Mystery Illness Leaves Upstate N.Y. Teens With Twitches, Spasms And No Answers

Doctors Unsure Why The Lives Of Young People Have Changed For The Worse

January 27, 2012 11:54 PM

Thera Sanchez recounts her experiences with the illness (credit: CBS 2)

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LE ROY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — More than a dozen teens at a high school in upstate New York are suffering from a mystery illness that is leaving them susceptible to twitches and spasms.

Thera Sanchez started showing symptoms when she woke up from a nap.

“It’s very heartbreaking to me to be honest, knowing that right now I can’t do what I love,” she said.

Chelsey Dumars was stricken suddenly while in school.

“I couldn’t stop stuttering,” she said. “And then throughout the day, I got worse, and I started twitching and everything.”

The debilitating condition has completely changed the lives of many young people in the Genesee County town, reports CBS 2′s Maurice Dubois. Once vital, active teens have been left exhausted and in pain.

“I hate when it happens because my body is sore. Sometimes it gets me to the point where I want to cry from twitching so much,” Dumars said.

What’s worse for these teens is some of their diagnoses haven’t been clear.

“Last time I went to the neurologist, they said they’re not sure and they’ll keep looking into it, but besides that they haven’t told anyone anything,” Lydia Parker said.

Twelve of the cases have been confirmed as conversion disorder. Three new cases are suspected.

“Traditionally it’s some kind of stress or multiple stressors that provoke a physical reaction within the body. This is unconscious. It is not done purposefully,” Dr. Jennifer McVige said.

However, those who are suffering with the condition said it goes well beyond that.

“I don’t think this is in my head. I don’t think I can wake up from a nap and this can happen,” Sanchez said.

And their parents fear they may be running out of time.

“She does not have time for ‘I feel’ or guesswork or anything like that. She’s deteriorating,” said Melisa Phillips, Sanchez’ mother.

Health officials have ruled out several possible causes, including drugs, head trauma and environmental factors, but activist Erin Brockovich thinks the state was too quick to rule out environmental problems.

Some questions surround natural gas wells near the Le Roy Jr./Sr. High School, and possible toxic remnants from a 1970 train derailment.

“Whether it’s environmental or whatever’s going on, we have to find the answer,” said Dave Watson, Dumars’ father.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is also researching the disorder.

Please leave a comment below…

Steve C

Cellphone usage ?? a lot of girls, and we all know how they love to talk to each other.
robert m

Please Pray for these dear children and their families
D

Look for an obscure virus.

jekyllisland

Or a readily available vaccine, cell phone, fluoride laced drink or any of the countless chemicals that are sprayed on a daily basis.

It’s all starting to collapse

Dr.NO

yes.

And the book: “The Creature from Jekyll Island” was great!

Scott Laux

T.V. diagnosis.
Sal

Just what we need…Brochovich. This will be used by the anti-fracking crowd.
The usual suspects are trying to scare the vulnerable. These clusters of
weird symptoms happen all the time and could be due to a number of causes.
One theory that should not be discounted…..they may have been exposed to the beer with the same name as their county. I drank that swill in college in central NY and I am still suffering.

Gimlish

So Sal,

Tell me for fact what is used in the ‘Fracking Fluids” ?
Oh ya, GWB pass a law that they did not have to tell us…. Go figure
jd

Genesee “screamers,” right? Agree completely. Now THAT stuff is a toxic stew…

Hack

The new shots attack your nervous system. That’s what happens when you allow adjuvants to be used. Remember these are the same people that accidentally gave 100 million people a cancer causing virus, then knowingly gave it to another 100 million people. They don’t care and it is by design. Somewhere some sadistic creep is smiling because this is all part of their plan.

David

Don’t forget the people who went on to develop Down Syndrome after getting flu shots.

Many people don’t realize that there are new strains of Down Syndrome out there.

