Stiff person syndrome

Eden

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Never heard of it, thanks for sharing.
 

Handsome Robb

Youngin'
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A lot of the dead people I run on suffer from it. Oh wait...different kind of stiff person....


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StCEMT

Forum Deputy Chief
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I actually picked someone up with this a little over a week ago. Never heard of it til then.
 

Giant81

Forum Lieutenant
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There for a min, I thought you were talking about "if you have an erection that lasts longer than 4 hours...."

good read, thanks for the info!
 

akflightmedic

Forum Deputy Chief
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I first encountered this back in 2000, I had never heard of it either or seen it. I was dispatched to unknown medical and when we arrived, no one would answer the door. I believe the neighbor had called it in because he had not seen his female neighbor as he usually does and he knew she "was sick". We looked through the sliding glass back door and saw a woman leaning to the side on the couch not moving, so we thought she had coded. PD was with us and we gained entry through the front door. As I approached the lady, she was fully conscious and barely able to speak. I thought we simply had a psych patient on our hands, but she said she has "Stiff Man's Disease" and she needed Valium and lots of it. Again, due to my ignorance and her request for valium and lots of it, I started down the psych trail.

However, she said on the counter was her doctor's number and to call him despite the time of night and she also stated she had her own large supply of Valium (which she did). We called the doc, he gave us a little education and ordered Valium...lots of it.

Anyways, I did not follow up on this and learn more about it after this incident (life and all, ya know) but I never did forget the incident. I do know a few months later a different crew was dispatched for the same patient as she had toppled out of one of those driveable carts at the grocery store.

Pretty weird stuff out there and I guess the lasting lesson is try not to be tunnel visioned or predisposed to your own personal bias when assessing a patient and forming clinical impressions and care plans. I was not a jerk to her when I first approached but I am sure my tone or body language then probably gave her insecurities that I was not believing her. It is tough to be open but definitely worth acknowledging it is a skill to be acquired.
 
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