Interesting Case of " Co-rumination "

I haven ' t written much about actual medical cases I see here at my hospital but this one intrigued me. Some details have been altered of course. < br / > < br / > A 30ish female showed up in our emergency department complaining of a sharp, stabbing pain in her left neck (10 out of 10 in intensity) for several days along with a palpable mass over the area. The pain had been present for two to three months but not nearly this intense nor had the mass been as large. She also complained of fatigue, shortness of breath, tactile fevers (felt hot but hadn ' t actually checked her temperature), and a range of other symptoms. The intern who presented this case to me found absolutely nothing on physical exam: normal vital signs, no mass, lungs clear, etc. < br / > < br / > My impression just from the presentation was that this was unadulterated BS (medicalese for " move along, nothing to see here " ). How wrong I was. < br / > < br / > When I walked into the exam room there were two healthy-appearing women sitting, both with the same look of overwhelming dread. Usually I ' m fairly insightful but in this case, it took several seconds to determine which one was the patient. Seeing an " older " attending, the patient ' s friend whom I ' ll call " Patient #2 " immediately unloaded Patient #1 ' s symptoms upon me. < br / > < br / > Patient #2 related in great detail every ache, every sensation, every pain, every bowel movement, indeed every agonized breath of her friends over t...
Source: California Medicine Man - Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Art of Medicine Medical Education Source Type: blogs