Plague Doctor

"A person should be able to distinguish his own body, distinguish which parts belong to the body and which do not... But something is wrong with this leg... It's not real, I can't feel its existence, I feel like it doesn't belong to me ."

These are not the words of a group of patients who suddenly appeared in Dongzhou today, but the description of his symptoms by a patient with somatoagnosia more than 30 years ago.

Somatoagnosia, a rare neurological syndrome, is almost the opposite of phantom limb syndrome - amputees over 80 can still feel their missing limb long after the wound has healed. Some are even accompanied by "phantom limb pain", where the patient feels that the amputated limb is still there and pain occurs there.

The existence of these situations proves from the side that the nervous system directly restricts human beings' ability to perceive their own bodies.

It's not the body itself, but the nervous system that determines how many limbs a person feels he has and the condition of his limbs.

However, what exactly is the mechanism of this nervous system? How do these effects occur in the human brain?

For a long time, the medical community has been trying to study it clearly, but it has always lacked a scientific and reasonable explanation.

Now, Gu Jun is unable to explain to patients and colleagues what is happening.

In the isolation ward area on the 9th floor of the Psychiatry and Psychology Building at the Dongzhou Tianji Medical Department Base, there are already 37 independent wards each housing a patient with "Foreign Hand Syndrome". Their painful cries continue to be heard, ringing in the corridor. , there are also some delirium words born from torture.

In less than a day, 37 patients have been treated in various hospitals in Dongzhou. There may be more patients who have not yet been diagnosed and have not yet sought medical treatment.

They all showed the same symptoms, including unexplained pain in the right upper limb, rapid loss of recognition within 3-8 hours, and worsening pain. There were multiple blood vessel obstructions in the affected limb. Thrombolytic drugs were given to alleviate the problem, but the patient The pain is even worse. In addition, from the beginning of agnosia, patients have been eager to remove the affected limb through amputation.

The symptom of alien hand syndrome is seeking amputation, which is very similar to another very rare delusional disorder:

Body integrity identity disorder, body integrity identity disorder.

People who unfortunately lose a limb due to an accident will always miss the time when their limbs were healthy, but biid patients are just the opposite. They always long for a limb to be amputated - it does not belong to them, they were born with it. No, or they suddenly don’t want it anymore. It doesn’t matter whether this is called a disability. They think this is normal. Only by getting rid of the affected limb can they realize a truly complete self and gain happiness.

Usually the affected limb is one of the four limbs, but sometimes there are two, three or even four.

In order to achieve this goal, and the doctor does not agree to amputation, biid patients often resort to self-mutilation behaviors that patients with somatoagnosia would not do, such as crashing a car, freezing their legs with ice water until they become necrotic, or even self-amputation. There have been cases.

This mental illness has not been recognized and named for a long time, and its pathology is still a mystery for the time being. Whether it is a mental illness caused by purely external factors, or whether it is caused by brain dysfunction caused by nervous system disorders, there are only hypotheses.

At present, the most effective treatment for BiID, the most effective way to relieve the patient's pain and improve the patient's quality of life, is to ampute the patient's limb.

Gu Jun came outside one of the wards, and several members of the team next to him also stopped and looked at the patients inside through the glass window.

The patient's name is Zhou Yibao, a 21-year-old junior at Jihua University. He is the first patient with alien hand syndrome to seek medical treatment.

Li Ruiquan, the emergency doctor who treated Zhou Yibao at that time, noticed an abnormality and notified the hospital to immediately report it to the Tianji Bureau. Things developed quickly after that. Dongzhou Tianji Bureau received reports from many hospitals. After sending personnel to determine the abnormality, the patients were transferred to the hospital. Come for isolation and treatment.

Why them? What is the pathogenesis? What do these patients of both sexes and ages have in common? Is alien hand syndrome contagious?

The Ministry of Medicine is still trying to figure out these issues.

As for treatment, the medical department can't come up with much. Even if biid is indeed caused by neurological abnormalities, there is no proof of any neurological abnormalities.

Therefore, lobotomy and nerve damage, which are used to quench thirst by drinking poison, are not suitable. Besides, rather than destroying the brain and causing unknown and irreversible damage, it is better to perform amputation. After all, one can still have a high-quality life after losing one hand, and Can be fitted with prosthetic limbs.

To deal with common biid, the usual methods are psychological treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy and aversion therapy, but the effect is not very effective.

The psychological team has tried these methods on patients with alien hand syndrome, and has also injected sedatives into some patients. Zhou Yibao is one of them. However, the patients have not been able to calm down, but have intensified.

This situation is very similar to that of patients with metasquamia who feel constant itching in the affected skin area.

People with alien hand syndrome are driven almost crazy by their rejection of the foreign hand.

Of course Gu Jun knew that this was not an ordinary biid, not something that happened naturally, but the force of negative selection, the black goat cub...

After thinking about this and feeling confused, Gu Jun opened the door to the ward.

Suddenly, there was an inexplicable impact on his right hand, as if he sensed something.

"Ah..." Zhou Yibao, a patient whose whole body was fixed on the hospital bed, saw the group of medical staff wearing protective suits walking in. He immediately shouted even more excitedly, his eyes filled with bloodshot eyes, "Amputate my limb quickly. cut off this hand

, This is not mine, it really is not mine..."

The patient's right upper limb was especially strengthened to promote blood circulation. The binding area was not large, and the upper arm, elbow, and forearm were all shackled with iron cuffs.

This not only prevents the foreign hand from losing control, but also prevents the patient from self-injurious behavior. The back of the hand where the patient was stabbed with a pen has been treated.

Gu Jun looked at the strange hand wrapped with white gauze, and there seemed to be hallucinations flashing before his eyes, like the scene where he was dissecting the huge severed limb of the black goat cub at the dissecting table, and what looked like standing beside the dissecting table It's someone else...

At this time, the patient's strange hand pulled hard, causing the iron cuffs to clang loudly, and several iron cuffs seemed to be about to break.

"Chop it off, chop it off..." The patient suddenly became even more crazy.

Gu Jun clenched his right hand, just like he did when he was at the mountain stream in Shidong Mountain, suppressing the inexplicable movement.

Uncle Dan and the others next to him were also helpless. They had gone through the normal procedures for dealing with abnormal powers, but to no avail.

But the medical department does not have much time. The patients are affected by painful stimulation, and their heart rate, blood pressure and other indicators are in the danger zone. The test results of multiple organs such as liver and kidney are not optimistic, and the thrombolytic and anticoagulant effect of the affected limb is constantly declining. , if this continues, the patient will be sent to the emergency room at any time.

"Ajun, do we have to consider amputation?" Uncle Dan asked in a low voice.

It is not a method, it is an experimental treatment method. Maybe the patient will still experience phantom limb pain after amputating the affected limb, or maybe the limb separation disease will be cured.

These Tianji Bureau doctors, as well as many clinicians, often do not have the ability to cure patients, but they can work hard to keep patients alive and live better...

Gu Jun took a deep breath and didn't say a word for a long time. There seemed to be a strange sound in his ears.

You will have many opportunities for surgery, surgery, will you still do surgery...

"I suggest trying artificial coma on the patient first." Gu Jun said in a deep voice. There is a demon somewhere. You can't do what the demon wants, otherwise there will be no good results. "In addition, I think Went to observe a right upper limb amputation with other causes.”

Love the Plague Doctor.