It isn’t a random chance at birth thing anymore, or being unlucky enough to be jabbed by an infected needle in a convenience store robbery.

Bob Boogie

All this vaccine stuff is ridiculous. Down Syndrome is a birth defect, you cannot develop it because it has to do with having an extra chromosome. You shouldn’t believe all the crap people write on their blogs.
B L Zebub

Well this is odd. Down’s syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by translocation of a chromosome in an ovum prior to fertilization. Occurs before the egg and sperm unite. One can’t get it from a flu shot. Not possible. You can argue that a flu shot might impact an ovum, but not an individual after conception.

Abaddon

Hope it’s not some new viral pathogen which is infectious? If it is were in trouble if it’s not diagnosed and identified quickly?
Angus

HPV Vaccine?

Lorissa md

No

JP

Reallly “Doc” ? How can you be so quick to rule it out? Getting some $$ from the drug company maybe? Birth control has been classified by the UN of all organizatons as a CARCINOGEN. Why the hell women take this stuff is beyond all logic.

humblemedstudent

Birth control, and I am assuming are you talking about the pill, has indeed been linked to increased risk of breast cancer, but it has also been shown to be protective against ovarian and uterine cancer.

Regarding vaccines, they make the drug companies very little money, and doctors usually lose money on them.

suziemaks

It could still be a vaccine problem. Vaccines come in batches. Perhaps a batch got contaminated. I would be checking hpv shots, flu shots, 8th grade shots.. Birth control pills… I would NEVER rule out anything if it were my child. I would want everything checked out.

Paul Stripe

Sounds like it is time for some diagnostics, how about a MRI and spinal fluid analysis to rule out meningitis, encephalitis and the like, there are viruses, parasites, bacteria, et al that can do this

Cali

you don’t realy think your the only one that has considered this, do you? i’m sure a neurologist that realizes his work is going to be scrutinized pondered this in the first 10 minutes of evaluation

Mel

I’ve had a similar issue for 10 years now, and no neurologist ever made such a suggestion. I had to come to that conclusion on my own. FOr a “medically advanced” country, we sure are in the dark ages. Dr’s hands are tied as to what they are even allowed to consider. If you want to study mass hysteria, rather than look to these teens who are clearly ill, not emotionally stressed, look at the medical industry in this country and the bizarre laws that govern what Dr’s may and may not consider.

Nan

This is true. I didn’t return to my doctor after an exam and he sent me a letter saying I might die if I didn’t follow his medical advice. He was hysterically afraid he might get sued by me if I later found out I had a terminal illness that he failed to diagnose.

I called his office again to see if he would prescribe a different test and again I received a letter saying that if I didn’t do what he said I might die. Talk about hysteria.

Jason

We went through this with my teenage daughter about 5 years ago and for a year the doctor’s were baffled. It turned out to be Sydenhams Chores, also known as St. Vitus Dance, caused by rheumatic fever. After 8 trips to the ER, we found 1 doctor at Scottish Rite that had even seen the disease and he was on his 60′s. She is now on medicine to treat the symptoms but it does not go away.
Melvin P. Arbuckle

It’s probably just a bad batch of dope… like there is such a thing as a good batch.

Duh-ope

What is “dope”?

Gael

I assume they have checked everything eg new clothes they had bought, new items brought into their rooms, new make up, toiletries, cell phones, carpets, cars, as well as the things above, etc
Debbie

Are these teens all the same age, there has to be a common denominator that links them together. Vaccine?? good theory. Something that they all have in common, do they know each other?? etc, etc. This should be easy for a mathematician. Get WITH IT!!!!

Cali

but why one particular school, at approximately the same time period? does not add up to vaccines to me
Bob Boogie

Think about how many millions of people get vaccinated, out of all of those… 12 girls in the same school have a negative effect.. statistically, thats just insane. If this is caused by an outside factor, it would have to be something they came in contact with that all the other kids in that school didn’t, since they are not showing signs. A virus, a mold, something of that nature would make the most sense.

suziemaks

Vaccines come in different batches. Could be a contaminated batch in their area.

