Jan. 19, 2026

Encephal-in-Silence: Dr. Oliver Sacks

Encephal-in-Silence: Dr. Oliver Sacks
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A forgotten epidemic turned people into “living statues,” and one composite patient—Leonard—shows what it means to be awake, alive, and trapped. We trace encephalitis lethargica from its eerie rise to its unexplained disappearance, then step into the late 1960s, when Dr. Oliver Sacks reached for a radical idea: use L‑Dopa, the new Parkinson’s drug, to unlock minds stilled for decades. Leonard opens his eyes, speaks, walks, and even plays piano. Joy floods the ward. Then the pendulum swings—tics, dyskinesias, manic euphoria, crushing lows. The line between treatment and transformation blurs.

We talk through the science and the soul. What does dopamine actually give back, and what does it take when it floods the system? How do you return to a world that raced thirty years ahead without you? Consent gets complicated when communication is reduced to microscript, and “miracle cure” becomes a moving target. Sacks’ enduring lesson isn’t just pharmacology; it’s presence. He listened for hours, asked better questions, and stood by patients before, during, and after the trial. Even when the awakenings faded, dignity stayed.

If you love thoughtful medical history, neurological mysteries, and the ethics behind “miracle drugs,” this story will stick with you. We mix heart, humor, and clear language to unpack sleepy sickness, L‑Dopa side effects, Parkinsonian symptoms, patient autonomy, and the weight of hope. Come for the science; stay for the humanity—and decide for yourself: would you choose a brief return to life, risk and all?

Enjoy the episode? Follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review so more curious minds can find the show. Your take: miracle, mistake, or something in between?

Sacks, Oliver. Awakenings. New York: Dutton, 1973. (Case history of Leonard L. and other post-encephalitic patients)pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govthenewatlantis.comnewyorker.com

Charlotte Allan. “Awakenings.” BMJ, vol. 334, no. 7604, 2007, p. 1169. (Medical classic review of Sacks’s book)pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Jacobs, Alan. “A Humanism of the Abyss.” The New Atlantis, Fall 2025. (Discussion of Sacks’s approach and Leonard’s communications)thenewatlantis.comthenewatlantis.com

Aviv, Rachel. “Oliver Sacks Put Himself Into His Case Studies. What Was the Cost?” The New Yorker, 15 Dec 2025. (Biographical article with quotes from Awakenings and Sacks’s notes)newyorker.comnewyorker.com

LeWitt, Peter. “A Half-century of Awakenings.” Neurology, vol. 101, no. 13, 2023, pp. 582–584. (50-year retrospective on Sacks’s Awakenings)pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Oliver Sacks Foundation – Awakenings book page (accessed 2026). (Background on the book and Sacks’s reflections)oliversacks.comoliversacks.com

Awakenings (dir. Penny Marshall, 1990) – Film based on Sacks’s book (for contextual understanding of Leonard’s portrayal)en.wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org

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00:00 - Welcome And Drinks On Deck

01:35 - The Leonard Disclaimer

03:25 - Encephalitis Lethargica Emerges

06:40 - Life Trapped Inside A Still Body

10:20 - Sacks Sees The Mind Inside

12:15 - Enter L‑Dopa And A Bold Trial

15:10 - Leonard Wakes And Walks

18:20 - Joy, Shock, And Lost Time

21:00 - Side Effects And Swinging Extremes

24:00 - Ethics Of Awakening And Consent

27:00 - Regression And Lasting Lessons

29:30 - Sacks’ Legacy And Closing

WEBVTT

00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:16.719
Oh, hey there.

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Oh, hey there.

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How's it going today?

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Good.

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How are you?

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I'm good.

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We're the History Buffoons.

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And I'm Kate.

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And I am Bradley.

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Welcome.

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To another History of Buffoons.

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I don't know why I said that.

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We just went over that.

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My bad.

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How are you today?

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Pretty good.

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It's been a really, really, really busy week.

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You had said that, yeah.

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You had a lot going on with work and everything.

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So I picked up an additional class to teach and I'm starting a new class next week.

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Which will be good.

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Yeah, I'm excited.

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Um, I get to work with a lot of cool people.

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Excuse me, which is great.

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Yeah.

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Makes it a lot better.

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Yeah.

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How was your week?

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It was it was okay.

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Um, nothing super ridiculous, I guess.

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I there's this meat store I told you about.

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Uh, so we went there last week and then Xavier and I went there again yesterday.

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So he was excited.

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Good.

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He's been super uh about dad lately, which I love.

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So that's been great.

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Uh Vespers hit or miss.

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Because you know, she's Vesper.

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Yeah.

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But overall, no, it was it was an alright week, I guess.

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Okay.

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So it was snowy this morning, and that made work really difficult.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Well, I have a disclaimer um to start our story off before we get into what we're drinking.

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I love disclaimers.

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Um, it's an important disclaimer, so as not to get confused with real life.

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Okay.

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This is um a story that centers on a guy named Leonard.

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Leonard.

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And he is a patient featured in Dr.

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Oliver Sachs's book, Awakenings.

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Okay.

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Leonard is not a single historical figure person.

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He is a composite character.

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Gotcha.

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Um, and he is a narrative combination of many real life people that um Dr.

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Sachs treated um during um a certain period of time in the late 1960s.

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Okay.

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So when I'm going to talk about every medical event, every psychological reaction and uh dilemma described in Leonard's story is based on documented real life cases.

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Okay.

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Um, Dr.

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Sachs used composites like Leonard to protect um patient confidentiality.

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Which makes sense.

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Yes, exactly.

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So some of the names and narrative details might be reconstructed, um, but Leonard's um story reflects like the scientific and human aspect of Dr.

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Sachs's story.

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Awakenings, wasn't that a movie?

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It was with Robin Williams and uh Robert Downey Jr.

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Oh yeah.

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I don't know if I've ever actually seen it.

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I have not.

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I did not watch it um while I researched this because I want I actually wanted to know if you would want to watch it at some point.

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Yeah, I'd definitely check that out because I remember I remember it, I know of it, but I'm almost a hundred percent sure I've never seen it.

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So Dr.

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Sex wrote the book and then he is portrayed as a different type of a different doctor in the movie.

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Like the names aren't the same.

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Well, and that's fine.

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So that was my disclaimer.

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It's based off the book.

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Yes.

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I always think it's funny, real quick.

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Sorry, that people like, oh, the book was better.

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Well, yeah.

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I know there's more information.

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Yeah, you can make your own thing, and it's always based off the book, yeah.

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Or just like even off of that, this was based off of true events.

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Well, that didn't really happen.

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Yeah, because it's based off of it, and then they added shit for fucking Hollywood Flair, right?

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Idiots.

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Anyways, what are we drinking today?

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So I may have I bought a six-pack of this for the podcast.

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I may have drank five of them prior to recording.

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So I have a conglomerate.

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Not tonight, by the way.

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Not tonight, no.

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This is my uh first beer today.

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I lie, but anyways, um, so I have a new Sierra Nevada, it's Springfest IPA, and I will already tell you, I know it's delicious.

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Yeah, but I do have backups.

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I got you uh I know of I've known of this beer for a long time.

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You've never had it.

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Um, I also have some myself, but I'll let you show it because it's for you.

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Yeah, so this is um from Britain.

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It is Bodington's Boddington's Boddingtons, thank you.

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Pub Ale.

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It is a pint and it has bees on it.

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I just noticed it's got bees on it.

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Yeah, I love bees on you.

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You like bees.

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It also has the like the widget thing in there or whatever.

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A widget thing?

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Do you hear that?

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Oh, yeah.

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So because of how it's it's like, yeah, it's it's it's a little bit different.

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I'll just say that.

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Oh, it says for best reserve results, serve cool but not ice cold.

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I carefully open can, pour contents into a glass, wait and watch the head settle on a perfect glass of Boddington's pub ale.

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Oh no, should we get some pints?

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We should get some pints.

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Okay.

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Hold please, we'll be right back.

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And we're back.

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Hello, we got our pint glasses, so the beer can be properly poured.

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I think I'm just gonna pour mine with you so I can uh get it to settle properly.

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So tell me what the widget thingy So it helps with the pouring.

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So there's actually like something in the can that helps with the aeration and all that stuff, whatever.

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I'm making shit up as I go.

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Oh, so that sounds legit.

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I know.

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It's it might be somewhat right, but I don't know if that's totally right.

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But this is difficult work over a computer.

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Well, don't spill it.

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Thank you.

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I'm here for moral support.

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That is a nice pour.

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So do you hear that there's actually something in the can?

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Yeah.

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Um, so Guinness.

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Yeah, Guinness has that too.

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Yeah, I did I yeah, I knew that one.

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Yeah, so it's just it's the same concept, really.

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So helps with the pour and the whatnot.

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Let's cut a can open later.

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It doesn't come out with the pour, it's too big for the hole.

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That makes sense.

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Yeah.

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Let's cut a can open later.

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I'm down.

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Because I've never actually seen one in person.

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I thought they were mythical creatures.

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For science.

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For science.

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Beer drinking for science.

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Okay, so I'm gonna crack my Sierra Nevada and then I'll go to the bottom tens.

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Cheers! Cheers! I'm curious to what you think about this.

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So yeah, what kind of beer is it?

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I didn't even It's a pub ale.

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A pub ale.

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Okay, that's an actual kind.

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Okay.

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It's good.

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With a side of Honestly, I feel like it needs to be colder.

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See, so is that weird?

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No.

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I like my beer ice cold.

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Yeah.

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And I mean, this has been in your fridge.

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I gave it to you last week for this episode.

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Yeah.

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And um it's funny, so when I went to Germany for Oktoberfest, and everyone's like I already know what's coming out of your mouth, and I'm shivering.

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What?

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They don't serve it cold, do they?

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No, no, everyone told me it's not as cold, it's not as cold.

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I had plenty of cold beer there.

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Oh, did you?

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I did.

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Oh, okay.

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It might not be like fucking ice cold like we drink it here mostly, at least in Wisconsin.

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Yeah, but it was cold.

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That's good.

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So I had uh Franziskoner on tap at the Zuntigite.

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Thank you.

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That was German.

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I know.

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You know, talking about Germany.

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Yeah, but it's funny.

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I had it in Germany at an Italian restaurant that was attached to our hotel.

