As the days get warmer and the nights get shorter, we are all reminded of the fact that this semester is coming to a close. It is with this fact that I must inform you all that this will be the last blog post that I will create for this blog; however, I think that this is going to be the best one yet. I have been saving this perplexing story for last, and I think that it will be the best medical mystery that I have shared with you all. So, without any more delay, I want to you all to imagine something.

 

I want you to imagine the last time you got a cramp in your calf. Think about the stiffness of your muscle and unrelenting pain that it caused. Think about the lack of control that you had over the situation as you scrambled to try to stretch out and loosen your muscle. Now, I want you to imagine this pain all throughout your body, and the panic that you felt. This nightmare is an everyday occurrence for Kristie Tunick.

 

Over the past decade, Kristie has suffered through many different medical conditions, all of which were unexplainable since she was so young and healthy. When she was twenty-nine years old, she began to have intense stomach pains. Confused by this medical issue, Kristie eventually brushed off these pains, as they were not drastically affecting her life. Soon after this, Kristie’s health grew worse. Rather than just stomach pains, Kristie’s entire body was in pain. She reported that her muscles began to tense up rapidly and that she felt paralyzed. This started to severely worry Kristie and her family, mainly because there was no logical reason for why she had these symptoms.

 

After searching from hospital to hospital in her area, Kristie finally found some answers to her condition. Although the diagnosis was still up in the air, it was believed that Kristie had Stiff Person Syndrome, a condition in which a person’s muscles tense up all around his or her body at random points. Now, before I discuss what causes this disease, it is crucial that I explain to you the physiology behind muscle contraction and cramps.

 

To begin, muscles are made of cells called myofibrils. These myofibrils are made of two major proteins: actin and myosin. During a muscle contraction, an electrical signal is sent from the brain to the targeted muscle. This electrical signal causes the release of calcium into the surrounding areas of the muscle cells. The calcium promotes the binding of the actin and myosin filaments, causing them come together as one structure and to slide past one another. This sliding effect causes the muscle to get shorter and therefore creates a muscle contraction. Now, a muscle cramp occurs when random electrical signals cause these filaments to bind together despite the lack of a stimulus meaning that the brain told the muscles to contract for no reason. This random electrical signal causes calcium to rush into the muscle cells and creates this sliding effect between the actin and myosin.

 

Now, with this background knowledge, we will be able to explore the causes of Stiff Person Syndrome. Although scientists do not fully know what the true causes for this disease are, I can tell you that during this disease, a patient’s brain fires many electrical signals to the random muscles in the body. This causes the random muscle cramps that I was talking about earlier and the extreme rigidity that results in a person’s body. Many people suffering from this syndrome have different severities of the disease. In Kristie’s case, I would classify her as one of the patients who has a more severe case, mainly because this condition has impacted every aspect of her everyday life. Without the help of her husband, Kristie would not be able to get out of bed or eat food. Her paralysis provides her with no mobility as she struggles every single day to do the same things that she could before she was diagnosed with this disease. Kristie even reported that she sometimes cannot breath because she has no control over her diaphragm.

 

Although there is minimal hope for Kristie to recover since the disease is so rare, many of her family members have provided her with a great support system that has given her the will to keep fighting. With the constant help from her husband, Kristie is able to live as normal of a life as she can. Hopefully in the very near future, we will be able to solve this medical mystery and provide the care for Kristie that she desperately needs. Personally, I cannot imagine being in the situation that she is in, always in extreme pain from the random muscle cramps.

 

I hope this was a very satisfying last post!