Susanna

I have a scientist friend who looked at the story. She said between their symptoms and the fact that the Doctors cite HIPPA laws for why they can’t tell what it is, its probably birth control pills.

itsclose

Have they smoked synthetic or any other stuff in hookahs?
Chester

It sounds like a fungus or mold

John

If mold or ANY cause inside the school is known to be the cause,they will remediate and clean up any traces quicker than you can turn your head! Sorry, nothing to see here folks “wink..wink” Go about your buisness!

Diogenes

This was Salem Mass.right? Yes, like the Salem Witch thing mass hysteria.
Cathy Woodburn

I’m gong with the Lyme Disease theory. I wonder if any of those teens have been given a Western Blot Test. IgeneX would be my choice to have a test at too. I would like to know more about their symptoms. Do they all have the same symptoms and all have tics?
Theresa Neuman

Give them Phenobarbital and depopravera…It will work!!!
Epw

A shot in the dark—
Are they all using the same type cellphones?

Have three of them turn their cellphones exactly upside down for a couple of days.

Kip Noxzema

Should they do that under a full moon, facing south?

Winston Smith

Guardisil
LYMIE

UM, LYME DISEASE PEOPLE…………WAKE UP!!!!!!! LYME LYME LYME LYME LYME, I WILL OFFER MY MONEY TO TEST JUST ONE OF THE “VICTIMS” AT IGENEX LABS AND I BET THE HOUSE IM RIGHT……..IM A LYMIE FOR THE PAST 30 YEARS AND HAVE BEEN ON ABC NEWS, TALKED TO FORMER PRES. BUSH ABOUT THIS PLAGUE THAT WILL DISABLE EVERY MAN AND WOMAN AND CHILD, GOOGLE IT !!!! 1 BILLION REPORTED CASES WORLD WIDE, YEA, BUT HEY, IM A LYMIE, ITS ALL IN MY HEAD…..I WILL POST MY MEDICAL ABSTRACTS IF NEED BE,

Gimlish

A bite from a Tick in the middle of winter in upstate NY? Hum…
Good call though !

lyme affected

ticks are active in warmer weather, may have been bitten months before and symptoms do not show up for months, possibly after some other assault to the system such as a vaccine, exposure, another virus. More than likely most of the population in NY State has been exposed to Lyme just as most have been to West Nile Virus. The strength of the individuals immune system, nutritional status, environmental exposures, genetic makeup all determine whether symptoms develop or not. Sometimes the bacteria can remain dormant for decades, like syphilis.

Gimlish

Thank you for the update !
I have seen Lyme Disease cause some very harsh symptoms in people and strange recovery. From near total paralysis, back to near normal a few years later as example.

william mony

they could of been bitten months ago…had minor symptoms and ignored them
as kids, their emotions may be up and down but most always feel “good”
their young and indestructable

Haler

Have any of them had the hpv guardasil vaccine? neuro damage to lethal cases exist, as soon as 1 month after the first of it’s 3 doses.

ozzibo

Haler, you’ve nailed it. Bet all of them have been pumped with guardasil … everyone else go to … http://sanevax.org

ozzibo
Bob Boogie

So millions of gilrs get vaccinated with this and 12 girls from one school show the signs all at the same time… what are you smoking?

Gimlish

Possible newly ( or existing) induced antigen in the local area that reacted with another previous chemical; as such as might have been introduced through vaccination.

Bob, do you work for or with a doctor, chemical company or other such venue that would have you close your mind to any chemical responsibly?

