Purpose

Hi there!

Apologies for not updating regularly.

Anyway, the main reason why I started this blog was to raise awareness about a medical condition called auto immune encephalitis.

It is a rare disorder as there are only about 10 cases a year that are documented in the hosiptals of Singapore. Being a rare disorder, not much research has been done but in recent years, doctors from all over the world have come to learn about it. Oxford University in United Kingdom is the authority and research centre for this condition.

There are many types of auto immune encephalitis and in this entry, I’ll be sharing on ‘Anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis’.

So you may ask how does this condition come about?

The immune system‘s major role is to get rid of infection, monitor for viruses, bacteria or any foreign substances that may cause a problem. Auto immune encephalitis occurs when the immune system attacks the healthy organs and tissues as if they were foreign. Instead of useful antibodies that attack infections or harmful foreign substances, the immune system may produce antibodies directed at normal body tissue causing problems with normal function.

NMDA receptor is a protein in the brain that helps control the electrical activity of nerves. When the antibodies  are against these receptors, the auto immune encephalitis disease is formed. This is the process of how a seizure can occur: immune system goes wrong -> antibodies generated -> attacks NMDA receptor -> brain cells become inflamed -> abnormal electrical discharge in the brain -> seizure occurs

Through further research on ‘Anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis’, it is a condition that involves multiple stages and occurs mostly to younger females. 30% of the cases are females under 18 years of age. Multiple stages meaning there are mild cases as well as extreme cases, the different symptoms that occur at different stages in random sequence. For example, I watched a video on youtube of this patient who first started having headaches, backaches and neckaches. The headache didn’t go away and one day she had a seizure and collapsed on the floor. She then had hallucinations, telling her mother that there was too much ‘noise’ in the room. She then realised she was on the floor and asked her mother why was she on the floor. When her mother told her that she had blacked out, she didn’t believe her. The video link is here if interested.

It is also possible for some patients to have a teratoma usually found in their ovaries. Teratoma is a type of tumour that is composed of cells from other organs. Because of this, a teratoma can grow hair and even teeth or even eyes. It comes from a Greek word which means monsters. Please click here to understand how the teratoma is linked to the condition ‘Anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis’.
Some other patients begin by having hallucinations whereby they display bizzare and often disturbing behaviours, sometimes so frequent that they are mistaken as having a mental breakdown or mental illness. As a result, they find themselves in a mental hospital. These patients are mistakenly diagnosed with having a mental illness rather than the condition ‘Anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis’. This is why more awareness about this condition has to be done so that patients can be correctly diagnosed. Imagine having a record in the mental hospital? How it can affect your future employment etc? Typically 10 to 20 days later, patients often develop a movement disorder, fluctuations in blood pressure, heart rate and temperature and may have a reduction in their level of consciousness. The movement disorder often consists of continuous writhing and twitching of face and limbs but can also be a generalised slowing-down of movements.

In summary, Anti- NMDAR-antibody encephalitis is a newly-described antibody-mediated disease that causes psychiatric features, confusion, memory loss and seizures followed by a movement disorder, loss of consciousness and autonomic fluctuations. The disease can respond well albeit often slowly to various immunotherapies and removal of an underlying tumour.

Most of my research came from this link>>here (under NMDA-receptor antibody encephalitis)

Also if you have 44 mins to spare, please watch this video here about this mystery diagnosis.

I hope this information didn’t bore you but rather provided you with more insight about this newly desribed antibody-mediated disease.

Love, D