Skip Navigation Links.
Collapse Issue 488:<br />17 Feb 2020<br />_____________Issue 488:
17 Feb 2020
_____________
Collapse  NEWS NEWS
Power cut, roads closed and trains cancelled after storm
Southern Spirit women's captain out for four weeks
School sets up phone charging station
Water restrictions imposed after big rain
Pearl Beach residents trapped in street after storm
Community group asks residents to complete survey
Killcare residents query support for phone tower
Council grants $7500 to Peninsula projects
Australia Day festivities attract 10,000 to Woy Woy
Marquart calls Wallarah decision 'environment crap'
CWA branch submits plans for Umina hall
Hazardous chemical disposal
Clydesdales visit child care centre
Dancers for Chinese New Year
Joy celebrates 101 years
Opera in the Arboretum returns for 15th year
Exchange student tells of experience in Austria
Rotary club celebrates 44th year
Events held in lead-up to International Women's Day
Stall provides information about guide dogs
Smiles on Dials for disabled surfers
Roles for volunteers at Bays Fair
Float planned for Mardi Gras
Collapse  FORUM FORUM
Extend tidy town spirit indefinitely
We call ourselves civilised
Council issues order to remove native ground cover
Peninsula has 1000 water bores
Train disruptions becoming more frequent
Collapse  HEALTH HEALTH
Panel discussion about autism spectrum disorder
Heart health promoted on Valentine's Day
Surgeons complete breast operation
Auto-immune disease attacked brain cells
Collapse  ARTS ARTS
Dancing by the Water series starts at Lions Park
All-round entertainer at folk club
Author talk in Woy Woy
Pearl Beach literary lunch attracts 100
Collapse  EDUCATION EDUCATION
Debbie Ritchie nominated for State association award
Students urged to apply for performing arts program
Guessing competition for injured wildlife
School to hold Teddy Bears' Picnic
Students attend anti-bullying show
Ettalong students succeed at swimming carnival
Woy Woy students selected
Swimming carnival at leisure centre
Collapse  SPORT SPORT
Golf course affected by flood and storm damage
Swans offer opportunity to try Aussie Rules
Ettalong women take out Summer League
Tahlia to compete in Para World Swimming Cup
Former Ettalong player named in Australian bowls team
Boxer defends unbeaten record
Local rugby league players make NRL Rookies list
Vacancies in netball and boxing

Auto-immune disease attacked brain cells

A Woy Woy man wants residents to become more aware of a little-known medical condition that he believes almost cost him his life.

Mr Jackson Tumpey was a normal 23-year-old when he was diagnosed with auto-immune encephalitis, an illness that caused his immune system to attack healthy brain cells.

He said that over time the attacks on healthy cells lead to brain inflammation which can cause neurological and psychiatric symptoms, including impaired memory and cognition and problems with balance, speech and vision to full blown psychosis, aggression, inappropriate sexual behaviours, panic attacks, compulsive behaviours and intense emotions.

Symptoms may fluctuate, but often progress over days to a few weeks, he said.

He said that if left untreated the disease could progress to loss of consciousness, coma and in some cases death.

Mr Tumpey said he was diagnosed on September 10 last year.

"I was on my usual drive to work on the M1 when it all started.

"I lost the ability to make cognitive decisions and went into autopilot.

"I managed to drive from the Central Coast to Sydney successfully, but I still don't remember the whole drive," Mr Tumpey said.

"Within two hours of arriving to work, I lost the ability to complete a coherent sentence.

"I became more and more frustrated because as far as I was concerned, I was making sense, but no one could understand me.

"The only way to describe it is when you are half asleep and cannot speak coherently until you're fully awake, except I couldn't do anything to fix this," Mr Tumpey said.

After another few hours, Mr Tumpey began losing control of his movement and began hallucinating.

By the time he arrived at Royal North Shore Hospital, he could barely walk without falling over and was dismayed to find that hospital staff suspected he was in the throes of a drug overdose not an unknown medical episode.

"The nurses believed that I was having a drug overdose and were asking me how long I had been using and what had I taken," Mr Tumpey recalled.

After a urine sample eliminated drug use, Mr Tumpey underwent a series of tests.

"An MRI confirmed I had inflammation on the brain, but doctors weren't sure what was causing it."

Mr Tumpey spent a few days undergoing tests for everything from tuberculosis to cancer as doctors whittled down the list of possible causes until he was diagnosed with auto-immune encephalitis.

Mr Tumpey said those days of waiting were some of the worst of his life, along with the following fortnight where he was kept in the hospital's neurology ward.

"The doctors didn't want me to go outside, but after five days of pleading I was allowed to walk through the gardens."

After almost a month in hospital, Mr Tumpey was discharged and then began the process of getting his life back in order.

"I had been bedridden with the flu a week or two before I was hospitalised and doctors suspect that's when the auto-immune encephalitis emerged," Mr Tumpey said.

Mr Tumpey said his mental abilities came back within a week of his hospital stay.

However, he found that, while he could now walk without fear of falling, he walked at odd angles and couldn't walk straight without actively thinking about it.

He is still contending with a licence suspension imposed due to his treatment involving anti-seizure medicine.

While the suspension has limited his independence, Mr Tumpey is taking it day by day and is now sharing his story to raise awareness about his condition.

"I hope that more people become more aware of auto-immune encephalitis and that medical professionals can learn to diagnose this condition more swiftly.

"If doctors and nurses can see the signs and test for this sooner, people can begin to be treated quicker and reduce treatment and recovery time," he said.





Skip Navigation Links.

Skip Navigation Links.
     Phone 4342 5333     Email us. Copyright © 2020 The Peninsula's Own News Service Inc    PO Box 585 Woy Woy NSW 2256