Pharmageddon

Yes, if the HPV vaccine they possibly received was from the same lot, it very well could be causing these symptoms.
http://sanevax.org/

JayCee

The Health Dept. investigation reported that only a fraction of the girls had the HPV vaccine. So this theory is a nonstarter.

suziemaks

Where did you get that information? Can you post your source?

http://Facebook Evelyn carbonell

GOT TO BE ENVIRONMENTAL … THEY NEED TO SHUT DOWN THAT TOWN BEFORE IT KEEPS SPREADING TO MORE TEENAGERS..
http://harleyrider1978.wordpress.com harleyrider1978

Nord Med. 1994;109(4):121-5.
[Environmental somatization syndrome. How to deal with the external milieu syndrome?].
[Article in Swedish]
Nilsson CG, Göthe CJ, Molin C.
SourceMed Rehabiliteringskliniken, Huddinge Sjukhus.

Abstract
Somatization is a tendency to experience and communicate psychogenic distress in the form of somatic symptoms and to seek medical help for them. Patients suffering from environmental somatization syndrome (ESS) consider their symptoms to be caused by exposure to chemical or physical components of the external environment or by ergonomic stress at work. ESS is distinguished by mental contagiousness and a tendency to cluster. Sometimes it explodes in wide-spread epidemics that may be escalated by mass-media campaigns. Extensive ESS epidemics have been connected to, i.a., arsenic, carbon monoxide (“generator gas poisoning”), mercury (“oral galvanism”), carbon-free copy papers, electromagnetic fields (“electric allergy”) and repetitive movements (“repetition strain injury”, RSI). The typical patient directs the interest on the external environment, refuses alternative explanations of his symptoms and abhors any suggestion of a psychogenic etiology.

The community is often placed in difficult positions by lobby groups calling for drastic measures to eliminate alleged disease-inducing exposures. When hygienic evils occur simultaneously with an ESS epidemic, it is essential to strictly differ the hygienic problems from the ESS problems. If mismanaged, measures aimed at reducing hygienic inconveniences may aggravate the complex of ESS problems.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8170802
http://harleyrider1978.wordpress.com harleyrider1978

Toxicol Rev. 2003;22(4):235-46.

Idiopathic environmental intolerance: Part 1: A causation analysis applying Bradford Hill’s criteria to the toxicogenic theory.

Staudenmayer H, Binkley KE, Leznoff A, Phillips S.

Source

Behavioral Medicine, Multi-Disciplinary Toxicology, Treatment and Research Center, Denver, Colorado 80222, USA. hstaudenmayer@comcast.net

Abstract

Idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) is a descriptor for a phenomenon that has many names including environmental illness, multiple chemical sensitivity and chemical intolerance. Toxicogenic and psychogenic theories have been proposed to explain IEI. This paper presents a causality analysis of the toxicogenic theory using Bradford Hill’s nine criteria (strength, consistency, specificity, temporality, biological gradient, biological plausibility, coherence, experimental intervention and analogy) and an additional criteria (reversibility) and reviews critically the scientific literature on the topic. The results of this analysis indicate that the toxicogenic theory fails all of these criteria. There is no convincing evidence to support the fundamental postulate that IEI has a toxic aetiology; the hypothesised biological processes and mechanisms are implausible.
…

Steve Zarren

I am a nonsuffering sufferer of a neurological disorder called blepharospasm which is evidenced by spasms in the eyelid. The larger disorder is called dystonia which deals with the same spasms only in all or one of the muscle groups. If you visit my web site you can read more of what I went through and how I overcame the disorder and have been helping many others who have received the same relief. It is actuallly from a naturally organic, whole food growing in the wild. http://www.myblepharospasmsolution.com. I look forward to any questions anyone may have. Thank you. Steve Zarren

TruthSeeker

Why are people only willing to help others if they can make a buck out of there misery? I’m happy you found relief from your symptoms but you might improve credibility by disclosing the information for free and making a profit from sales of the product or other services rendered.

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Mystery Illness Leaves Upstate N.Y. Teens With Twitches, Spasms And No Answers

Doctors Unsure Why The Lives Of Young People Have Changed For The Worse

January 27, 2012 11:54 PM

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