'Diagnosis': Two patients with different forms of paralysis battle fear and skepticism to learn the truth about their condition
The final episode of Netflix's 'Diagnosis,' a documentary web television series based on a column of the same name by Yale School of Medicine physician and author Dr. Lisa Sanders, goes beyond the scope of the previous episodes and covers the stories of not one, but two patients in Connecticut with similar conditions side-by-side.
The first is 61-year-old Joe. A respected dentist in the community, Joe had been quite fit and athletic his entire life but found things beginning to go awry two years ago. It started with a sensation of pins and needles in his feet, and while it didn't affect him initially, the numbness started climbing up his knees and eventually up to his waist. Now, he is paraplegic from the waist down and is incontinent.
Luck has not gone his way either. A procedure to figure out his neuropathy resulted in an almost-fatal blood clot that saw his vital organs shut down. Doctors had been successful in reviving him, but the damage had been done, and he was left bedridden in the hospital for five months. Over the past year, Joe has gone to some of the world's most reputed medical institutions, including the Mayo Clinic and the Yale New Haven Hospital, and has had diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, and other autoimmune diseases ruled out. However, he has learned nothing that would help him recover. It has been a difficult road, but Joe has maintained an unwavering trust in the country's medical system. He had been a well-respected dentist in the community before his paralysis left him unable to work, and his time in the field has seen him become a staunch proponent of western medicine.
The second patient is 44-year-old Ann. She, like Joe, suffers from an undiagnosed condition that resulted in paralysis, except in her case, the paralysis is intermittent. Without warning, the right side of her body gave in and failed her. The symptoms started two years ago when she felt what she thought was heartburn. But then, to her horror, she realized her face was changing as well. Eventually, it graduated to full facial paralysis. Doctors suspected her symptoms were in line with that of a stroke and had her admitted to a stroke ward. They then tested for the obvious culprits - seizures, multiple sclerosis, lupus et al - but CAT scan, MRIs, and other tests came back negative. In the end, they told her it was stress, and that it was psychosomatic, i.e. all in her head, but to her, it's still all very much real. She feels she's being disregarded and not being taken seriously because she's a person of color, and that there was a stereotype amongst doctors that they did it for attention. As a result, she's developed a distrust that affects the way she listens to medical professionals.
Both patients are suffering from a form of paralysis, and both are desperate for answers. However, their vastly different opinions and outlook of the medical community see them take differing paths. After Sanders' piece on the pair was published in the New York Times, they have been contacted by several individuals who have experienced similar, if not the same symptoms.
In the case of Joe, it was revealed that it could be the side-effect of a medication he had been taking for several years. The 61-year-old had been diagnosed with Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia, a rare and often fatal form of blood cancer, 15 years ago and a clinical trial he had undertaken at the time had seen a drug called Ibrutinib miraculously keep the cancer at bay. He had far exceeded the life-expectation for someone with Waldenstrom's because of Ibrutinib, but several were now telling him that it was likely that the drug was the root of his problem. And they had a point. After his almost-fatal procedure, Joe had been off the drug for five months and had started feeling a sensation in his toes again. Nerves take at least a year to repair themselves, so Joe had a difficult question to ask himself: Does he stop taking the drug and risk aggravating the Waldenstrom's, or does he continue taking it and give up the hope of walking again?
Ann was told her condition could be the result of a hemiplegic migraine or Lyme disease. She was confident it was the latter because she regularly foraged in the forests for mushrooms and felt it was not beyond reason she had been bitten by a tick. Doctors had tested for it previously, but she was confident it was a false negative. Unfortunately, even an expert on the disease ruled the same. She did not have Lyme disease. In her eagerness to pursue that diagnosis, she had completely disregarded another: functional neurological symptom disorder. Ann said she did not like the connotation associated with that disease because it implied that the symptoms were inside her head. Despite talking to multiple people who insisted that was not the case, she refused to meet with a doctor who specialized in the illness and continued to explore other avenues to little avail.
While the series has made it a point to highlight the plight of the patients who seem to be afflicted with conditions that have stumped even the country's best doctors, the finale shines a focus on how one's mindset can be crucial during recovery. It broadcasts a message that, sometimes, it's not just about knowing what's wrong, but also drawing up the courage to face up to the facts and accepting them.
Joe's and Ann's story is now streaming on Netflix, where you can watch how their case ends.