# What disease does this sound like?



## Lorewen (Dec 2, 2016)

This character has been sick for a while (months?), but she's been hiding it from most people, maybe even from her closest friends and the grandson who lives with her, but that's negotiable. She has been going to the best doctor in the area (think 19th century medicine), and he says there's nothing more he can do for her. Then one day she collapses (or something?) and it suddenly becomes common knowledge that she is dying. At that point, I want her to have a few days left.

If I can put a name to this, I'm sure there are plenty of medical sites where I could get more details, but so far I don't really have anything to search for.


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## Ptolemy (Dec 2, 2016)

Sounds like Tuberculosis or TB to me, if it's 19th century medicine. If your going on 19th century medicine, they didn't know much about TB, like they knew about it, but they didn't k_now_ about it. Scarlet fever, influenza, Chicken Pox, measles could be factors possibly. 

I mean I would need more description than "sick" to make a for sure "medical diagnosis" to be honest. Is she coughing? Losing weight? Visibly sick? Rashes? Sneezing? I need more info to make an educated guess here.


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## Lorewen (Dec 2, 2016)

Well, since she knew to go to the doctor, and he knew there was nothing he could do, there must be symptoms that she at least could detect. But she is a public figure, and has succeeded in hiding this from most people until now. So it can't be anything too obvious. I suppose a rash would work, if it's not on her face or hands. There could be some weight loss or fatigue, just not enough to be noticed by people who have their own troubles to worry about. I think a persistent cough would catch people's attention, if only because they would be afraid it was "catching." Does that help?


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## Ptolemy (Dec 2, 2016)

Lorewen said:


> Well, since she knew to go to the doctor, and he knew there was nothing he could do, there must be symptoms that she at least could detect. But she is a public figure, and has succeeded in hiding this from most people until now. So it can't be anything too obvious. I suppose a rash would work, if it's not on her face or hands. There could be some weight loss or fatigue, just not enough to be noticed by people who have their own troubles to worry about. I think a persistent cough would catch people's attention, if only because they would be afraid it was "catching." Does that help?



Not really because that rules out Measles, Mumps, Scarlet Fever, TB and Influenza. 

I mean in the 1800s you couldn't "hide" a disease that would kill you that well. 

I suggest giving her Chorea with a dash of Huntington's disease. 

Huntington's would kill her because it is a disease that kills off brain cells around the age of 35-44. It can start around 20, but that's less than 8% of cases world wide. Now Huntington's disease was found in 1841 I think, and expanded on by George Huntington in the 1870's which makes it perfect for your book. A person's cognitive abilities literally wither away with this disease, but to an extent it is controllable. Maybe not enough for your time frame but it is controllable. The thing is that their mental behavior changes too (check the table)

Here is a little chart that shows the symptoms of Huntington's disease: 

 
Now I say add Chorea because they could actually detect Chorea. If this truly is the best doctor in the country then he could possibly make the correlation between Chorea and Huntington

Chorea is a muscle disease that causes sudden, jerky, but controlled movements that are involentary, but they are easily hideable in their early stages, also Chorea is an inherited trait of Huntington's (which gives you a twoferone there.)

So take your pick of symptoms and go to town with Huntington's

Note: They wouldn't be able to detect Huntington's directly since it was found to be a genetic dominate trait through genetic testing in 1993, but people who had Chorea most likely had Huntington's. Chorea cannot kill you directly, Huntington's can.


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## ppsage (Dec 2, 2016)

TB is the 19th century disease but to get that collapse and demise I'd say cancer might be the better choice. Uterine cancer produces slight bleeding which would be alarming but private. Quick googling reveals some history available, but might need some library work to get it real. Should be there though.


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## K.S. Crooks (Dec 2, 2016)

I would suggest staying away from something that is communicable (passed from one person to another). Diseases that were known and contagious were well scrutinized since people were less likely to be cured. This would also keep you from having to explain why her son and others around her have not become ill, since many cause coughing, rashes, swelling and other signs. The exception to this would be sexually transmitted  infections such as syphilis. She could have one for a long time, have a sudden onset of symptoms and have a lesser chance of passing it to her son or friends.


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## PSFoster (Jan 19, 2020)

Maybe a slow-growing tumor that causes discomfort. They would not know if it was a tumor without surgery because there were no X-rays. Were there no C-rays in this time period?  Google when X-rays were available. Some small towns or villages would not have had them anyway. The doctor is confounded because he is treating symptoms but the patient is not getting better.


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## Amnesiac (Jan 19, 2020)

I'd go with pancreatic or liver cancer. Ovarian/cervical cancer is another possibility.


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## Space Cadet (Jan 19, 2020)

Consumption. Isn't that TB?


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## Amnesiac (Jan 20, 2020)

Yes. Consumption is another term for tuberculosis.


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## Darren White (Jan 21, 2020)

You all do realise you are replying to a 3 year old post?


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## bdcharles (Jan 21, 2020)

Darren White said:


> You all do realise you are replying to a 3 year old post?



No sense rushing these things...


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## KenTR (Feb 2, 2020)

Darren White said:


> You all do realise you are replying to a 3 year old post?



Well then I guess it's safe to say that Lorewen's character is long dead by now.


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## Space Cadet (Feb 6, 2020)

Don't have to fire the actor.


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## Amnesiac (Feb 6, 2020)

They might've got better and then got sick again. You don't know.


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## Space Cadet (Feb 6, 2020)

Amnesiac said:


> They might've got better and then got sick again. You don't know.



