11: Cupid's Disease

Lovesick is defined as a deep, often depressing feeling of wanting to find love or be loved, but is its presence strong enough to be considered an illness or is it simply a strong emotion that could be potentially debilitating? Many could argue that the concept of love alone can be quite the controversial topic, though imagine being so unexpectedly enraptured in all the pleasures it has to offer without even knowing that “cupid” had shot his arrow. Dr. Sacks describes the tale of an almost ninety-year-old female named Natasha who had a case of “Cupid’s Disease,” or most commonly known as syphilis that served to spark her romancing.

Neurosyphilis results from a bacterial infection of the central nervous system, the brain or spinal cord. This type of syphilis usually occurs in patients who have had untreated syphilis for many years, as little from three to as many as thirty years. The bacterium that this disease originates from is called Treponema pallidum. Not every patient who has syphilis develops neurosyphilis. There are four different forms of the disease in which symptoms could include abnormal walking, numbness in the legs, feet, or toes, problems with thought, mental problems such as depression, tremors, and or visual problems. Neurosyphilis affects the coverings of the brain and specifically the limbic system, the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the dentate and cingulate gyrus. Syphilis itself is a contagious disease spread mainly through sexual contact. Most of the time the infected individual is unaware that they have the disease, and that is how transmission occurs.

Natasha came to the clinic excitedly expressing how much more energetic, alive, and sensual she felt, especially towards younger men. She felt amazing, but her friends were questioning her feelings due to her old age, thinking it was simply not appropriate. She at first dismissed them, but then decided that since she was feeling too well, something had to be wrong. She told Dr. Sacks that she had been infected with syphilis seventy years ago in a brothel. Her spinal fluid tests came back positive, that she indeed had a case of neurosyphilis. Spirochetes were stimulating her cerebral cortex. She asked Dr. Sacks if he could treat it in a way that the illness would not get better or worse, but simply stay in its current state. Dr. Sacks prescribed penicillin to kill the spirochetes, and, as she had hoped, her cerebral changes could not be reversed. She left Dr. Sacks living with more mild, but still lively thoughts about life without further damage to her cortex. The likeliness that this type of neurosyphilis is common is possible, but not numerous in cases. Dr. Sacks provides a postscript at the end of this chapter that describes an individual who also suffered from neurosyphilis who experienced bursts of excitation, not in the forms of romance, but in imagination and creativity.

Sacks, O. (1985). The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales. New York:

Summit Books.

Syphilis and Neurosyphilis. AIDS Meds. 2015. Web.