Classic Locked In Syndrome

For the purpose of this paper, and a full understanding of the topic discussed, immerse yourself in these circumstances, as if you are the patient. You are lying in a hospital bed, unable to move, wanting to talk to your mom as she talks by your side, but unable to speak. You listen to the nurse and doctor speak to your family as if you are not there, as if you cannot hear or understand each word. You are angry, you are frustrated, and you can't even make a sound. You are only able to exist within a seemingly lifeless body as you reminisce on your life and all the memories with you friends, your family, and perhaps your children as you chased them around in the backyard. You are alone in the dark, for days or even years, helpless and internally …show more content…
Although, patients who have locked-in syndrome often have preserved cognitive function, and are therefore able to recall memories and how they lived their life before. There are three different categories of locked-in syndrome: classic, incomplete, and total. Classic locked-in syndrome is where a patient is conscious and has quadriplegia, anarthria, and vertical eye movement, along with the ability to blink. Incomplete locked-in syndrome is the same as classic, except patients have additional, but limited, voluntary movement besides vertical eye movement and blinking. In total locked-in syndrome, however, a patient is conscious with preserved cognitive function, but completely immobile and unable to communicate, lacking vertical eye movement (Smith & Delargy, 2005). Locked-in syndrome affects all ages, both men and women, and has a 89% 10-year survival rate (Smith & Delargy, 2005). Locked-in syndrome can be caused by many different reasons, but most always involves an occlusion to the basilar artery and damage to the …show more content…
If a patient is diagnosed with any one of these conditions, it is critical to monitor them closely, and especially watch for signs of a thrombis to prevent the advancement of the disease process into locked-in syndrome. It is said that only about half the patients diagnosed with locked-in syndrome actually experience warning symptoms before paraplegia and anarthria. Warning symptoms include frequent to severe headaches, dizziness, vertigo, numbness, slurred speech, dyarthria, and hemiparesis (Wotten, Schub, & Pravikoff, 2016). When a patient is diagnosed with locked-in syndrome one may exhibit dysphagia due to facio-glosso-pharyngo-laryngeal paralysis, and due to this it is key that the nurse monitors for signs of aspiration (Smith, & Delargy, 2005). Patients diagnosed with locked-in syndrome are unable to voluntarily chew, swallow, breathe or speak. Although patients have vertical eye movement, their eyesight is often impaired, they may have diplopia, blurring, or impaired accommodation (Smith, & Delargy, 2005). If a patient exhibits any of these symptoms or warning signs, there are several possible tests, although the easiest to perform to