Famous people diagnosed with neurological diseases

Discussion in 'Neurological diseases' started by ToneAl, Jul 12, 2022.

  1. NelliePledge

    NelliePledge Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    13,775
    Location:
    UK West Midlands
    By Frances Ryan
     
    Lou B Lou, Ash, alktipping and 2 others like this.
  2. Sid

    Sid Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,066
    SPS sounds harrowing. I bet many of them get diagnosed with FND. Neurology seems to struggle with inconsistent or variable symptoms.
     
  3. rvallee

    rvallee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    12,919
    Location:
    Canada
    This is what it means for MS to still be dismissed as psychosomatic. It doesn't matter if it doesn't apply much to diagnosed cases, it was always about misdiagnosis, about being gaslit, sometimes for years, before a diagnosis, if it doesn't make it impossible. This hasn't changed at all, for anyone who doesn't have a textbook case, it's probably going to get worse than ever because of all the craze from the golden age of psychosomatics.

    It doesn't make it OK if someone gets diagnosed later. This should always have been an unacceptable practice, and yet it is clearly a standard that is very beloved.
     
  4. Mij

    Mij Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    8,678
    Sufjan Stevens: Songwriter 'cannot walk' after being diagnoses with a rare disease
    Sufjan Stevens: Songwriter 'cannot walk' after being diagnosed with rare disease

    In a rare Instagram post, Sufjan Stevens said he had been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome
    “Last month I woke up one morning and couldn’t walk. My hands, arms and legs were numb and tingling and I had no strength, no feeling, no mobility,” he wrote.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/09/20/sufjan-stevens-guillain-barre-syndrome/
     
  5. Mij

    Mij Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    8,678
    Merged thread

    Selma Blair Says Her MS Was Misdiagnosed for Years as Menstrual Issues


    Selma Blair told Meet the Press that her multiple sclerosis went undiagnosed for years due to “older male doctors who really probably did not know the intricacies of a girl.” The actor announced her MS diagnosis in 2018, and is currently in remission. “Everything does not need to be blamed on menstruation or something,” she told Kristen Welker.

    Blair had many neurological symptoms that she and doctors chalked up to lady stuff. “I have prefrontal [brain] damage that would cause, you know, hysterical crying and laughing,” she said. “And I just thought, ‘Wow, I’m just that wild one that wakes up in the middle of the night, like, waking myself up laughing hysterically, or sobbing, or in front of people just very moody maybe.” Blair says she was on heavy antidepressants and started drinking very early, things she now sees were attempts to regulate her undiagnosed MS symptoms. Blair says she began displaying symptoms of the disease as early as age 7.

    https://www.vulture.com/2023/11/selma-blair-multiple-sclerosis-medical-gaslighting.html
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 29, 2023
    Lou B Lou, Lindberg, mango and 3 others like this.
  6. SNT Gatchaman

    SNT Gatchaman Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    4,876
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    Also Selma Blair's public plea after experiencing 'hell on Earth' for decades before diagnosis

     
    Lou B Lou, Binkie4, EzzieD and 7 others like this.
  7. Sean

    Sean Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    7,490
    Location:
    Australia
    I have sometimes wondered how different the ME story could have been if the gender balance was inverted.
     
  8. rvallee

    rvallee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    12,919
    Location:
    Canada
    Judging from how GWI is unfolding exactly as poorly, I don't think it would have made any difference. There is plenty of sexist bigotry in medicine, but there is more than enough ableist bigotry to make up for it when it doesn't apply.

    Blair's case is really telling of how the discrimination and failure underlying psychosomatic ideology has evolved: MS may no longer be considered psychosomatic, but people with MS are still just as discriminated and psychologized until there is a test confirming their diagnosis. The only difference here is technology and the economics that technological progress brings. The human element is the exact same as in the time of "hysterical paralysis", the clinical failure is identical, the culture hasn't changed.

    Same with peptic ulcers, although the barrier is even lower, but you can be pretty much certain that a huge number of people with "functional" GI problems have undiagnosed ulcers. There is never any recognition or accountability for mistakes, so things don't change. In medicine, only technology really matters. The rest just stagnates.
     
  9. Mij

    Mij Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    8,678
    Good gracious. Céline Dion has given interviews lately concerning her diagnosis of Stiff Person Syndrome. The years of not having a diagnosis. The amount of Valium she had to take to relax her muscles that could have killed her. All the money in the world isn't enough for cure or treat rare complex diseases.
     

Share This Page