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And they had this the best, and I'm you know, I I've told you I'm not a huge spaghetti noodle fan.

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They had the best spaghetti bul Bologniers, how is that how you say it?

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Bolognese, yeah.

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Um, and the chick who worked there, her name was Melisa, was very nice to look at.

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So I'm so happy for you.

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Yeah, I was too.

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I say that with me, my buddy who we went with, he was all about her.

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Because I think he was he was single at the time, so it was pretty funny.

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But anyways, I'm very happy for you.

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Okay, fair enough.

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Okay, so let's get into Leonard and Dr.

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Oliver Sachs.

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Okay.

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Okay, so Leonard was um a bright man growing up in the 1920s until an epidemic changed his life.

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1920s, okay.

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In his late teens, Leonard contracted encephalitis lethargica, okay, which is the sleeping sickness.

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Oh no.

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Yes, just makes you want to sleep.

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Oh, I will get into it.

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And this was actually kind of a worldwide outbreak during uh the first world war.

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Oh, okay.

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So encephalitis lethargica swept across Europe and North America between 1916 and the late 1920s.

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Wow.

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It wasn't dramatic, it wasn't quick, it was slow and really creepy.

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Okay.

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Patients slipped into extreme lethargy, sometimes sleeping 20 hours a day, drifting in and out of consciousness.

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Oh Lord.

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Others developed delirium, um, eye paralysis, personality changes, and sudden violent movements.

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Oh, Jesus.

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The cause was never definitively identified.

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Okay.

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What made encephalitis lethargica horrifying was what came after.

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After you had it?

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Yes.

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So many survivors appeared to recover.

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Okay.

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Only to develop severe neurological problems years later, sometimes even decades later.

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Oh wow.

00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:18.240
So it was like a slow roll.

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Yeah.

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So they would have the initial onset get better, and then years and years later, they would have post-encephalit encephalitis syndrome.

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Oh shit.

00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:31.440
So what did that entail?

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So um what they would include, what they would get would be like Parkinson's like rigidity, tremors, frozen facial expressions, and a really creepy in inability to move.

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Oh, that would suck.

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These patients were mentally present, but physically they looked locked in place.

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Okay.

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Sometimes for decades.

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Oh, so they were just like a statue.

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That's fucking weird.

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People were stuck between sleeping and awake, motion and motion and paralysis, time and oblivion.

00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:17.919
Um, they're like I said, it was just it as soon as encephalitis lethargica showed up, it was gone.

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There was no explanation, no weird ending, no Right.

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So, do you remember when you were a kid when when k other kids would tell you stories or like made up shit?

00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:29.519
But they say, No, I swear to God, that's real.

00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:36.240
What you just said reminded me of one that I uh remember hearing a long time ago.

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There was a supposedly this guy who took acid and tripped so hard that he like had a some type of mental break or whatever, and he thought he was a glass of orange juice and couldn't move because otherwise he would spill.

00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:53.600
Wow.

00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:55.840
So that just reminded me of that for some reason.

00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:56.559
Interesting.

00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:59.759
Yeah, I don't know if it's true, but I'd like to believe it is.

00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:00.000
Yeah.

00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.000
Because that would be fucking weird.

00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:07.519
So, like many survivors, Leonard went through this encephalitis lethargica.

00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:08.000
Okay.

00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:13.120
And then recovered only to develop post-encephalitic syndrome years later.

00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:18.960
How many years later did he so now we're talking into his 30s?

00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:23.279
Um, Leonard he was 16 at the time, you said, right?

00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:24.399
Is that right?

00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:32.799
Um, he was he was he grew up in the 1920s when the outbreak was was full force.

00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:33.200
Oh, okay.

00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:35.519
It happened in the 19 in 1916.

00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:37.600
Oh, maybe that's where I was in 2020.

00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:38.960
Yeah, that's right.

00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:39.440
Sorry.

00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:45.120
Um, so by his 30s, Leonard was locked inside a near motionless body.

00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:48.879
He was conscious and aware, but not fully awake.

00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:50.799
So could they talk or no?

00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:58.000
They were just they were speechless, motionless, they lacked energy or even motivation to do anything.

00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:59.279
Well, because they couldn't.

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:09.440
Doctors described him and others like him as transfixed, motionless in a sort of trance for decades, giving up as like hopeless cases.

00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:12.080
And they were just in the hospital for decades.

00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:12.960
Like on a bed?

00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:13.519
Yeah.

00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:17.279
So how did they get food?

00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:22.240
I'm assuming they had like you should never assume.

00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:24.720
Probably like tubes, feeding tubes, you know.

00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:25.279
Think so?

00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:27.679
Probably like IVs and all that for liquids and stuff.

00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:30.879
Because like your body would just deteriorate.

00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:33.360
Wouldn't his muscles just fucking completely break down?

00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:33.919
Yeah.

00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:36.000
Oh, that would suck.

00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:36.559
Yeah.

00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:42.159
So during these decades, Leonard could register events around him with his eyes.

00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:51.440
Um, he had Parkinson like uh symptoms, the tremors, muscle rigidity, and the inability to initiate movement.

00:13:51.840 --> 00:14:01.600
Um, the the epidemic's after effects resembled Parkinson's disease so much that neurologists suspected a link in the brain's dopamine system.

00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:02.159
Okay.

00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:09.200
By the 1950s, Leonard had deteriorated to a state of uh extreme echinesia.

00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:15.200
He could not voluntarily speak or move and was as passive as a zombie.

00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:15.840
Wow.

00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:19.120
Have they met a zombie to be able to compare that to?

00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:20.879
They've heard they've read stories.

00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:23.519
I believe those are science fiction.

00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:37.759
The one tiny outlet um of will that he retained was the ability to write in micro script on a small slate board, spelling out one letter at a time.

00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:40.000
But what is micro script?

00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:42.320
Like he very little movements.

00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:43.039
Okay.

00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:45.840
So literally that's what it sounds like.

00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:46.960
Yeah.

00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:48.960
How did they read it if it was so small?

00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:52.720
So Benny didn't take the time.

00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:53.360
Okay.

00:14:53.759 --> 00:15:03.440
So over 15 years before 1969, Leonard was essentially mute and immobile, communicated only by slowly tracing out words on that slate.

00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:06.399
Each letter would take nearly a minute.

00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:07.919
Wow.

00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:14.240
So most hospital staff would lose patience and limit their questions to simple yes or no.

00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:16.799
Isn't it funny how they would lose patients?

00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:23.200
I mean, they're supposed to take care of their patients, not lose them.

00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.080
Just saying, uh cat here.

00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.480
Well, it we are in your house, it's everywhere.

00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:29.200
Yeah, it really is.

00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:29.759
There it is.

00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:30.320
There it is.

00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:30.879
Dr.

00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:37.440
Oliver Sacks, however, intersex treated Leonard as fully present.

00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:38.480
Well, good for him.

00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:45.200
Way to be like progressive in this shitty world where everyone's just like, fuck you, dude, just I'm moving on.

00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:49.360
So my initial um research was all about Dr.

00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:50.320
Oliver Sacks.

00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:57.279
And it was so there's so much information, I was overloaded for a good several days.

00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:57.679
Yeah.

00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:03.360
And rewrote the story and rewrote the story and rewrote the story until I found Leonard.

00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:04.399
Leonard.

00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:05.039
Yeah.

00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:14.639
So okay, so um Sacks would sit for hours if necessary, gently asking open-ended questions.

00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:15.120
Okay.

00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:16.720
Like, how are you?

00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:22.399
Or what is it like being the way you are, waiting patiently for Leonard to answer.

00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:23.679
And would he?

00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:25.039
Yes, he would.

00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:30.240
So how so he just he had little movement in his hand then?

00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:31.200
That's all it was.

00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:31.840
Yeah.

00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:36.799
Why do you this is I didn't say this is in your research or anything, you personally.

00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:41.360
Why was the hand so mobile but everything else was not?

00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:43.039
I don't know.

00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:44.799
Doesn't that seem weird?

00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:46.720
I don't know.

00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:47.759
Okay.

00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:48.799
We should watch the movie.

00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:49.600
Great insight.

00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:50.480
Yeah, you're welcome.

00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:51.120
All right.

00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:57.759
But this patience between doctor and patient formed a really deep bond between the two.

00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:10.000
Um, but through these slow, effortful conversations, Leonard revealed the rich inner life trapped within his frozen body.

00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:10.559
Okay.

00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:11.440
When Dr.

00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:17.440
Sachs first asked him what it felt like to be in this state, Leonard spelled out a single word.

00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:18.400
Caged.

00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:19.359
Sure.

00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:21.599
I mean, yeah, you're you're trapped in a meat cage.

00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:32.880
He then added deprived and then eluded a cat pacing in endless mute circles inside of a cage, like what you see at the zoo, which I hate.

00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:36.640
Just back and forth and back and forth.

00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:38.400
That's just what they do though.

00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:41.519
I know, but there's no stimulation.

00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:42.799
Yeah, there is.

00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:44.240
Sometimes they have a ball.

00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:48.880
You make it seem like they're in like a 1930s fucking zoo.

00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:56.079
I think of like the beginning of the Peter Jackson King Kong where they show a zoo where they're all it's terrible.

00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:56.559
Yeah.

00:17:56.799 --> 00:17:58.559
That's not how they are these days.

00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:03.920
They're they're actually don't get me wrong, there's shit that happens, but they're well taken care of.

00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:12.640
So Leonard said um, the absence is a terrible isolation and coldness and shrinking more than you can imagine.

00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.680
A bottomless darkness and unreality.

00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:22.960
So despite his blankness, Leonard was fully aware of his condition and its despair.

00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:30.720
Um, he said, I am still alive inside, um, alive, but like entombed in a body that can't obey.

00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:31.680
Yeah.

00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:36.720
Now, again, Leonard is a conglomeration of multiple people.

00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:37.440
Yes.

00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.039
So um written in a story type format.

00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:43.440
Right, just to kind of get it out, whatever.

00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:48.160
So we'll just talk about Leonard because that's what we're talking about.

00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:50.000
But so like he could see, though.

00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:51.200
Is that one thing you said?

00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:51.680
I think so.

00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:52.799
Could see.

00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:56.079
I think there is some people with eye paralysis.

00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:57.440
Okay, you did mention that.

00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:57.920
That's right.

