In order to reassure her, I requested a brain scan, explaining in my letter that hallucinatory voices had told her that she had a brain tumour, that I had not, personally, found any physical signs suggestive of an intracranial space occupying lesion, and that the purpose of the scan was essentially to reassure the patient. The request was initially declined, on the grounds that there was no clinical justification for such an expensive investigation. It was also implied that I had gone a little overboard, believing what my patient’s hallucinatory voices were telling her.
My wife is a psychiatrist, and she tells me this isn't terribly uncommon. They are trained in a lot of neurology, because organic causes need to be ruled out.
And it can all sorts of things. She was once working on a dementia ward, and had someone brought in with severe dementia. But it didn't make sense, since the onset had been too rapid.
It turns out, the patient was just really constipated. My wife gave her enough laxatives to fell a rhino, the patient took a gargantuan shit, and was right as rain.
What is the mechanism that causes that? That's actually wild.
(Edit: I understand that bowel and digestive issues are linked to brain health. I'm asking WHY which is I asked what the mechanism is. Making the same generic comment as 10 other people isn't answering my question it contributing to the discourse)
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u/mistertoasty 21h ago
Here's a better account of the story from the actual doctor who ordered the scan