science

Myxedema psychosis

Myxedema psychosis is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Myxedema psychosis rather than just read about it. In short: Myxedema psychosis is a relatively uncommon consequence of untreated hypothyroidism, such as in Hashimoto's thyroiditis or in patients who have had the thyroid surgically removed and are not taking thyroxine. A chronically under-active thyroid can lead to slowly progressive dementia, delirium, and in extreme cases to hallucinations, coma, or psychosis, particularly in the elderly.

Key takeaways

Myxedema psychosis belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Myxedema psychosis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Myxedema psychosis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Myxedema psychosis is a relatively uncommon consequence of untreated hypothyroidism, such as in Hashimoto's thyroiditis or in patients who have had the thyroid surgically removed and are not taking thyroxine. A chronically under-active thyroid can lead to slowly progressive dementia, delirium, and in extreme cases to hallucinations, coma, or psychosis, particularly in the elderly. The prevalence of myxedema psychosis is unknown. Myxedema coma, a related condition, affects an approximate 0.22 per 100,000 per year. According to some research, 5-15% of myxedematous patients have some form of psychosis. It is diagnosed through the measurement of thyroid stimulating hormone and treated by application of L-thyroxine. With treatment, over 80% of patients achieve complete remission of psychosis.

Signs and symptoms A patient with myxedema psychosis may present with symptoms of a thought disorder, such as delusions, visual and auditory hallucinations, perseveration, loose associations, and paranoia. Alongside psychotic symptoms, the patient will usually present with severe hypothyroidism. Hypothyroid symptoms may include:

Fatigue Cold sensitivity Constipation Dry skin Goitre Hoarseness Coarse, thinning hair Muscle weakness Bradycardia (slow heart rate) Depression Problems with memory. Symptoms of myxedema may include:

Low systolic and high diastolic blood pressure Respiratory depression Hypothermia Hyponatremia (low sodium content in blood) Shock Hypoxemia (low oxygen levels in blood) Hypercapnia (high carbon dioxide levels in blood) Coma Seizures Respiratory failure Death.

History The condition was first described in 1888 by the Committee of the Clinical Society of London, appointed in 1883 to research myxedema. The Committee had reported delusions and hallucinations in nearly half of the cases they investigated, with insanity as a complication, presenting as "acute or chronic manias, dementia, or melancholia, with a marked predominance of suspicion and self accusation." Henry F. Stoll had described six individuals with "chronic invalidism with marked personality changes due to myxedema" in November 1932. In 1944, Hermann Zondek and Dr. Gerda Wolfsohn published a solitary case of psychosis occurring alongside myxedema. Author A. J. Cronin wrote an account in 1937 describing "mad myxedema." "Myxoedematous madness" was introduced in 1949 by senior physician Richard Asher in his paper published to the British Journal of Medicine. Asher had described fourteen cases of patients who had myxedema with co-occurring psychotic symptoms, in which nine had a "dramatic recovery" upon administration of thyroid hormone treatment. He postulated that, because myxedema psychosis closely resembled other conditions such as paranoia, schizophrenia, melancholia, and mania, myxedema psychosis may be underdiagnosed and that symptoms of psychosis may be due to an underlying organic disease, rather than a primary psychiatric disorder. Dr. Leonard Simpson had also described the condition in a publication of Price's Medicine.

See also Hashimoto's encephalopathy Myxedema Myxedema coma Hypothyroidism Hashimoto's disease

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Myxedema psychosis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Myxedema psychosis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Myxedema psychosis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Myxedema psychosis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Myxedema psychosis

In research: Myxedema psychosis appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Myxedema psychosis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Myxedema psychosis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1883-related lists, 1888-related lists, Coma, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Myxedema psychosis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Myxedema psychosis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Myxedema psychosis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Myxedema psychosis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Myxedema psychosis in simple terms?

Why does Myxedema psychosis matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Myxedema psychosis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Myxedema psychosis.