Mother, 39, discovers her delusional symptoms were caused by her body attacking her BRAIN

January 15, 2019  15:10

A mother-of-three had to be taken to a psychiatric hospital when a tumour on her ovary triggered a brain condition which made her hallucinate and turn violent.

Lorina Gutierrez, 39, suffered from fits, her heart stopped and she lost the ability to walk, talk and eat by herself because of the rare illness.

Her doctors thought she was having a nervous breakdown and her husband, Stephen, 42, even splashed her with water because he thought she was possessed.

But the real culprit was a rare swelling of the brain called autoimmune encephalitis, triggered by a huge growth on one of her her ovaries.

Mr Gutierrez, a truck driver, said: 'I was so scared, it was like she was possessed. The night after she came home from the ER we were up the whole night.

'She couldn't sleep and she was just talking gibberish. She kept saying "We need to get out of here, we need to leave."

'She kept getting up and trying to leave the house.

'The next morning I brought her to her doctor, who asked me had she been drinking or using drugs.'

The couple, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, are parents to Jonathan, 25, Matthew, 19 and Alyssa, 16, and are now determined to raise awareness about the condition.

Autoimmune encephalitis is a serious illness in which the body's immune system overreacts – in this case to Mrs Gutierrez's tumour – and attacks someone's brain.

It can cause seizures, difficulty moving or communicating, psychosis, aggression and panic attacks.

According to the International Autoimmune Encephalitis Society, the condition affects around 90,000 people worldwide each year.

Mr and Mrs Gutierrez, and their doctors, were baffled by her sudden change in character, which made her paranoid there were cameras in her home.

She said: 'They believed I was having a nervous breakdown even though I didn't have a history of mental health issues.

'Over the course of a few days, my husband said my attitude completely changed.

'I can't remember this but he said I was getting scared and I was worried there were cameras in the house.

'I told him we had to unplug them. I kept trying to escape and get out of the house.'

The situation reached crisis point when she tried to punch her husband during a medical assessment, and medics decided to send her to a psychiatric unit.

'The doctors thought it might be depression or a nervous breakdown and I trusted that,' Mr Gutierrez said.

'During her psychiatric consultation she took a swing at me and we had to hold her down, it was so out of character.

'It was then she was admitted to the psychiatric hospital. At one point I threw a little bit of holy water on her.'

Comparing his wife's terrifying behaviour to 1973 horror film, The Exorcist, he joked: 'Afterwards, my family told me they wouldn't have been surprised if her head started spinning after I did that.'

While in the psychiatric hospital doctors realised Mrs Gutierrez's symptoms were being caused by her immune system attacking her brain.

And it was then they found a six-by-six inch (15cm) tumour on one of her ovaries.

Autoimmune encephalitis can occur as a result of growths because the body produces antibodies to tackle the tumour but they overreact and affect the brain.

By this point Mrs Gutierrez was experiencing six seizures a day as doctors removed the tumour and tried to clear her body of the dangerous antibodies using a process called plasmapheresis – filtering of the blood – and heavy steroids.

Mrs Gutierrez said: 'During my time in hospital I coded blue and they had to resuscitate me.

'I lost all function, the ability to walk, talk, eat or even go to the restroom by myself. I was a 39-year-old woman wearing adult diapers.

'Over the course of three months I underwent speech, physical, and occupational therapy but I don't remember much of it. It's a blur.

'Right now I'm in remission but I could relapse at any time. It's not curable, it's only treatable. It has impacted my whole life. It's been a hugely traumatic experience.'

Despite the trauma of her illness, Mrs Gutierrez believes her faith has helped her stay positive.

And she and her husband are now dedicated to raising awareness about autoimmune encephalitis.

Despite the trauma of her illness, Lorina believes her faith has helped her stay positive.

She said: 'I'm a survivor and I really feel like I can help others with experience and information. I know now that that is my purpose.'

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