I couldn’t resist. We all must laugh at ourselves. It must be noted that the prior poster was bloody upset about a character Being gone forever and not a one person asked if the OP was OK. Here we are inadvertently reviving a thread With OP asking about a rare decease (that I refuse to call anything else BUT consumption) and OP’s out there somewhere wondering if we’re still single, if we still think of her. 

Well, We do! 

Screw all the fabulous characters we all loved so much and come back OP at least to tell us the thread looks great, even after all these years!!!


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## Amnesiac (Feb 6, 2020)

Space Cadet, if there was a "LOVE" option, instead of a "Like," you'd have it, buddy! Great post! LOL!


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## RHPeat (Feb 7, 2020)

Lorewen said:


> This character has been sick for a while (months?), but she's been hiding it from most people, maybe even from her closest friends and the grandson who lives with her, but that's negotiable. She has been going to the best doctor in the area (think 19th century medicine), and he says there's nothing more he can do for her. Then one day she collapses (or something?) and it suddenly becomes common knowledge that she is dying. At that point, I want her to have a few days left.
> 
> If I can put a name to this, I'm sure there are plenty of medical sites where I could get more details, but so far I don't really have anything to search for.




This fits many different forms of cancer. What would cause her to see a doctor? Anything abnormal as a lump in an organ along with periodic unbearable pains. The end might be related to blood in the bowls or urine or mouth, eyes or ears depending on the cancer. It's slow at first until it starts matastasis. where the disease starts to put cells into the blood stream to attach to other weak places in the body. But Sepsis also works in a similar way but you die quicker. Cancer is a slow death until metastasis occurs. Then the death is imminent within a year or two tops if untreated. Surgery in 1900's might slow it down if you live through the surgery; at time it causes it to spread. The body rots from the inside out in a sense with the cancer living off the tissues of the body for it's own need. The lump gets bigger. Women were at the expense of the medic system the early 1900's concerning cancer all studies were for cancers that men had. Uterine and breast cancers weren't even looked into until 1990's. Take a look at the history. You could write a story on the numbers; they will tell you a lot about the survival rate. The sooner the better for treatment of any cancer. Then it may be eradicated from the system by changing diet and use of meds and surgery. I have had a cancer removed with no reoccurrence for over 6 years. 

RHP.


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## Lorewen (Mar 16, 2021)

I'm back! Thank you all so much for continuing to offer answers for three years after I apparently dropped off the face of the earth! I'm really quite moved by what I found when I managed to post enough to get access to this section and see my own thread again. I have been through a lot in the past four years, good and bad - and the bad led to the good, so it's all good in the end - but in the process nearly all of my stories, let alone my research for them, got shelved for most of that time. So I do still need and appreciate your ideas for this character. I've gotten nowhere with her since I first posted the question. Now that I'm ready to write her story again, I will be sure to look up some of your suggestions to see what works best for her.


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## MistWolf (Mar 17, 2021)

The cancer. They didn't call it cancer back in those days. They called it the cancer.


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## PSFoster (Mar 24, 2021)

I kind of like the syphilis suggestion. You can have syphilis for 20 years without any symptoms. It was a well-known disease clear back in the 1700s.


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## EternalGreen (Mar 25, 2021)

it could be the flu if it's the 19th century, or bronchitis . . . or the common cold . . . or a splinter . . . or a piece of dust in her eye . . .


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## Lorewen (Aug 9, 2021)

This woman has been celibate since her husband died twenty years ago, and before that neither she nor her husband ever had sex with anyone but each other, so syphilis is probably not the answer.

TB ... well, I'd really rather this wasn't contagious. That would open a whole new can of worms with the other characters.

As for Huntingdon's, I need her acting as a competent leader of her people until really close to the end. How severe are the mental behavioral changes?

I'm liking the uterine cancer idea. This doctor definitely has the skills for surgery if anyone does, but he wouldn't have the meds we'd use today. Even diet changes would be difficult with her lifestyle. Her people are poor; they pretty much have to eat what they can get (which is mostly forest game and garden produce - and alcohol, since it's considered safer than water). The only reason she can afford the doctor's help is because she married into a family for whom he has a standing commitment to provide free medical care whenever they need it. If the surgery by itself didn't cure her, I could see him being stumped like I described.


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## RHPeat (Aug 12, 2021)

Disease: Any infection in the blood could enter the spine. And then physical activity becomes extremely painful. So sexual relationships in the sense of a conjugal manner as intercourse would be very limited or even nonexistent. Intimacy on the other hand could take other forms expression through mutual consent.

Just realize that infections are not limited to sexual infections at all when it comes to the spine. Any kind of bacterial infection that infects any major organ can enter the spine; it can also be encysted within the spine to later erupt when the back is stressed by movement. Possibly even cause death. Septic infections are common place and could do this. Many people die each year from septic infections where the bacteria roams the body through the blood and attacks all the major organs over time. It depends on how virulent the bacteria actually is, and what antibiotic are in place to fight the bacteria that is causing the infection.

Before antibiotics hundreds of thousands died of septic infections during WWI. With antibiotics in WWII the infection rate dropped off 98 percent as survivors; it was a matter of getting inoculated in time after being wounded. (Bacteria can enter any wound or skin break and then is spread by blood flow.) This change in survival rate was due the first antibiotic Penicillin; which had been discovered in WWI and wasn't used. 

It's an interesting story if you care to look into it. It was discovered by accident, serendipity — for someone wanted to know what happened. It was discover by leaving a petri-dish open and coming back after the weekend to find it had killed all the bacteria in the dish. The problem then was to mass produce it for the all the troops in England. It wasn't feasible yet. They solved that procedure in the US in WWII with the help of two British doctors along with the American team, and saved the lives of many wounded soldiers.


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