[ ARC forum 2 ]
Written by Ivan at 09 Jun 2003 14:43:25: Re: I wasn't trying to say...
As an answer to: wont relax written by Paul B. at 09 Jun 2003 02:41:25:
>I find it sad as Ivan suggests, that GPs in the USA are so incompetent that they would refer such a problem to a "urologist", who in most cases will be completely inept at treating psychiatric problems, with or without a medication list.
I was taking it as a plumbing-related problem, based on his reports of what the psych. said. I too would hope that a GP would be able to check out the man's history and reassure him that the effects were not unexpected. However, he had consulted with his psych. who seemed to brush that off (a curious attitude for a psychiatrist, I would think).
>And I do hope that this is not neurosyphilis as he mentioned!
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I had been doing soem reading on mental diseases and priapism was one of the noted symptoms. It indicated that the condition was common to a number of types of psychosis (well, as I recall it was conditions that had psychosis as a symptom). It clearly was stated to be the result of several different conditions, so I was not suggesting particularly neurosyphilis.
For that matter, I'm not sure what neurosyphilis is. My guess is that it would be syphilis which had progressed from the genitals to the nervous system. Does it not eventually make it's way to the brain? What is the time period for this sort of a progression? I know it has been suggested that Nietszche's breakdown was caused by syphilis progressing to his brain, some twenty to twenty-five years after his suspected first-and-only sexual experience, with a prostitute in one of Germany's bigger cities. My recollection of the infamous Tuskegee Project is that it took closer to forty years for the disease to cause such breakdown for the patients/victims of that cruel episode.
>As for "redback" bites, let me assure you, they would not go unremarked (but would not cause a long-term problem either).
Okay, that was a longshot - besides the fact that his abdomen and perhaps chest would have gone rigid on him as well, it would have hurt so bad, he would not have merely made a casual consultation with a psychistrist over it. Also, the 'redbacks' are far more common in outhouses than with indoor plumbing, so far fewer people get bitten that way anymore. Still, with the rather vague description, it seemed worth mentioning.