#1 ·
I lost someone incredibly close to me recently. The doctors were completely stumped about what was actually happening, so I want to lay out everything that went down here:
A healthy individual, 55 years old. He dealt with psoriasis for about 15 years, but that had actually cleared up by early 2012.
Suddenly, he hits a fever of about 102°F. We try to bring it down with meds, but it just keeps bouncing back every 5 or 6 hours. Blood work looks totally fine.
Fast forward about 10 days, and the fever spikes to 103°F, accompanied by intense chills. Even with heavy doses of medication, the fever comes right back after just two hours. Then, one testicle starts swelling up. We rush him to a urologist, and they initially suspect cancer.
We run blood tests and chest X-rays. Everything comes back normal. A TBC test is negative.
About 20 days into this whole ordeal, he’s admitted to the infectious disease ward.
They try various antibiotics, but there is absolutely no response.
They scramble to run every possible test imaginable, and once again, every single result is normal. But that 103°F fever just won't budge.
The swelling in the testicle persists. A second urologist takes a look and says, "Nope, it's not cancer." They have no idea what it is.
Overnight, his vision in one eye goes blurry—he can barely see anything. An emergency ophthalmology exam reveals a catastrophic situation; he's at risk of losing his sight entirely. He's starting to look cross-eyed.
The fevers keep coming back, and all tests remain normal. A chest X-ray suggests potential pneumonia, but then, miraculously, the pneumonia just vanishes after two days.
At the infectious disease unit, they repeat every single test multiple times. Every single time, the results are perfectly normal.
The conclusion? Suspected autoimmune disease. Since nobody knows what's going on, he gets transferred to immunology at Mayo Clinic.
At Mayo Clinic, the fever stays high, hitting 107°F constantly. One doctor suspects vasculitis. They rush through all the tests, but everything is normal. The vasculitis theory is tossed out.
Two days after arriving at Mayo Clinic, an ultrasound shows some kind of clot—they order strict bed rest to prevent it from traveling to the heart. Then, overnight, breathing becomes a massive struggle. He can barely speak. His lungs are filling with fluid. It's an emergency transfer to the ICU. Immediate intubation, ventilator, lung drainage.
Five days later, he finally wakes up without a fever for the first time in a month. The swelling is gone, his vision is nearly perfect, and the cross-eyed look is gone. Blood pressure and pulse are steady, oxygen saturation is at 100%.
Recovery seems to be going perfectly! He's talking normally, interacting, and starting to eat again. Still no fever.
Then, two days later, sudden cardiac arrest. Resuscitation efforts begin. This happens 2, 3, 4 times a day for the next three days. Through it all, he is conscious, talking, and eating normally. The diagnosis: myocarditis. Doctors say his heart is only pumping at 20-30% capacity. Emergency transfer to the Cardiac ICU. But wait—the myocarditis suspicion is thrown out too.
New diagnosis: TBC. As soon as he's moved, his oxygen levels plummet, and he's rushed back onto a ventilator. Within a few hours, his liver, pancreas, and every other organ start failing one by one. That's it. The end.
The TBC suspicion is later debunked.
It was a brutal, horrific fight. 😢 I truly don't believe there is a disease out there that can strike organs one by one overnight like this, systematically destroying everything until nothing is left. The doctors were completely powerless.
An acquaintance of mine is now experiencing 90% of these exact same symptoms, and they've decided to move them to immunology at Mayo Clinic. We'll just have to see how things go...
Does anyone here know what this could be? 😕
A healthy individual, 55 years old. He dealt with psoriasis for about 15 years, but that had actually cleared up by early 2012.
Suddenly, he hits a fever of about 102°F. We try to bring it down with meds, but it just keeps bouncing back every 5 or 6 hours. Blood work looks totally fine.
Fast forward about 10 days, and the fever spikes to 103°F, accompanied by intense chills. Even with heavy doses of medication, the fever comes right back after just two hours. Then, one testicle starts swelling up. We rush him to a urologist, and they initially suspect cancer.
We run blood tests and chest X-rays. Everything comes back normal. A TBC test is negative.
About 20 days into this whole ordeal, he’s admitted to the infectious disease ward.
They try various antibiotics, but there is absolutely no response.
They scramble to run every possible test imaginable, and once again, every single result is normal. But that 103°F fever just won't budge.
The swelling in the testicle persists. A second urologist takes a look and says, "Nope, it's not cancer." They have no idea what it is.
Overnight, his vision in one eye goes blurry—he can barely see anything. An emergency ophthalmology exam reveals a catastrophic situation; he's at risk of losing his sight entirely. He's starting to look cross-eyed.
The fevers keep coming back, and all tests remain normal. A chest X-ray suggests potential pneumonia, but then, miraculously, the pneumonia just vanishes after two days.
At the infectious disease unit, they repeat every single test multiple times. Every single time, the results are perfectly normal.
The conclusion? Suspected autoimmune disease. Since nobody knows what's going on, he gets transferred to immunology at Mayo Clinic.
At Mayo Clinic, the fever stays high, hitting 107°F constantly. One doctor suspects vasculitis. They rush through all the tests, but everything is normal. The vasculitis theory is tossed out.
Two days after arriving at Mayo Clinic, an ultrasound shows some kind of clot—they order strict bed rest to prevent it from traveling to the heart. Then, overnight, breathing becomes a massive struggle. He can barely speak. His lungs are filling with fluid. It's an emergency transfer to the ICU. Immediate intubation, ventilator, lung drainage.
Five days later, he finally wakes up without a fever for the first time in a month. The swelling is gone, his vision is nearly perfect, and the cross-eyed look is gone. Blood pressure and pulse are steady, oxygen saturation is at 100%.
Recovery seems to be going perfectly! He's talking normally, interacting, and starting to eat again. Still no fever.
Then, two days later, sudden cardiac arrest. Resuscitation efforts begin. This happens 2, 3, 4 times a day for the next three days. Through it all, he is conscious, talking, and eating normally. The diagnosis: myocarditis. Doctors say his heart is only pumping at 20-30% capacity. Emergency transfer to the Cardiac ICU. But wait—the myocarditis suspicion is thrown out too.
New diagnosis: TBC. As soon as he's moved, his oxygen levels plummet, and he's rushed back onto a ventilator. Within a few hours, his liver, pancreas, and every other organ start failing one by one. That's it. The end.
The TBC suspicion is later debunked.
It was a brutal, horrific fight. 😢 I truly don't believe there is a disease out there that can strike organs one by one overnight like this, systematically destroying everything until nothing is left. The doctors were completely powerless.
An acquaintance of mine is now experiencing 90% of these exact same symptoms, and they've decided to move them to immunology at Mayo Clinic. We'll just have to see how things go...
Does anyone here know what this could be? 😕