Neurosyphilis : $b Modern systematic diagnosis and treatment presented in one hundred and thirty-seven case historiesSouthard, Elmer Ernest
Science
Neurosyphilis : $b Modern systematic diagnosis and treatment presented in one hundred and thirty-seven case histories
Southard, Elmer Ernest
Neurosyphilis
=Case 75.= Mrs. Brown was a woman of 56, who for the past eight or ten
years had been complaining of trouble in her legs. As she described it,
at times her legs were so weak she could hardly stand; at other times
there was considerable pain and numbness. She has always been considered
“high strung”; that is, she had a very bad temper and lost control of
herself almost entirely when she became excited. Her legs had been
growing progressively worse, and for about a month prior to admission
she had been unable to stand or walk. She had also lost control of her
bladder. On account of her temper, it had been almost impossible to
nurse her; no nurse would stay with her because of her scolding and
fault-finding. Recently, she had been having fits of the blues.
Her husband, who was seen before Mrs. Brown, was an old gentleman, over
70, who was chiefly remarkable from the fact that he had unequal,
irregular pupils, which reacted neither to light nor accommodation;
there was also a speech defect.
The patient herself proved to be extremely irritable, as had been
stated,—so much so that at times it seemed almost impossible to do
anything for her. She was very querulous, constantly complaining, and
not satisfied with anything that was done. Aside from this, her =mental
examination= proved to be entirely negative; that is, there were no
psychotic symptoms.
The systematic =physical examination= gave the following significant
findings: blood pressure, 160 systolic, 90 diastolic; no evidences,
however, of peripheral arteriosclerosis. Patient was unable to walk or
stand, and had no control over her bladder. The knee-jerks and
ankle-jerks absent on both sides; ataxia in the leg movements; loss of
sense of localization, with no tenderness over the nerve trunks; no
atrophy, paralyses, or muscular asymmetry of the parts. The vibratory
sense was maintained. Subjectively, the patient thought that the
vibratory sense differed in the legs from that in the arms.
Localization, touch, pain, heat, and cold responded to correctly. The
arms showed nothing abnormal; there was no incoördination, dysmetria, or
dysdiadochokinesis. Her pupils were equal, regular, and both reacted
normally to light and accommodation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account