posts

Re: Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

#121

Post by nucleardog »

centimeter wrote: post #35
DoreenMichele wrote: post #20

Excerpt: A man, 29-year old, with a history of alcohol abuse suffered from hypoxic-ischemic brain injury after choking on a piece of meat. After an initial, though slow neurological recovery, spontaneous movement and speech disappeared. The patient developed such a severe impairment of arousal that he required intensive auditory and tactile stimulation to maintain a wakeful state. No structural lesions were found usi…

Several years ago I experienced a (thankfully temporary) severe reduction in brain function, for several weeks. I was shocked by the truly abysmal diagnostic capability of modern neuromedicine for anything less than large-scale physical trauma. In my case, they couldn't pin down a cause at all, except to say that the symptoms were consistent with a viral infection of the CNS. What virus? Who knows, we can only test f…

We have the technology, it's just... not widely available yet.

There's a lab at UCSF[1] that actually specializes in doing genome sequencing of cerebrospinal fluid specifically for cases like this. They're talked about pretty extensively in Adam Savage's "Still Untitled" podcast[2] and all the crazy weird things they managed to diagnose this way.

We all have the impression that medicine is a solved problem, but we've still got a way to go. We're still making progress though.

[1] https://nextgendiagnostics.ucsf.edu/

[2] https://www.tested.com/podcasts/adam-savage-project/854328-s...

Re: Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

#122

Post by peteretep »

bxtt wrote: post #44

I’ve been taking Zolpidem for about 13 years now and suffer from addiction. I’ve sought treatment for this but it doesn’t work as now I cannot sleep without taking something. If you haven’t taken Z-type sleeping aids, I would definitely suggest not to start, as from experience the consequences outweigh the benefits. I’ve lost a considerable amount of friends/reputation/etc. from the abuse. Every experience that you h…

Ah geez dude, I’m sorry to hear this. Getting over benzos was a huge, year-long drag. But you’re going to need to do that at some point...

Re: Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

#123

Post by mickelsen »

smabie wrote: post #66
bxtt wrote: post #44

I’ve been taking Zolpidem for about 13 years now and suffer from addiction. I’ve sought treatment for this but it doesn’t work as now I cannot sleep without taking something. If you haven’t taken Z-type sleeping aids, I would definitely suggest not to start, as from experience the consequences outweigh the benefits. I’ve lost a considerable amount of friends/reputation/etc. from the abuse. Every experience that you h…

Try getting prescribed seroquel instead. A lot more powerful, and will help you sleep. Less (known?) downsides as well. I guarantee you that you will be able to sleep with it.

I've been here too! Took zopiclone for a bout of insomnia but after two weeks I was dependent, either I wasn't sleeping without it or the quality of sleep was terrible if I tried going natural. Got prescribed Quetiapine at 25mg, which at that dose is not for psychosis but sleep (or an adjunct for people with bipolar, which is not my case either) Only needed 3-4 days of it and I could reset myself, back to normal sleep. Was already scared that I'd become dependent on this, but atypical neuroleptics in low doses are less associated with tardive dyskinesia. Do seriously consider it. Otherwise you could try an antidepressant with sedative qualities, like trazodone or mirtazapine, both very effective too. Best of luck to all, insomnia sucks.

Re: Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

#124

Post by blargmaster42_8 »

irrational wrote: post #101
bxtt wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've actually decided to take some time off work because of my addiction issues. It's more so the cycle. I'll stop taking Zolpidem/Zopiclone for several weeks/month (the first several days -- terrible shakes, chills, nightmares, several days without sleeping etc. Zopiclone/Benzo withdrawal is far worse) After a while, I'll eventually adjust but I have insomnia/poor sleep so I'll eventually cave in due to sleep depriv…

I can understand the strange fascination with Ambien. My wife was prescribed it one time. She would take it and then soon after want to have sex. Mind blowing sex (for me) every time. She was insatiable and wanted to do things way outside her norm. But the next day she had absolutely no memory of any of it. That weirded me out and I encouraged her to stop taking them. Though to be honest I wouldn't mind one or two of…

By 2020 standards you may have raped your wife, I would remove your comment and never speak of it again.

Re: Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

#126

Post by in3d »

bxtt wrote: post #44

I’ve been taking Zolpidem for about 13 years now and suffer from addiction. I’ve sought treatment for this but it doesn’t work as now I cannot sleep without taking something. If you haven’t taken Z-type sleeping aids, I would definitely suggest not to start, as from experience the consequences outweigh the benefits. I’ve lost a considerable amount of friends/reputation/etc. from the abuse. Every experience that you h…

Take this with all the weight a message board advice from a non-doctor is worth but have you tried Trazodone instead? It’s used widely for sleep issues and it’s effective for many. And have you looked at something like Ketamine for a possible long-lasting solution?

Re: Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

#127

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

tluyben2 wrote: post #81
nineparts wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like it's a gateway drug to demon possession (or at least descriptions of it -- in case of an atheist reading).

Atheist here; you are implying a religious person would believe that taking this (and others as 'a gateway drug' implies) drug makes it easier for demons to possess you? Is that a common thought in some circles? I was raised religiously (catholic and reformed), but never heard about this.

What do you think of this then? Some Loa riding you, like you would a horse, or putting you on like just another coat?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loa

Combine with parts of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_hypothesis as you see fit, for instance some bored coder looking into why some parts of code suddenly fail, and putting you into debug mode :)

edit: also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn

Re: Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

#128

Post by madarco »

tedd4u wrote: post #33

Ah, the video at the bottom of the paper is really emotional! I hope they can figure out how to prolong the effects. Still, an hour of lucidity and verbal communication and a stroll every few weeks and a visit with the family is infinitely better than nothing at all.

thank you

Re: Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

#129

Post by TaupeRanger »

madcow00 wrote: post #9

Things like these makes me realize how little we know about the functioning of brain. Manipulating brain digitally would be perhaps one of the biggest technological revolution after industrial revolution.

We know little about many biological processes. The brain/CNS, cancer, and genetic disorders are among the most pressing medically.

Re: Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleeping pill

#130

Post by TaupeRanger »

the_only_law wrote: post #21
madcow00 wrote: post #9

Things like these makes me realize how little we know about the functioning of brain. Manipulating brain digitally would be perhaps one of the biggest technological revolution after industrial revolution.

Sometimes I wish I was smart enough to have gotten involved with things like neuroscience. I watched part of a lecture on certain brain functions a good while back, regarding the mechanics of various mental illnesses, and it was incredibly fascinating. Such a powerful organ that we simply can't understand well enough.

You are definitely smart enough. The problem is that most neuroscience is extremely incremental and often boring/useless. People like the idea of "working with the brain", but since we have no idea what we're doing, they just end up doing the 237th paper on the regions whose activity is "modulated" by the hippocampus, etc., etc.
Post reply on HN