wurzelma@aecom.UUCP (John Wurzelmann) (02/26/86)
Congratulations to Mr. Gordon Banks for getting the answer to last week's medical puzzler which is reprised directly below. You're sitting in your office, scratching your nasal turbinates with the tip of your pencil, when your receptionist chimes in over the intercom, "A Mr. Guy LePew to see you Doctor?" "Send him in!" you reply and in a matter of moments a short, but muscular man walks into your office wearing a moustache and carrying a hockey stick. Suddenly, as the door slams shut behind him, the fellow jumps four feet into the air and crashes to the floor. "Excusez-moi monsieur," he says as he scrambles to his feet. "You okay?" you murmur as you assist the gentleman. "Oui,oui, eeet eees only zeee scratch," he says as he seats himself. "So what's the problem?" you say while attempting to balance your reflex hammer on your nose. "Zat ees just eeet monsieur," says the distraught patient, "Everytime I hear zee loud noice, I mazt jomp into zee air." "Huh??," you say in bewilderment, as your reflex hammer falls off your nose and clangs noisily upon the floor. With this sound, the little man once again leaps into the air, this time knocking three candles off your chandelier on the way down. You are perplexed. Which consultant should you call? What's wrong with this man? HERE'S THE ANSWER !!!! This illness is known as Jumping Frenchman's Disease or the syndrome of the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine or as Myriachit. This entity was first des- cribed in 1878 by Dr. George Beard at the 4th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association. He described 50 cases and noted that the disorder began in childhood, was familial, rarely encountered in females and lasted through life. It is marked by an exagerated startle response, causing the sufferer to leap violently into the air at the least noise or surprise. These patients also suffer echolalia and the irresistable compulsion to obey commands even if doing so might be injurious to themselves. "When two 'jumpers' were close together and commanded to 'strike,' each struck the other simultaneously, often severe and painful blows." The disease gets it's name from the fact that the first victims were often French-Canadians or residents of Maine. The term Myriachit comes from the Russian "to act foolishly" and basically connotes a similar syndrome which they of course claim to have discovered first. At any rate, though a rare entity, cases of this syndrome do occasionally crop up and have been described in the literature as recently as 1967.(*) For more on this strange illness, see V.42 of the Handbook of Clinical Neurology, p.231 John Wurzelmann * No doubt there will soon be an epidemic of this disease among hypochondriacs on the news net.