00:18:58.160 --> 00:18:58.400
Okay.

00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:01.359
Cause could you oh my god, excuse me.

00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:03.839
Could you imagine not being able to see?

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.160
Even if you're just laying there, I'd rather stare at a ceiling than nothing than black.

00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:08.640
Yeah.

00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:14.319
Because like if I ever had to lose a sense, the one I never want to lose is my sight.

00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:14.720
Yeah.

00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:20.799
I wear glasses, but you know, I could never lose my sight because it'd be like that would be awful.

00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:24.960
So I feel I I feel I'm sure I know they make it work and everything.

00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:26.559
Anyone who's blind, good for them.

00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:28.160
But man, I could not do that.

00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:30.880
That would that would break me in half.

00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:32.880
So I couldn't imagine.

00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:33.519
Anyways.

00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:34.160
Yeah.

00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:35.279
Yeah.

00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:37.440
So Dr.

00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:47.440
Sachs confirmed a long suspicion that he had through Leonard and dozens of other patients at the Bronx Hospital, which is where they were.

00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:53.599
They appeared hopeless, but their minds were very much intact and yearning to reconnect with the world.

00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:54.240
Okay.

00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:59.759
So Sachs later wrote that other physicians had dismissed such post encephaletic.

00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:06.079
Patients as living statues beyond help, but he sensed that they still had life in them.

00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:08.799
Well, I mean, yeah, they were still alive.

00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:09.440
Yes.

00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:09.920
So.

00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:23.680
Leonard's own words demonstrated the real and full presence of the patient is still there behind the mask, and this understanding set the stage for an experiment that would test whether that caged life could be freed.

00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:24.319
Okay.

00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:41.359
By the late 1960s, researchers had discovered that Parkinsonian disorders involve a deficit of dopamine in the brain, and a new drug, Levo Levodopa, which we call L-Dopa.

00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:42.480
L Dopa.

00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:43.200
Mm-hmm.

00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:45.599
Could restore this neurotransmitter.

00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:47.119
Sounds like a drug from Mexico.

00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:48.079
La DOPA.

00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:49.359
Hey, you got any of that?

00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:50.559
L'OPA, man?

00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:52.000
I'm looking for some.

00:20:52.960 --> 00:21:03.039
Earlier trialers in typical Parkinson's disease showed promising reversals of rigidity and tremors when high doses were given gradually.

00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:03.599
Okay.

00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:04.160
Okay.

00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:05.279
So Dr.

00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:13.839
Sachs wondered could L DOPA awaken these post-encephalytic patients who had been frozen for decades.

00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:14.400
Okay.

00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:14.960
Okay.

00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:20.720
He hesitated and thought about it for about two years before he did anything.

00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:21.519
It took him a while.

00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:22.640
Which I mean, I guess.

00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:25.599
Yeah, you don't jump into something like that lately.

00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:27.359
Well, okay.

00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:28.319
What?

00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:29.519
A lot of people do.

00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:30.160
Mm-hmm.

00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:31.119
You know.

00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:33.599
I'll just stop there though.

00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:40.799
Lower doses were useless, but higher doses might have unpredictable effects.

00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:43.200
So how did they know lower doses were useless?

00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:44.000
And did they try it?

00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:47.039
Because with the Parkinson's, they needed high doses.

00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:50.880
And they linked the two with the dopamine in the brain.

00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:51.359
Okay.

00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:51.839
Okay.

00:21:52.640 --> 00:22:03.039
In the summer of 1969, Sachs obtained permission to administer Lodopa to a small group of these patients at the Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx.

00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:03.440
Oh.

00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:08.240
Leonard, then in his late 40s, was chosen as one of the first candidates.

00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:08.960
Nice.

00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:15.279
The drug was introduced slowly and carefully with Sachs monitoring any sign of change.

00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:16.880
How did they administer it?

00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.119
Was it like in an IV or do you not know?

00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:19.920
I do that.

00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:30.640
For the first time in decades, something other than the illness was acting on Leonard's brain.

00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:42.720
Within days, like within a week, like less than a week, of reaching a therapeutic Ladopa dose, Leonard's transformation became dramatic.

00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:43.759
Oh, okay.

00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:54.720
Sachs saw this man who had been speechless and incapable of voluntary motion suddenly opened his eyes to the world and came fully alive.

00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:56.240
How so?

00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.559
It was as if a sleeping soul had re-entered his body.

00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:06.319
Leonard woke up with his old personality intact, astonishing everyone around him.

00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:07.839
That would kind of be freaky.

00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:08.799
A little bit.

00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:14.480
Nurses who had ever known him as a silent statue now heard him speak in a clear voice.

00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:16.319
Oh, so he could speak right away?

00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:24.960
He could stand up and walk fairly steadily down the halls, at first tentatively, and then with more growing confidence.

00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:30.160
Okay, so how how could he do that when he was laying in bed for eight 18 plus years or whatever?

00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:44.799
I mean, maybe they had some kind of program to like help move his body, because I mean loved ones do that with people in comas, and I mean I get that, but like they didn't even want to wait a minute for him to write a letter, let alone move his legs and whatever.

00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:50.400
But even with that movement, that much time, I can't imagine you're building muscle mass.

00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:52.880
I mean, your muscles are gonna atrophy.

00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:53.359
Yeah.

00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.079
And how the fuck, like, I'm a new man.

00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:56.559
Yeah.

00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.240
It's like I'm a real boy.

00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:00.319
I'm a real girl.

00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:01.920
Shout out.

00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:06.480
So decades old skills and habits returned almost overnight.

00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:06.960
Okay.

00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:15.519
One morning, Leonard strolled over to the piano that was in the ward and began to began to play familiar tunes.

00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:20.640
Other patients in the La Dopa trial experienced similar awakenings.

00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:23.119
Immobile bodies became animated.

00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:30.720
Faces that had been masked like broke into smiles, and the ward was excited conversation and laughter for the first time.

00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:35.920
So did they have them like in a separate wing type thing or their own little ward?

00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:40.240
I I didn't look into where in the hospital they were.

00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:42.720
Were they peppered in with the other patients?

00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:44.799
I'm sure they're all together.

00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:46.000
United.

00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:47.279
United in silence together.

00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:48.720
United in silence.

00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:51.519
In encephalitis, right?

00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:52.319
That's the right word.

00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:54.000
Encephalosilus.

00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:55.359
Encephalitis.

00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:56.960
Encephalence?

00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:58.079
That's the one.

00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:00.160
That's the title.

00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:05.519
As one observer put it, it was much like witnessing magic.

00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:18.640
Even sex, a neurologist trained in objective science, described the drug's effect as the uncanny lifting of blockage and the return of ease of grace, of joy, and delight and resolve.

00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:20.160
And that's from the El Dopa.

00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:21.039
Yes.

00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:21.599
Okay.

00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:31.440
So with that being so this happened, you said around World War One.

00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:32.480
Right?

00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:35.119
The original epidemic.

00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:38.319
Someone didn't turn their phone off.

00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:39.920
Who calls me this late?

00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:41.200
Potential spam.

00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:42.880
Fuck you, Spam.

00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:44.400
And your potentialness.

00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:45.839
It's almost eight o'clock.

00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:47.599
Like they don't stop calling me.

00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:50.559
Potential spam does not have a fucking clock.

00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:53.759
So they're working hard around it.

00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:01.759
Anyways, thanks, Potential Spam, for fucking cutting me off and losing what I was gonna say.

00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:03.839
Um, what was I gonna say?

00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:04.880
I don't know.

00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:06.400
Words.

00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:09.359
Fuck, what the hell was I just talking about?

00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:10.640
Fuck you, spam.

00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:12.640
But I don't even like spam.

00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:13.359
Okay.

00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:20.240
So for Leonard, the emotional impact of awakening was as profound as the medical change.

00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:24.319
Sachs later wrote that Leonard felt like you know, yes, Bradley.

00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:25.119
I remember what I did.

00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:25.599
That's okay.

00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:26.160
Go ahead.

00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:27.440
So I'm gonna drink.

00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:30.640
This the original thing happened around World War One.

00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:33.519
This is something like could this still happen today?

00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:34.079
I guess.

00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:36.319
I don't think encephalitis is around.

00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:37.680
No, so they killed it?

00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:40.000
No, it just disappeared.

00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:41.519
It went to the moon?

00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:42.319
Something.

00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:43.279
Mars.

00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:44.960
Aliens came and took it.

00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:45.440
I don't know.

00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:46.640
It's like, oh, we've been looking for it.

00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:48.160
It just showed up and then it disappeared.

00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:52.400
There was no, there was no like where it came from, no idea.

00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:53.680
No idea where it went.

00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:55.200
I bet it was aliens.

00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:58.160
Extraterrestrial, hands down.

00:26:58.319 --> 00:26:58.720
Yeah.

00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:06.240
I mean, that's my favorite conspiracy theory, so I mean, okay, so it just disappeared.

00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:06.880
Yes.

00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:09.599
Could you imagine if it just came back?

00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:12.880
So I guess not.

00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:16.319
I just looked it up because you know, I was guessing.

00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:18.400
Yeah, like that's what you do.

00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:22.559
So encephalitis is inflammation of the brain.

00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:23.039
Yeah.

00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:26.480
Usually caused by viral infections.

00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:27.039
Okay.

00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:30.400
Okay, it's not like back in World War I, they didn't know what it was.

00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:34.240
Right.

00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:38.319
Um so they could treat it now if if it happened, basically.

00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:38.799
Okay.

00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:40.000
So let me talk about okay.

00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:41.200
So that was encephalitis.

00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:43.920
Encephalitis encephalitis lethargica.

00:27:44.079 --> 00:27:44.480
Yeah.

00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:46.319
Um was something different.

00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:47.759
It has not returned.

00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:48.240
Okay.

00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:48.480
Yeah.

00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:49.440
That's so crazy.

00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:51.039
There was no clear cause.

00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:53.200
And no reason why it left.

00:27:53.440 --> 00:28:02.640
Um, some research researchers think it may have been triggered by an immune response late related to the 1918 flu, but that's all speculative.

00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:03.920
Is that the Spanish flu?

00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:04.960
Is that what they call that one?

00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:05.440
Maybe.

00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:06.079
Is that that?

00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:06.480
Yeah.

00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:08.160
That's I mean, I know it was around then.

