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Trampled by Zebra's


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20 years of practice

 

This week takes the cake as the most strange week in 2 decades of work.....

 

 

 

This week I am getting trampled by a herd of zerbra's... not just one (these are all patients that are my PCP patients where I am the ONLY one responsible for their care.)  I consulted outside specialists, and ran all these cases independently except brief discussions after the fact for the two MRI neuro brain cases.  

Dx                                      who was consulted

Critical subclavian stenosis with cool hand - ER and transfer out urgently

New Dx Lung CA (on LDCT on new patient that old pcp never ordered) - surgery and onc

New lymphoma Dx  (on LDCT on new patient that old pcp never ordered) - surgery, onc, cards, vascular, inpatient

Vestibular Neuroma growing into the deep brain - presented with shoulder weakness - neuro surg and ENT

Aortic Root Graft Infection from surgery 8 months ago - also new patient with vague complaints, ID, Vascular Surgeon, labs and ID follow up

Some type of corpus callosum T2 enhancing lesion on MRI - sending to neuro after lab work up

new onset schizophrenia in heavy cannabis user - MH

taking over T supplement on a patient fired by Uro 8 months ago - post testicular ca years ago...... all me....

 

this is all on top of the regular run of the mill PCP issues with DM, CHF, MH, and the likes.....  and now I am on call the entire week and weekend...  

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I read on an anti PA/NP Reddit thread that physicians were complaining that PA's shouldn't get independent practice because PA's aren't taught about any of the zebras.  I was stunned, since I remember PA school teaching a large quantity of rare diseases and expecting us to know details of each one.  But that's the assumption that physicians have of what we were taught.

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14 hours ago, Photograph51 said:

I read on an anti PA/NP Reddit thread that physicians were complaining that PA's shouldn't get independent practice because PA's aren't taught about any of the zebras.  I was stunned, since I remember PA school teaching a large quantity of rare diseases and expecting us to know details of each one.  But that's the assumption that physicians have of what we were taught.

funny  because the two brain MRI that I reviewed with the FP docs got eyes roll and "I don't know send them to neuro" 

I know what I don't know, and I know when something doesn't present typically and when to start imaging/work up.  I may not know the exact end Dx, but neither does the doc.....

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3 hours ago, iconic said:

The new onset schizophrenia sounds more like substance-induced psychosis 

Maybe, maybe not, depending on age.  It's looking like MJ use in youth is prompting schizophrenia to develop when it otherwise might not have. I'm interested to see where the evidence leads here...

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8 hours ago, iconic said:

The new onset schizophrenia sounds more like substance-induced psychosis 

Starts as that but turns perm.   Now the 4 case I have seen.  I am thinking this will not be a zebra in a few years but instead a broken down old mare that everyone knows.  

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1 hour ago, CAAdmission said:

Interesting. Do you think substance abuse is altering brain chem and directly causing psych problems, or simply unmasking things that would have come to light later?

Probably something like being the environmental trigger for a latent genetic potential. I can't say I have really studied it, but in Washington State it's pretty inescapable.

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9 hours ago, rev ronin said:

Maybe, maybe not, depending on age.  It's looking like MJ use in youth is prompting schizophrenia to develop when it otherwise might not have. I'm interested to see where the evidence leads here...

Well if they are experiencing visual hallucinations it’s more consistent with substance use. But can’t r/o substance-induced psychosis unless they stay off the substance for 2 months.. marijuana can absolutely trigger new-onset schizophrenia or mood disorders with right (wrong?) family history/genetic predisposition. It really doesn’t have any sort of good evidence for anything mental health

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22 minutes ago, ventana said:

First couple episodes seem to improve after DC of cannabis.  But they go back to it like a moth to a flame.  By 3-4 time they just live there.  No coming back.  So sad.  

Yeah, getting those habituated as youth off cannabis products is seriously challenging. I don't see such negative effects in my 50+ year old injured workers, but my teenaged through mid-20's eating disorders population does not seem to do so well with the pot. Again, recreational weed is legal and has been for almost a decade now in Washington state, so what we're seeing is likely a new normal... we just need descriptive stats to document it, because "data" is not the plural of "anecdote."

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On 10/27/2022 at 9:50 AM, CAAdmission said:

Interesting. Do you think substance abuse is altering brain chem and directly causing psych problems, or simply unmasking things that would have come to light later?

 

3 hours ago, sk732 said:

Yes?

I actually think it creates psychotic events with long term daily use....  with out having to have psych hx.  Think it is more a genetic thing.... IMHO

 

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