Medical Mystery: Dementia, Parkinson's appear to have happened overnight

But Parkinson's disease and dementia are degenerative diseases of the brain, which typically take years, not weeks, to come on.

How could a previously healthy 49-year-old woman develop signs of dementia and Parkinson's disease so quickly?

The only abnormalities in her blood work were a high number of a white blood cell called an eosinophil and an elevated level of an enzyme usually from the liver or bones.

Eosinophils usually only make up one to two percent of a patient's white blood cells, but for her almost half were eosinophils. These cells are usually elevated in allergic disease, but can also be a sign of a parasitic infection, a tumor, or an autoimmune disease.

In the last several years there have been increasing reports of rapid-onset dementias due to an autoimmune process. This might explain her symptoms, but an elevated eosinophil count isn't usually found in such cases.

These dementias are often associated with tumors - the tumor stimulates the body to make proteins that attack the brain, causing it to malfunction.

The other abnormal blood test - the enzyme - is often elevated in diseases involving the liver or bones. She would need to be evaluated for signs of a tumor and whether her liver or bones were involved.

In working up her brain disease, an MRI showed inflammation in deep areas of her brain called white matter.

A spinal tap looking for signs of infection or inflammation was normal.

To evaluate her elevated enzyme level, a CAT scan of the abdomen was performed and showed an enlarged and abnormally textured spleen and multiple enlarged lymph nodes deep in her abdomen.

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Medical Mystery: Dementia, Parkinson's appear to have happened overnight