00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:08.319
Yeah.

00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:09.279
So yeah.

00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:14.400
So encephalitis is around encephalitis lethargica is not.

00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:16.160
Gotcha.

00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:18.880
So there is a significant difference between the two.

00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:20.079
Okay, I see.

00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:20.720
Gotcha.

00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:21.279
Okay.

00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:28.240
So Saks later wrote that Leonard felt like a man released from entombment.

00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:28.720
Yeah.

00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:30.799
Reborn into the world.

00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:34.559
Um, he sax asked, What are your feelings?

00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:44.000
And Leonard's reply verbally, I have been hungry and yearning all my life, and now I am full.

00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:45.359
I feel saved.

00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:46.880
I feel like a man in love.

00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:50.079
I have broken through the barriers which cut me off from love.

00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:53.680
How much back taxes do you think he has to pay at this point?

00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:54.880
Good question.

00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:57.680
Because he has not been paying his taxes.

00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:04.559
So, and and again, I know this is a conglomerate of pers of people.

00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:05.200
Yeah.

00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:19.440
So I don't know if you came across this when you're looking up any of this stuff, but like any of these people that they have loved ones that just abandoned them basically and said, Well, he's in the hospital, or she's in the hospital, whatever.

00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:23.039
Like, how do you think that went?

00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:23.599
Yeah.

00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:36.880
Because, like, I mean, there's some really good people in this world, and they'd be like, I'm with you, and they would go and help move their muscles and stuff, whatever, or read them a book, or whatever the fuck it would be, like people doing comas and stuff, whatever.

00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:39.599
But like that would be really tough.

00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:40.960
That would be really tough.

00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:43.680
Because it's like, I can't interact with you.

00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:49.519
I mean, I'm a big interaction person, I interact with people all every day with my job and everything.

00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:52.400
So um I don't know.

00:29:52.480 --> 00:30:01.599
I just I can imagine if there were people with significant others, children, whatever it was, family members, that they just kind of faded away.

00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:10.960
Like, well, it's a lost cause, let's move on with our life, which would be really shitty to wake up to if you awoke, obviously.

00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:14.160
Because I can't imagine every single one worked, right?

00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:19.039
Um, from what I understand, most of them did.

00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:19.839
Oh, wow.

00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:21.680
But there is a caveat.

00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:22.240
Oh.

00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:24.000
Okay, which I will get into.

00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:27.759
So Leonard spoke with vitality.

00:30:28.160 --> 00:30:31.759
Decades of pent-up thoughts and emotions came rushing out.

00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:35.039
He wanted to read every newspaper, every book he had missed.

00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:37.759
He wanted to listen to music and talk to everyone.

00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:46.079
Um, Sack said he his predominant feelings at this time were feelings of freedom, openness, and exchange with the world.

00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:46.720
Okay.

00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:51.680
So Leonard's entire demeanor was full of happiness.

00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:55.759
Um, he said happiness that he had not felt for 30 years.

00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:57.119
30 years.

00:30:57.359 --> 00:30:58.160
That's insane.

00:30:58.400 --> 00:30:59.039
Yeah.

00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:03.279
And his life was given back to him within a week of this trial.

00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:04.000
Wow.

00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:09.920
Family members who visited Leonard were astonished, were overjoyed.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.720
I don't know if they were visiting him up until the awakening or after the awakening.

00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:19.039
Or if there's like, hey, uh he's up awake now.

00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:19.279
Yes.

00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:19.920
He's up.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.240
He's using the the loo right now, but you know.

00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:22.640
Right.

00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:33.200
I had to speak in British because we got so this man they remembered that they remember this man from before the the um ill illness.

00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:33.599
Yeah.

00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:35.599
Witty, articulate, and loving.

00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:36.000
Yeah.

00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:39.519
And it seemed like he came right back as such.

00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:40.240
Huh.

00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:41.039
Yes.

00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:45.200
Well, I mean, you would think he wouldn't lose the person he was, right?

00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:50.160
Because he he really didn't have a lot of influences to change him.

00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:50.799
Right.

00:31:51.039 --> 00:32:00.799
You had the doctors and the the nurses and everything that interacted with you, but at that point you have nothing really to alter your personality because you're just stuck inside.

00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:01.279
Yeah.

00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:04.240
So I mean, you would think he would be the same person.

00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:06.960
At least I would think he'd be the same person, but okay.

00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:15.759
So after the initial euphoria settled, he had to face more of a psychological shock of the lost time.

00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:16.559
Well, yeah.

00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:18.480
I mean, he lost how so how long again?

00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:20.799
He was in there for 30 years.

00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:23.359
And how old is he at this point, roughly?

00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:25.359
I know I think he was in his 40s.

00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:25.759
Okay.

00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:36.079
So he so um the technology, the culture, the city around him were all unfamiliar because he went in in the like 20s or 30s.

00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:41.599
It's kind of like when Captain America woke up at the end of the first Avenger, Captain America, first Avenger movie.

00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:43.200
He's like, what the fuck?

00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:50.079
He realized he was no longer the young man who fell ill, but a middle-aged patient who has spent the better of his life in a hospital.

00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:52.480
So did they have to shave him all the time?

00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:57.920
Yes.

00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:01.039
How how did they how did they know he didn't want a beard?

00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:03.119
Oh my god, Bradley, the questions.

00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:04.319
Wouldn't it be great though?

00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:06.640
It's like, let's see how long I can get.

00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:08.160
Oh, Jesus.

00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:08.720
Right?

00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:10.000
Wouldn't that be awesome?

00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:12.319
It's like fucking Gandalf over here.

00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:15.599
Okay, so Dr.

00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:22.160
Sex and the staff gently helped Leonard begin orient um orienting to modern life in 1969.

00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:27.599
Yeah, showing him contemporary newspapers, television, and explaining events that had transpired.

00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:30.079
That's yeah, is that the year we went to the moon?

00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:31.440
69, right?

00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:32.880
Was it 68?

00:33:33.119 --> 00:33:34.400
I think it was 69.

00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:35.119
Okay.

00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:41.039
Um, could you imagine waking up after like 30 years and like, holy fuck, we're going to the moon.

00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:41.359
Yeah.

00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:42.480
When did that happen?

00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:44.400
It's like, how do we get there?

00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:51.680
So Leonard met younger patients and nurses and was amazed and sometimes dismayed by how much he had missed.

00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:58.640
Um the adjustment raised a question: how do you pick up the threads of a life delayed for decades?

00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:06.079
So Leonard himself felt as if he was still a 20-year-old that he had been when the illness first struck.

00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:14.880
So, besides obviously his physical form being aged, I mean you're gonna have some limitations because of that.

00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:25.360
But your mind is set back then for more or less, even though he was conscious, I guess, but like stuck in his head.

00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:26.159
Yeah.

00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:28.559
That's a good thing though.

00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:32.320
I mean, your body might not move as nimble as it used to.

00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:33.599
I know fuck mine doesn't.

00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:43.679
I'm 46, so but uh I would imagine that's gotta help a little bit with that young youth mindset, I guess I guess is what I'm trying to say.

00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:44.079
Yeah.

00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:52.719
So so one of his fellow awakened patients, Rose, um, could not bridge the gap at all.

00:34:52.960 --> 00:35:06.480
Having fallen ill in 1926 at age 21, she awoke in 1969 to find her world of 2019 had vanished and remained permanently in the past.

00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:16.239
The shock was so great that Rose stopped responding to L Dopa almost as if she chose to retreat rather than face an incomprehensible new reality.

00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:21.760
That's so wild that you would choose that over trying to overcome that.

00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:26.480
I mean, I understand what you're saying, but fuck that, man.

00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:32.880
So Leonard coped better than Rose, but the awakening brought as much sorrow as joy.

00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:38.320
France's own age had grown old or died, and the world had moved on without him.

00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:51.599
Yeah, the emotional term oil underscored an ethical dilemma for sex, as it was entirely merciful to reverse time for such patients, or were they being burdened with grief and confusion along this renewed life?

00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:52.480
Yeah.

00:35:53.920 --> 00:35:56.000
I literally put it on silent.

00:35:56.159 --> 00:35:58.320
I swear to God, I put it on silent.

00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:00.320
It's literally on silent.

00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:02.320
Alarms transcend silence.

00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:03.599
It sure did.

00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:03.920
Yeah.

00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:04.880
No, I know they do.

00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:06.719
It's time to take pills.

00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:12.960
Because if you if you had your phone on silent and set an alarm, you would be fucked in the morning.

00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:13.760
So yeah.

00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:14.320
Yeah.

00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:14.719
Yeah.

00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:15.519
Anywho.

00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:17.119
So, my apologies.

00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:18.239
It's all right.

00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:25.280
So, Sachs approached this personal implication of the experiment with a lot of sensitivity.

00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:30.239
He understood that treating these patients required far more than giving them just a new drug.

00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:30.719
Okay.

00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:37.280
It required psychological support, patients, and reorienting them gently into a changed world.

00:36:37.599 --> 00:36:42.320
So at the same time, Leonard embraced his second chance with determination.

00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:52.159
In the weeks following his awakening, he kept a notebook, effectively an autobiography, to record memories of his childhood and the feet feelings coursing through him.

00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:58.559
He spent time outdoors in the hospital garden, marveling at simple pleasures like sunshine and fresh air on his skin.

00:36:58.960 --> 00:36:59.440
Grass.

00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:00.320
I mean, shit.

00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:01.679
That would be amazing.

00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:08.079
Um, Leonard also struggled with regaining autonomy after so long as a dependent patient.

00:37:08.239 --> 00:37:08.559
Sure.

00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:16.320
As he grew uh stronger, he chafed against the hospital's rules and the realization that he was still viewed as an invalid.

00:37:16.639 --> 00:37:27.199
Um, in Sach's account, Leonard began to desire the freedom to come and go as he pleases, even agitating to be discharged despite still needing medical supervision.

00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:27.760
Right.

00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:35.199
So this created friction with the hospital administration, further questioning more ethical questions.

00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:43.679
Um, how much freedom should someone in Leonard's situation have, and what kind of life could he leave outside the ward given his unique condition?

00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:48.400
So who who paid for them to stay there this whole time?

00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:51.360
I'm sure they didn't have insurance.

00:37:53.199 --> 00:37:54.719
Isn't that wild to think about?

