Tv shows, sarcoidosis and wegeners

• By nomoresmiling
• Posted August 27, 2008 at 11:56 pm

hey michele, i just read up on that disease you are absolutely right. yet another mystery, i guess we can call ourselfs wegee's at the next costume party since it seems pretty darn exact. maybe i missed something in the reading but between the symptoms and meds it makes you go hmmmmmm! LOL we could be doctors! (i apologize in advance that i have not slighted anyone with wegeners. this post is not meant to do that!) thanks for the interesting post.

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/Wegener_Granulomatosis/hic_Wegeners _Granulomatosis.aspx

• Reply
• Report post

• By stewarcl
• Posted August 28, 2008 at 10:55 am

Yes, there are more than 2 episodes where the show "House" refers to Sarcoidosis. It happens to be one of my husband's favorite shows and we always wondered why they continually reference Sarcoidosis when it isn't something that ever seems to come up when we are in the hospital! We wondered if their writers knew or knows someone with Sarcoidosis.

• Reply
• Report post

• By snappykappy
• Posted August 28, 2008 at 11:50 am

anyone ever try to get in touch with the people on house show and ask them

guess that will be my task today

• Reply
• Report post

• By Paradox
• Posted August 28, 2008 at 3:12 pm

I think something that most people find surprising is that of all the TV shows in recent years the only one that even begins to approach reality is/was "Scrubs."

That said, sarcoidosis does come up in the "differential" very often because it can cause so many different symptoms. The differential is just a list of possible causes of the symptoms and the hope is that the actual cause is on the list somewhere so that running the right investigations will root it out.

Wegner's is another of the granulomatous diseases, like sarcoidosis and TB, but has a very different cause and is rather specific in the body areas affected. Classically, Wegners is know for involvement of the upper respiratory tract, the lower respiratory tract and the kidneys. It does not tend to cause dry eyes, but has been known to cause inflammation of the sclera (the white of the eye) rather than the uvea. Increased pressures causing bulging of the eyeballs has also been described but is rather rare. The rash sometimes seen with Wegner's is definately not sarc or EN but rather a purpuric rash. Coughing blood and blood in the urine are still the classic signs and make it more similar, or related to, polyarteritis nodosum than sarc - which makes sense since PAN and WG are both vasculitis - meaning they cause inflammation of the blood vessels as their primary attack. Also, Wegner's RARELY causes large nodes around the lung hila and the granulomas it causes are of the necrotizing variety.

• Reply
• Report post

• By minerva
• Posted August 31, 2008 at 2:48 am

They also mentioned it on "Scrubs" in the form of a question meant to stump the newbie internists.

• Reply
• Report post

• By Tewa
• Posted September 1, 2008 at 11:17 pm

Wow...
So...what's the difference between Lupus and Sarc? One of my older sisters was just diagnosed with Lupus and when I read up on it I couldn't see a huge difference...good thing I'm not a doc, eh?

• Reply
• Report post

• By ringalsbe
• Posted September 2, 2008 at 7:37 am

My brother-in-law died of Wegeners. My understanding is it impacts the kidneys pretty hard. His local doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. It ended up shutting down his kidneys. He had a pre-existing heart condition that had him go to Chicago for a checkup. At that time the doctor, in Chicago, asked him, after looking over his test results, what his local doctor was going to do about his Wegeners disease. He was astonished, she told him the answer was low doses of chemo, but because he was so weak and with the pre-existing condition there was nothing they could do and he died a few weeks later.
Don't trust your local doctor, if he can't figure it out the first try move on. They know little more than you, except how to take the tests, more detail on how your body works and how to look up the results in their desk reference. Your best defence is your own knowledge.

• Reply
• Report post

• By Meggie221
• Posted September 2, 2008 at 7:54 am

HI,
I actually got sick of watching HOUSE and having almost all of his original diagnoses be Sarcoidosis. ug..

• Reply
• Report post

• By micheleb
• Posted September 2, 2008 at 11:02 am

Thanks for explaining the differences between wg and sarc. That makes sense!!

• Reply
• Report post

• By valkman
• Posted September 3, 2008 at 6:54 pm

I was first diagnosed with Wegener's Granulomatosis, but it was changed a few weeks later to Sarcoidosis. As mentioned above, it is a vasculities disease. Limitied Wegeners primarly effects the upper respiratory tract. Full Wegener's can effect multiple organs, especially the kidneys. Diagnosis can be difficult, since many of these diseases mimic each other. I should also mention htat vasculities diseases have an affiliation with ANCA antibodies.

• Reply
• Report post

• By dmcadams
• Posted September 4, 2008 at 7:46 pm

I had a blood test requested by 2 different doctors. both results ruled out wegeners

• Reply
• Report post

• By valkman
• Posted September 5, 2008 at 2:46 pm

dmcadams,

That is very good news!

• Reply
• Report post

Add to the discussion