00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:55.199
Yeah.

00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:57.440
I am not a fan of the medical world.

00:37:57.840 --> 00:37:58.480
The government?

00:37:58.880 --> 00:37:59.440
That too.

00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:00.559
Oh, wait, yeah.

00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:01.760
Maybe they did.

00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:08.320
Sachs had to balance Leonard's newfound willpower and desires with practical concerns for his safety and his health.

00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:08.880
Okay.

00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:12.400
The personal implications of Leonard's awakening were complex.

00:38:12.559 --> 00:38:19.280
It was not just a medical triumph, but the revival of a full human being with hopes, rights, and emotions.

00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:20.159
Right.

00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:36.000
About a month and a half after his awakening, Leonard's rebirth continued to be celebratory, but then roughly six weeks into treatment, the La Dopa effects started fleeting.

00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:37.280
Oh no.

00:38:37.360 --> 00:38:40.159
So it had like a shelf life kind of, if you will.

00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:44.639
So did he start like it's like, oh doc, I can't move my left arm.

00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:46.480
Doc, I can't move both my arms.

00:38:46.800 --> 00:38:47.119
Almost.

00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:55.840
So Leonard, who had been taking steadily increasing doses, suddenly began to develop a drastic sensitivity to the drug.

00:38:56.239 --> 00:39:00.480
And early August of 1969, he started showing some new symptoms.

00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:07.519
Slight facial ticks at first, which progressed to jerky movements of his arms and legs that he could not control.

00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:09.920
Like the Parkinson's thing you were talking about.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:10.239
Okay.

00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:17.119
Each day Leonard oscillated between periods of normal movement and bouts of irresistible restlessness.

00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:27.119
He would pace the corridors for hours, unable to sit still, then swing to the extreme opposite where he would freeze up rigid and blocked again.

00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:35.920
Sex was alarmed to see that Leonard once his once smooth recovery had become such a roller coaster of involuntary behaviors.

00:39:36.159 --> 00:39:36.559
Right, yeah.

00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:43.199
Even when they tried lowering the dose, Leonard's system seemed to overreact to any LA dopa now.

00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:53.360
So as one account describes, six weeks later he developed exaggerated sensitivity to the drug, and even with tiny doses, doses had uncontrollable side effects.

00:39:54.079 --> 00:39:58.719
So basically, he was becoming almost immune to the L DOPA.

00:39:59.039 --> 00:40:02.480
He was now being Overstimulated in his brain.

00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:04.000
Oh, I see.

00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:04.320
Okay.

00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:07.119
With the dopamine um reactions.

00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:08.000
Gotcha.

00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:17.039
So Sachs and his team documented a range of side effects emerging, not just in Leonard, but across the all the awakened patients.

00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:17.599
Right.

00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:19.920
Some of the adverse effects were physical.

00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:25.280
Patients developed jerking jerking ticks and even violent flinging motions of the limbs.

00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:26.159
Oh, Jesus.

00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:34.880
Episodes of eyes rolling upward into their head or fixed in places and other neurological disturbances.

00:40:35.119 --> 00:40:35.679
Oh boy.

00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:38.960
Other side effects were behavioral and psychological.

00:40:39.760 --> 00:40:46.639
Patients experienced surges of intense, intense emotion and impulse that they struggled to control.

00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:47.440
Sure.

00:40:47.840 --> 00:40:51.119
Some manifested as manic euphoria.

00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:52.800
Manic euphoria, okay.

00:40:53.039 --> 00:40:55.760
One deliriously happy patient exclaimed to Dr.

00:40:55.920 --> 00:40:58.480
Sachs, My blood is champagne.

00:40:58.800 --> 00:40:59.280
What?

00:40:59.519 --> 00:41:01.199
So they just wanted to drink it, or?

00:41:01.519 --> 00:41:02.239
I have no idea.

00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:04.639
I mean that's he was just intoxicated on life.

00:41:04.880 --> 00:41:05.840
It was bubbly.

00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:11.039
In Leonard's case, the pendulum swung between elation and torment.

00:41:11.280 --> 00:41:11.599
Right.

00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:17.920
He began to feel overwhelmingly driven by desires that he had that he had been long suppressed.

00:41:18.320 --> 00:41:19.360
Like what?

00:41:19.840 --> 00:41:24.880
Um so his he it was basically his sexual appetite.

00:41:25.039 --> 00:41:27.280
Oh it spiked uncontrollably.

00:41:27.599 --> 00:41:29.360
He just wanted to go bang, bang, bang.

00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:38.480
According to Saks, Leonard became so sexually fixated and disinhibited that he injured his own genitals in frantic frustration.

00:41:38.800 --> 00:41:43.280
So he was going to pound town with his right hand and oh my god, I yanked too hard.

00:41:43.440 --> 00:41:43.679
Yeah.

00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:44.880
That sounds terrible.

00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:45.599
Yeah.

00:41:45.840 --> 00:41:51.199
Um, his emotions swung wildly, if not euphoric, he was irritable or even despairing.

00:41:51.440 --> 00:41:55.119
On one occasion, overcome by the sense that he was losing control of himself.

00:41:55.280 --> 00:41:57.840
Leonard attempted to smother himself with a pillow.

00:41:58.000 --> 00:41:58.800
Oh Jesus.

00:41:58.960 --> 00:42:02.880
So he thought he was going back and he's like, I don't want to go back there.

00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:03.119
Yeah.

00:42:03.679 --> 00:42:06.159
So he's like, things are getting out of control.

00:42:06.239 --> 00:42:08.320
I can't control them, obviously.

00:42:08.719 --> 00:42:14.159
So the better alternative is to end it for myself because I can't go back there.

00:42:14.320 --> 00:42:14.559
Yeah.

00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:15.119
Wow.

00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:15.920
Oh wow.

00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:16.800
That's crazy.

00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:21.840
So Sacks found himself um with a heartbreaking reversal of what was happening.

00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:28.159
The very freedom that Leonard had had been celebrating was becoming unbearable for him.

00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:28.639
Right.

00:42:28.800 --> 00:42:33.679
It was as though the floodgates of 30 years of pent-up energy had opened too wide.

00:42:33.920 --> 00:42:34.400
Sure.

00:42:34.960 --> 00:42:40.480
Sachs tried adjusting Leonard's dosage up and down, searching for a stable middle ground.

00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:48.880
The ward that had been full of joyful activity became a place of anxious vigilance as nurses watched for sudden outbursts or collapse.

00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:49.760
Yeah.

00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:54.079
Even more ethical questions loomed.

00:42:54.239 --> 00:42:56.559
How much aliveness was too much?

00:42:56.880 --> 00:43:04.719
Where is the line between treating disease and fundamentally alter fundamentally altering someone's personality?

00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:10.159
Sachs wrote that awakenings became a kind of drama about dosage.

00:43:10.320 --> 00:43:10.559
Right.

00:43:10.719 --> 00:43:14.800
An examination of how much aliveness is tolerable and at what cost.

00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:16.400
Jesus Christ.

00:43:16.639 --> 00:43:21.519
His patients had to endure being human guinea pigs in uncharted territory.

00:43:21.760 --> 00:43:28.320
And Leonard's case, despite everyone's best effort, it became clear that his his high hopes could not be sustained.

00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:28.960
No.

00:43:29.280 --> 00:43:34.960
Over the late summer of 1969, Leonard's condition oscillated unpredictably.

00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:37.599
Some days he appeared nearly normal.

00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:42.079
On others, he was wrecked by tremors or lost in manic ramblings.

00:43:42.320 --> 00:43:50.480
His handwriting, once neat on the slate, though small, uh, deteriorated into scrolls during agitated phases.

00:43:50.960 --> 00:43:58.000
Um, the precious gains like the fluid speech and the easy movement movements were starting to slip away bit by bit.

00:43:58.239 --> 00:44:02.239
The decline was devastating for Leonard and those who cared for him.

00:44:02.880 --> 00:44:05.760
And of course, Leonard was aware of what was happening.

00:44:06.079 --> 00:44:09.519
Well, yeah, I mean, kind of had to be, I'm sure, but fucking hell.

00:44:09.760 --> 00:44:16.079
In rare moments of lucidity, he expressed fear and grief that the darkness was closing in again.

00:44:16.400 --> 00:44:20.159
He remained intensely grateful for the time that he had been awake.

00:44:20.400 --> 00:44:20.880
Well, sure.

00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:23.679
He said, I've had a taste for life and it was beautiful.

00:44:23.920 --> 00:44:24.320
Yeah.

00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:33.760
Even as his hands began to shake and his voice grew halting, Leonard tried to reassure Sax that he did not regret the awakening, however brief.

00:44:34.079 --> 00:44:34.480
Wow.

00:44:34.719 --> 00:44:42.559
So by the end of 1969, despite every adjustment and care, Leonard's doctors were forced to make a painful decision.

00:44:42.880 --> 00:44:43.840
They put him down.

00:44:44.079 --> 00:44:44.639
Not quite.

00:44:45.280 --> 00:44:47.119
Ladopa had to be discontinued.

00:44:47.360 --> 00:44:48.079
Oh boy.

00:44:48.639 --> 00:44:52.639
You say discontinued, but does they stopped administering it to him?

00:44:52.719 --> 00:44:52.960
Okay.

00:44:53.280 --> 00:44:58.320
The side effects and psychological turmoil turmoil were simply too injurious.

00:44:58.559 --> 00:45:04.400
As the drug tapered off, Leonard's wild swings and involuntary movements gradually subsided.

00:45:04.639 --> 00:45:05.039
Sure.

00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:10.159
But along with along with them went the vigor that El Doba had given him.

00:45:10.400 --> 00:45:15.039
Leonard regressed towards his former catatonic stage each day a little more.

00:45:15.280 --> 00:45:15.840
Oh boy.

00:45:16.079 --> 00:45:17.599
And a little less responsive.

00:45:17.840 --> 00:45:18.480
Yeah.

00:45:18.880 --> 00:45:22.320
One morning, Leonard could no longer rise from his wheelchair.

00:45:22.480 --> 00:45:24.559
Another day he could no longer hold a pen.

00:45:24.719 --> 00:45:25.199
Oh, geez.

00:45:25.519 --> 00:45:29.599
Finally, one day he fell quietly silent once more.

00:45:30.159 --> 00:45:35.360
The living statue returned with Leonard trapped internally, just as before.

00:45:35.679 --> 00:45:36.000
Dr.

00:45:36.159 --> 00:45:39.280
Sachs reported these developments with profound sadness.

00:45:39.440 --> 00:45:47.119
All the awakened patients who had leapt back to life eventually returned to a catatonic state despite increasing doses of Lidopa.

00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:52.320
So it was just basically it was a uh what's the word I'm looking for?

00:45:53.360 --> 00:45:54.159
Temporary thing.

00:45:54.800 --> 00:45:55.760
It was temporary.

00:45:56.079 --> 00:46:03.280
And it it was enough to get him to wake up, but it was a short-lived solution, I guess we'll call it.

00:46:03.599 --> 00:46:04.800
That's too bad.

00:46:05.119 --> 00:46:10.400
Leonard was the first to be awakened, and he was also the first to decline.

00:46:10.639 --> 00:46:17.360
Well, I mean, it makes sense because it sounded like there was a shelf life of the awakening, basically, is what that is.

00:46:17.760 --> 00:46:22.639
For Leonard's family and hospital staff, staff, the outcome was disheartening.

00:46:22.800 --> 00:46:23.039
Right.

00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:27.039
They had witnessed a beloved man essentially resurrect only to lose him again.

00:46:27.199 --> 00:46:27.519
Yeah.

00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:31.920
In the wake of Leonard's re-catonia, ketatonia.

00:46:32.639 --> 00:46:33.679
Ketatonia.

00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:34.239
Dr.

00:46:34.400 --> 00:46:39.119
Sachs and the team made every effort to keep him comfortable and to maintain human contact.

00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:46.000
They discovered that although Leonard could no longer initiate speech or movement, he still remained reachable.

00:46:46.320 --> 00:46:46.960
How so?

00:46:47.360 --> 00:46:48.239
His mind was still there.

00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:50.159
Well, yeah, but how is he reachable?

00:46:50.480 --> 00:46:51.679
They could still talk to him.

00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:54.800
And he could still I'm sure he could still write.

00:46:54.880 --> 00:46:56.800
I didn't actually look into the writing part.

00:46:57.039 --> 00:46:59.679
But he was still there, he just couldn't move.

00:47:00.239 --> 00:47:13.039
So Leonard did manage a few written words um suggesting that some small part of El Dopa effect lingered.

00:47:13.280 --> 00:47:13.599
Yeah.

00:47:13.840 --> 00:47:17.840
Um, but more often though, he remained still.

00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:25.920
Um, and Leonard lived out the remainder of his years in the Bronx hospital, cared for by staff who knew the soul hidden within him.

00:47:26.159 --> 00:47:30.880
He passed away in 1981, never having sustained another full awakening.

00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:34.320
So did they try again?

00:47:35.760 --> 00:47:37.199
I'm pretty sure they didn't.

00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:43.679
I mean, wouldn't you think like, and again, I am not a doctor of any stretch, nor do I want to be.

00:47:44.719 --> 00:47:49.199
So, late 60s, they do this.

00:47:49.920 --> 00:47:51.280
He goes back.

00:47:52.320 --> 00:47:56.559
Let him I don't I mean, I don't know how much time you let it pass, let that go through.

00:47:56.880 --> 00:47:59.360
You could have tried to awaken him again, right?

00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:05.840
If that was me, if Leonard was a single person, not a conglomerate, and that was me.

00:48:06.960 --> 00:48:07.280
Go.

00:48:07.440 --> 00:48:07.519
Yeah.

00:48:07.840 --> 00:48:08.800
Try it again, dude.

00:48:09.199 --> 00:48:11.119
Even if it was for another month and a half.

00:48:11.280 --> 00:48:11.599
Yeah.

00:48:12.239 --> 00:48:18.639
You know, just put a cage on my hand so I don't go all whatever.

00:48:18.960 --> 00:48:24.639
So the immediate immediate medical verdict on L Dopa experiment was mixed.

00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:25.199
I'm sure.

00:48:25.679 --> 00:48:33.440
It was not the enduring cure that Sax was hoping to give his patients, but there was still gifts left in its wake.

00:48:33.599 --> 00:48:33.679
Yeah.

00:48:33.840 --> 00:48:38.159
Leonard's brief moments of freedom had allowed him to reconnect with his family.

00:48:38.320 --> 00:48:41.599
His mother and his niece visited often during his lucid period.

00:48:41.760 --> 00:48:42.079
Nice.

00:48:42.239 --> 00:48:44.639
And to say the things that had long been unsaid.

00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:57.840
Well, see, that could you imagine, like for a person being trapped in their body, how even if how brief that was that he was awake, being able to do that, love your mom, you know, yeah, whatever it might have been.

00:48:58.000 --> 00:48:58.239
Yeah.

00:48:58.480 --> 00:49:02.880
Just to get that out, be like, sorry I wasn't there.

00:49:03.199 --> 00:49:04.960
It's like it's not his fault, obviously.

00:49:05.039 --> 00:49:06.159
But you know what I mean?

00:49:06.239 --> 00:49:09.360
I could I can only imagine what that would have meant to somebody like that.

00:49:09.519 --> 00:49:09.920
Yeah.

00:49:10.159 --> 00:49:14.800
So um, Leonard's brief um, oh, excuse me.

00:49:14.880 --> 00:49:18.320
Um, he had experienced love and laughter once again.

00:49:18.559 --> 00:49:28.639
And many of the other patients too retained some faint glimmer of responsiveness or simply the knowledge in whatever corner of their mind it recited that they truly lived again, however, brief.

00:49:29.760 --> 00:49:30.079
Dr.

00:49:30.239 --> 00:49:36.400
Sachs noted, although the physical awakenings were temporary, a deeper awakening occurred in the hospital community.

00:49:36.559 --> 00:49:44.079
Oh the doctors and nurses, having seen the people behind those long, unchanging faces, could never go back to regarding them as hopeless cases.

00:49:44.400 --> 00:49:45.679
Well, see, that's good at least.

00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:56.000
They continued to treat the post-encephalatic um patients with greater empathy and dignity, knowing now that inside every frozen body was a human being longing for connection.

00:49:56.239 --> 00:49:56.559
Okay.

00:49:56.800 --> 00:49:59.760
In a sense, Leonard's personhood had been vindicated.

00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:03.440
He was and had has always been fully human, not a zombie.

00:50:03.599 --> 00:50:07.039
And he proved it, prove it, he proved it when given the chance.

00:50:07.280 --> 00:50:07.920
Yeah.

00:50:08.559 --> 00:50:11.280
So Leonard's story, as chronicled by Dr.

00:50:11.360 --> 00:50:16.159
Oliver Sachs in his book Awakenings, is inspiring but yet sobering.

00:50:16.559 --> 00:50:20.400
Ethically, it raised difficult questions that reverberate even today.

00:50:20.559 --> 00:50:20.800
Yeah.

00:50:21.119 --> 00:50:28.239
Sachs himself was initially astonished and shocked by how some of his medical colleagues reacted to these cases.

00:50:28.800 --> 00:50:43.679
When he published a preliminary port report in 1970 detailing their miraculous but short-lived recoveries in 60 patients, many doctors refused to believe it or argued such a disillusioning story should never have been told.

00:50:43.920 --> 00:50:44.239
Okay.

00:50:44.480 --> 00:51:01.519
Perhaps it was more comforting to cling to the idea that a miracle drug cure of a miracle drug cure than to face a messy reality that Leonard's awakening presented, that neurological and personhood are complex and simple fixes can fail.

00:51:01.679 --> 00:51:02.320
Right.

00:51:02.719 --> 00:51:07.840
Sachs, however, felt that not telling the full story would be a greater ethical lapse.

00:51:08.079 --> 00:51:08.400
Okay.

00:51:08.559 --> 00:51:17.920
He championed a different, excuse me, a deeper understanding of these patients, one that went beyond viewing the later complications as mere side effects.

00:51:18.159 --> 00:51:18.559
Right.

00:51:18.800 --> 00:51:33.039
He said, quote, these could not be seen as side effects, but it had to be seen as integral parts of an evolving whole, urging fellow physicians to reckon with the whole human situation, not the clinical data.

00:51:33.360 --> 00:51:33.679
Okay.

00:51:34.559 --> 00:51:39.920
One ethical implication Leonard's case highlights is the question of consent and hope.

00:51:40.159 --> 00:51:40.480
Sure.

00:51:40.800 --> 00:51:47.199
Leonard and the others could not have fully understood what this experimental treatment held in store, even Sachs didn't.

00:51:47.519 --> 00:51:49.440
Well, no, it was experimental.

00:51:49.679 --> 00:51:50.800
It was experimental.

00:51:50.960 --> 00:51:56.800
And when Leonard was entombed in his illness, he could only consent in the most limited way.

00:51:57.199 --> 00:52:02.079
Okay, so I know we're in a we're in a world of everything's gotta be consent.

00:52:02.159 --> 00:52:03.679
Like, may I shake your head?

00:52:03.920 --> 00:52:04.400
Right.

00:52:04.639 --> 00:52:09.760
And I okay, and I respect people's personal things, whatever.

00:52:10.480 --> 00:52:12.079
You can't communicate with these people.

00:52:12.239 --> 00:52:14.320
Yes, he could write a little bit, whatever.

00:52:15.119 --> 00:52:18.719
If I was in that position, I don't give a fuck.

00:52:18.880 --> 00:52:19.280
Try it.

00:52:19.440 --> 00:52:19.840
Yeah.

00:52:20.159 --> 00:52:21.840
What else do I have to lose?

00:52:22.079 --> 00:52:24.079
Oh, I gotta be a statue longer?

00:52:24.400 --> 00:52:25.280
Fucking do it.

00:52:25.440 --> 00:52:25.679
Yeah.

00:52:25.920 --> 00:52:33.760
So I mean, I get the consent thing, but I I feel like that's misplaced in this because I don't know.

00:52:34.719 --> 00:52:35.599
Anyways.

00:52:36.159 --> 00:52:39.039
So Saks had to make a decision.

00:52:39.199 --> 00:52:48.239
Was it right to disrupt the status quo of these long-suffering patients, potentially exposing them to emotional turmoil for a chance at revival?

00:52:48.480 --> 00:52:49.840
How would you have known that though?

00:52:50.079 --> 00:52:51.840
Sax decided it was right.

00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:52.239
Yeah.

00:52:52.480 --> 00:52:55.519
And Leonard's own words, quote, I feel saved.

00:52:55.760 --> 00:53:03.039
I have broken through the barriers, suggests that from the patient's perspective, those awakened days were worth it.

00:53:03.440 --> 00:53:04.000
100%.

00:53:04.960 --> 00:53:06.559
I I would agree with that.

00:53:06.880 --> 00:53:16.480
So in his long-standing relationship with Leonard and others, he felt a responsibility to stand by them before, during, and after the L DOPA trials.

00:53:16.719 --> 00:53:17.119
Good for him.

00:53:17.280 --> 00:53:19.519
He did not simply administer a pill.

00:53:19.679 --> 00:53:24.079
He shared in their hopes, their disappointments, and their care over the years.

00:53:24.400 --> 00:53:32.960
In Awakenings, Sachs writes with humanity and a deep sense of concern, making it clear that true healing was a complex art.

00:53:33.599 --> 00:53:37.599
It demanded caring for the patient's soul, not just treating their disease.

00:53:37.920 --> 00:53:38.239
Okay.

00:53:38.480 --> 00:53:42.960
So this humanistic approach is an is an ethical lesson from Leonard's story.

00:53:43.119 --> 00:53:50.000
Patients like him were not objects of experimentation, but partners in a journey, each with a personal story that mattered.

00:53:50.320 --> 00:53:51.280
Which I agree with.

00:53:51.519 --> 00:53:52.079
100%.

00:53:53.039 --> 00:53:54.960
I'm going to end on a fun fact.

00:53:55.280 --> 00:53:56.880
I like fun facts.

00:53:57.679 --> 00:54:08.480
The minor planet 84928 Oliver Sacks, discovered in 2003, was named in Oliver Sachs' honor.

00:54:08.880 --> 00:54:10.159
He discovered a planet?

00:54:10.480 --> 00:54:12.719
No, they named a planet after him.

00:54:12.960 --> 00:54:13.280
Oh.

00:54:14.239 --> 00:54:15.679
When did Saks die?

00:54:17.519 --> 00:54:18.559
80s?

00:54:21.199 --> 00:54:22.880
In the 1980s?

00:54:23.199 --> 00:54:24.559
80s.

00:54:25.519 --> 00:54:27.599
Or maybe the 2000s?

00:54:29.840 --> 00:54:31.039
I read it at one point.

00:54:31.440 --> 00:54:31.760
I did.

00:54:31.920 --> 00:54:32.960
I did, sure did.

00:54:33.199 --> 00:54:34.079
I don't I'm sorry.

00:54:34.400 --> 00:54:35.440
Oh Lord have mercy.

00:54:35.519 --> 00:54:39.199
He died August 30th, 2015, at the age of 82.

00:54:39.280 --> 00:54:40.320
That's where I got the 80s.

00:54:40.400 --> 00:54:41.440
He was 82.

00:54:43.280 --> 00:54:48.559
So is there anyone left with this in in life?

00:54:48.960 --> 00:54:50.639
I did not research that.

00:54:50.960 --> 00:54:52.719
I feel like you should have.

00:54:53.519 --> 00:54:56.880
Because if it just disappeared.

00:54:57.199 --> 00:54:59.280
Do you think it went to his planet?

00:54:59.679 --> 00:55:00.320
Yes.

00:55:00.800 --> 00:55:01.440
Yes.

00:55:02.400 --> 00:55:03.440
But you know what I mean?

00:55:03.679 --> 00:55:10.480
Like there are no confirmed patients still suffering with encephalitis.

00:55:10.880 --> 00:55:11.760
Lethargia Lethargica.

00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:13.280
Yeah, lethargica.

00:55:14.480 --> 00:55:18.639
I mean, good on us for that, I guess.

00:55:18.960 --> 00:55:20.960
Isn't that a wild story?

00:55:21.199 --> 00:55:28.000
It it's fucking weird because could you imagine being trapped?

00:55:28.159 --> 00:55:30.239
Like, coma is one thing.

00:55:31.199 --> 00:55:36.000
You're a quote unquote not lucid it anyway.

00:55:36.079 --> 00:55:38.719
Like you're not even you're not awake, you're not conscious.

00:55:39.199 --> 00:55:44.079
And I know like they always say, well, talk to them, read books to them and such when they're in a coma.

00:55:44.320 --> 00:55:44.880
Just in case.

00:55:45.119 --> 00:55:49.440
Because you know, they can hear you, they can hear your voice, they hear your energy and all that stuff.

00:55:49.519 --> 00:55:50.800
Whatever, blah blah blah.

00:55:51.119 --> 00:55:56.239
These people were alive and they could hear shit.

00:55:56.480 --> 00:55:56.719
Whatever.

00:55:58.159 --> 00:56:00.159
They weren't they weren't in a coma.

00:56:00.400 --> 00:56:01.920
They were paralyzed.

00:56:02.079 --> 00:56:05.199
Their whole body just including their mouth.

00:56:05.920 --> 00:56:08.000
Except for apparently their fucking hand.

00:56:08.400 --> 00:56:09.119
Well, his.

00:56:10.239 --> 00:56:14.079
So could other patients of that not write?

00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:18.239
We'll have to watch the movie to find out, folks.

00:56:18.639 --> 00:56:33.039
That's fucking s so I read that um the book is pretty good, but they go into a lot of like scientific background that some people couldn't quite grasp, but the actual story was pretty amazing to read about.

00:56:34.239 --> 00:56:36.960
So you said Sachs wrote the book?

00:56:37.119 --> 00:56:37.280
Yes.

00:56:37.519 --> 00:56:37.760
Correct?

00:56:38.079 --> 00:56:39.199
Yes, he wrote many books.

00:56:39.440 --> 00:56:39.920
Oh, he did.

00:56:40.159 --> 00:56:40.400
He did.

00:56:40.719 --> 00:56:43.039
What year did the awakenings come out?

00:56:47.679 --> 00:56:51.840
I don't think some of my questions are so unrealistic.

00:56:52.239 --> 00:56:53.360
No, but you know.

00:56:53.840 --> 00:56:55.760
You just can't accommodate all of them?

00:56:57.679 --> 00:56:58.159
Wow.

00:56:58.480 --> 00:57:00.159
And this happened in 69.

00:57:00.400 --> 00:57:00.559
Right.

00:57:00.719 --> 00:57:01.920
So it was pretty quick.

00:57:02.800 --> 00:57:05.679
I think I think it was a good time frame.

00:57:05.840 --> 00:57:08.719
Like it wasn't so close, and it wasn't like decades later.

00:57:09.679 --> 00:57:09.920
Okay.

00:57:10.320 --> 00:57:13.039
And then the film Awakenings was 1990.

00:57:13.519 --> 00:57:14.480
That was 90?

00:57:14.800 --> 00:57:15.519
Holy crap.

00:57:15.679 --> 00:57:17.519
And you said RDJ's in that?

00:57:18.719 --> 00:57:19.440
I didn't know that.

00:57:19.679 --> 00:57:21.519
I think he's Leonard.

00:57:22.079 --> 00:57:23.039
That would make sense.

00:57:23.280 --> 00:57:24.719
And Robin Williams plays Dr.

00:57:24.800 --> 00:57:26.719
Sax, but their version of Dr.

00:57:26.880 --> 00:57:27.199
Saxe.

00:57:27.519 --> 00:57:28.639
Whatever name and whatever.

00:57:28.800 --> 00:57:29.039
Yeah.

00:57:29.199 --> 00:57:29.599
Yeah.

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:31.599
I would definitely watch that with you.

00:57:31.679 --> 00:57:37.199
And now I want to because I've never seen I'm I'm 100% sure I've never seen that movie.

00:57:37.360 --> 00:57:39.840
Again, I knew of it, never watched it.

00:57:40.079 --> 00:57:43.119
I love Robin Williams, Tortured Soul.

00:57:43.440 --> 00:57:45.760
But uh he was great.

00:57:46.000 --> 00:57:46.480
Yeah.

00:57:46.800 --> 00:57:52.639
I miss I missed uh his comedy and his general personality.

00:57:53.599 --> 00:57:54.480
Oh, he was so talented.

00:57:54.880 --> 00:57:55.920
Talent of the wazoo.

00:57:56.239 --> 00:57:57.599
Oh, he was he was so good.

00:57:57.679 --> 00:57:59.039
And I I mean it's funny.

00:57:59.599 --> 00:58:02.960
There's some quote that I'm I'm not gonna remember, so just generalize it.

00:58:03.039 --> 00:58:06.639
But it's like typically the funniest people are the saddest or whatever.

00:58:06.800 --> 00:58:09.039
It's there's it's more in depth than that.

00:58:09.280 --> 00:58:11.599
Obviously, I'm just fucking not making light of it.

00:58:11.679 --> 00:58:13.199
I'm just I don't remember it.

00:58:13.519 --> 00:58:17.039
But yeah, he was he was something else.

00:58:17.199 --> 00:58:19.679
I grew up on him with Mork and Mindy.

00:58:19.760 --> 00:58:20.639
Did you ever watch that show?

00:58:20.800 --> 00:58:21.840
You're too young for that, right?

00:58:22.000 --> 00:58:22.320
Yeah.

00:58:22.480 --> 00:58:27.039
I watched Mork and Mindy and all of his other shit and whatever, and you know, Hook and all that stuff.

00:58:27.119 --> 00:58:33.920
I mean fucking you just said Hook is like what 35 years this year.

00:58:34.079 --> 00:58:34.480
Oh, yeah.

00:58:34.559 --> 00:58:36.079
I was I was reading off those movies.

00:58:36.159 --> 00:58:37.599
Was that the 35-year one?

00:58:37.840 --> 00:58:38.480
I think so.

00:58:39.039 --> 00:58:40.480
It's gotta be close, if not.

00:58:40.880 --> 00:58:41.280
Shit.

00:58:41.519 --> 00:58:43.039
Because now I'm drawing a blanket.

00:58:43.519 --> 00:58:44.559
1991.

00:58:44.960 --> 00:58:46.239
So it's 35 years.

00:58:46.480 --> 00:58:47.280
1991, yeah.

00:58:47.440 --> 00:58:47.920
Oh my gosh.

00:58:48.159 --> 00:58:49.039
Jeez Louise.

00:58:49.199 --> 00:58:50.079
Hook is great.

00:58:51.440 --> 00:58:53.920
Gosh, we have so many movies to watch.

00:58:54.400 --> 00:58:57.280
Well, let's just call in sick.

00:58:57.440 --> 00:59:00.079
How how did you like the boating type?

00:59:00.480 --> 00:59:03.199
I haven't had Bodingtons, but I've had Boddingtons.

00:59:06.880 --> 00:59:07.840
Boddingtons.

00:59:08.079 --> 00:59:10.400
I I haven't had it in a long time.

00:59:10.639 --> 00:59:11.519
It it's good.

00:59:11.599 --> 00:59:12.400
I enjoy it.

00:59:12.559 --> 00:59:14.400
It's not something I would drink on the regular basis.

00:59:14.800 --> 00:59:15.920
I didn't happen to finish mine.

00:59:16.079 --> 00:59:16.800
Yeah, I saw that.

00:59:16.880 --> 00:59:17.199
Very well.

00:59:17.360 --> 00:59:17.519
Yeah.

00:59:18.639 --> 00:59:19.519
Very well done.

00:59:19.760 --> 00:59:20.719
Um Bravo.

00:59:21.199 --> 00:59:21.920
Pip pip.

00:59:22.159 --> 00:59:22.880
Pip pip.

00:59:23.840 --> 00:59:26.079
Pip pip Cheerio and all that sort of thing.

00:59:26.559 --> 00:59:27.440
Never can't wait.

00:59:27.519 --> 00:59:28.000
Anyways.

00:59:28.239 --> 00:59:32.800
Um when you when you drank it, you notice how it's a little more airy.

00:59:33.039 --> 00:59:33.199
Yeah.

00:59:33.599 --> 00:59:36.880
That is from the intentional and the widget and all that stuff and so on.

00:59:37.199 --> 00:59:38.719
Isn't actually called a widget?

00:59:39.199 --> 00:59:40.159
Yeah, typically.

00:59:40.559 --> 00:59:43.599
I don't know if it says it on the can, but yeah, it's it's called a widget.

00:59:43.840 --> 00:59:44.239
Cool.

00:59:44.639 --> 00:59:48.320
I will uh teach you teach you that after we're done with it.

00:59:48.480 --> 00:59:48.880
Oh dear.

00:59:49.039 --> 00:59:49.840
I just yawned.

00:59:50.239 --> 00:59:50.480
Why?

00:59:50.559 --> 00:59:51.440
Why would you do that?

00:59:51.679 --> 00:59:52.000
I don't know.

00:59:52.239 --> 00:59:53.360
We're we're on camera.

00:59:53.679 --> 00:59:54.239
Sorry.

00:59:54.559 --> 00:59:56.880
So uh that is fucking weird.

00:59:57.119 --> 00:59:59.119
Um pretty wild stuff.

00:59:59.360 --> 00:59:59.440
Yeah.

01:00:02.559 --> 01:00:13.360
But I couldn't imagine being trapped in my own body and not being able to fully communicate or move or anything.

01:00:14.000 --> 01:00:15.440
For thirty years.

01:00:15.760 --> 01:00:17.199
I mean, I plus.

01:00:17.760 --> 01:00:18.079
Yeah.

01:00:18.159 --> 01:00:21.199
I have a hard time sleeping, let alone thirty years.

01:00:21.519 --> 01:00:22.960
I mean, holy shit.

01:00:23.280 --> 01:00:29.199
Because he was awakened for a month and a half and then and that was 69 and then he died in 81.

01:00:29.840 --> 01:00:30.639
God damn.

01:00:30.719 --> 01:00:33.199
So another 12 years-ish.

01:00:33.840 --> 01:00:34.880
Ish, depending on your time.

01:00:35.280 --> 01:00:36.079
Yeah, exactly.

01:00:36.239 --> 01:00:38.719
That he went back to it.

01:00:38.960 --> 01:00:39.840
That's so fuck.

01:00:40.239 --> 01:00:42.000
And it just disappeared.

01:00:42.079 --> 01:00:44.239
That whole disease just disappeared.

01:00:44.559 --> 01:00:48.719
So what's the difference between encephalitis and encephalitis lethargia?

01:00:50.159 --> 01:00:51.760
Okay, so of course you had to ask that.

01:00:51.920 --> 01:00:58.719
I literally had what the what the difference was between encephalitis lethargica and Parkinson's.

01:00:59.039 --> 01:00:59.360
Okay.

01:00:59.599 --> 01:01:01.599
I literally looked that up.

01:01:02.559 --> 01:01:03.280
Ugh.

01:01:03.599 --> 01:01:04.159
Rude.

01:01:04.639 --> 01:01:06.079
So what's the difference on that?

01:01:06.480 --> 01:01:07.039
I'm looking.

01:01:07.280 --> 01:01:07.920
Wow.

01:01:08.320 --> 01:01:12.239
I was just told to shut up on camera on audio.

01:01:13.039 --> 01:01:14.320
I feel so.

01:01:15.199 --> 01:01:18.320
I'm gonna drink a beer while she's looking this up because.

01:01:20.559 --> 01:01:22.960
Oh, that was a nice crack of can.

01:01:23.199 --> 01:01:27.199
Encephalitis is a general term for brain inflammation.

01:01:27.519 --> 01:01:27.840
Okay.

01:01:28.480 --> 01:01:32.079
The cause is viral, like herpes or West Nile.

01:01:32.320 --> 01:01:35.440
It's autoimmune and it's uh post-infection.

01:01:35.679 --> 01:01:36.000
Okay.

01:01:36.239 --> 01:01:41.599
Encephalitis lethargica um is unknown.

01:01:42.480 --> 01:01:44.480
So I feel like this is all made up.

01:01:46.880 --> 01:01:51.760
Um, the onset of encephalitis is sudden, days to weeks.

01:01:52.000 --> 01:01:57.760
Encephalitis lethargica is graduated, sometimes sometimes sudden.

01:01:58.000 --> 01:01:58.480
Yeah.

01:01:58.719 --> 01:02:04.960
The symptoms in the acute phase for encephalitis is fever, seizures, confusion, and coma.

01:02:05.679 --> 01:02:10.800
Lethargica is extreme sleepiness, eye movement issues, and ketatonia.

01:02:11.679 --> 01:02:22.239
Um, in the chronic phase for encephalitis, may recover to sorry, may recover or have resist residual neurological issues.

01:02:22.400 --> 01:02:22.719
Okay.

01:02:23.199 --> 01:02:25.840
Lethargica is post-encephalitis.

01:02:26.000 --> 01:02:31.760
Parkinson's rigidity and acuse kinesia, which is a lack of movement.

01:02:32.000 --> 01:02:32.320
Okay.

01:02:34.159 --> 01:02:38.320
Um fatality rate for encephalitis varies from 5% to 30%.

01:02:38.719 --> 01:02:39.280
Oh, wow.

01:02:39.519 --> 01:02:41.760
Lethargica is high during epidemic.

01:02:41.920 --> 01:02:44.480
Many survivors had lifelong effects.

01:02:45.119 --> 01:02:51.360
Um encephalitis is around today, and it and uh lethargica is not.

01:02:51.599 --> 01:02:56.639
Isn't it just wild that it just completely like just poof?

01:02:56.960 --> 01:02:58.320
Peace out, homies.

01:02:58.559 --> 01:03:00.079
We're gonna go to a different planet.

01:03:00.400 --> 01:03:06.000
The treatment for encephalitis is antiviral supportive care and immunotherapy.

01:03:06.880 --> 01:03:09.440
Um, lethargica was nonspecific.

01:03:10.480 --> 01:03:13.519
L dopa used decades later in chronic phase.

01:03:13.760 --> 01:03:16.079
Is L DOPA still a thing?

01:03:18.079 --> 01:03:19.679
Maybe for Parkinson's.

01:03:20.719 --> 01:03:21.039
Okay.

01:03:21.360 --> 01:03:22.000
Yeah.

01:03:22.480 --> 01:03:26.480
Um, it is all encephalitis is also known as brain inflammation.

01:03:26.639 --> 01:03:28.719
Lethargica is the sleepy sickness.

01:03:29.199 --> 01:03:30.000
The sleepy sickness.

01:03:30.320 --> 01:03:35.519
And encephalitis public awareness is moderate, especially during viral outbreaks.

01:03:35.760 --> 01:03:38.480
And for lethargica, it was famous due to Dr.

01:03:38.559 --> 01:03:40.800
Oliver Sachs's awakenings.

01:03:41.199 --> 01:03:42.159
That's wild.

01:03:42.559 --> 01:03:47.280
I mean, uh I again I will end on this.

01:03:47.840 --> 01:03:57.760
If I was if I was Leonard or one of the people that made up Leonard, I would have been fucking appreciative of Dr.

01:03:57.920 --> 01:04:00.320
Sachs for waking me up for a month and a half.

01:04:03.519 --> 01:04:04.079
It is, okay.

01:04:04.159 --> 01:04:04.960
Um that makes sense.

01:04:05.039 --> 01:04:08.880
I mean, like you said, there had a lot of commonalities between it, so okay.

01:04:09.039 --> 01:04:10.559
I I totally get that.

01:04:10.639 --> 01:04:12.239
So isn't that crazy?

01:04:12.800 --> 01:04:13.920
It really is.

01:04:14.159 --> 01:04:17.199
I mean, I couldn't even imagine.

01:04:17.360 --> 01:04:18.480
So yeah.

01:04:18.960 --> 01:04:19.519
Well.

01:04:19.760 --> 01:04:20.559
I suppose.

01:04:20.880 --> 01:04:21.840
All right, buffoons.

01:04:21.920 --> 01:04:23.280
That's it for today's episode.

01:04:23.599 --> 01:04:27.599
Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time.

01:04:27.840 --> 01:04:30.000
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01:04:30.159 --> 01:04:34.960
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01:04:35.199 --> 01:04:36.639
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01:04:36.719 --> 01:04:41.440
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01:04:41.599 --> 01:04:45.920
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01:04:46.079 --> 01:04:49.119
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01:04:49.280 --> 01:04:54.000
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01:04:54.159 --> 01:04:57.519
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01:04:57.679 --> 01:05:00.320
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