Fearless madmen: how does Urbach-Wiethe disease manifest itself, depriving people of a sense of danger? (5 photos)

Surely many had acquaintances in adolescence and youth who were ready to get into the thick of things without a second’s hesitation. Taking unnecessary risks, diving into the ocean, climbing mountains, hugging tigers and trying questionable food. And the feeling of fear was completely unfamiliar to them.





But then a person grows up, children are born whose safety is already above their own. Adrenaline storms subside. However, there are exceptions.

Without fear and reproach



But there are also lucky people (or unfortunate people, depending on your point of view) who are unfamiliar with the feeling of fear. At all. And this is a problem of a physiological nature, which is called Urbach-Wiethe disease. Calcium deposits occur in the amygdala of the brain of such patients. Namely, this area is responsible for generating emotions. Fear, panic, horror as well. In milder cases, the feeling of fear simply dulls. But in especially neglected cases it completely disappears.





Urbach-Wiethe lipoid proteinosis

As for external manifestations, sick people's skin becomes rougher, small bumps grow in the eye area, and the timbre of the voice changes, becoming lower. Seizures may occur.

Crazy daredevils have been encountered since ancient times. But doctors were able to describe the disease relatively recently, only at the beginning of the last century. In 1929, this was done by Erich Urbach and Camillo Wiethe, after whom the disease was named.



A classic example is the case of a US resident suffering from Urbach-Wiethe disease. A robber attacked her and put a knife to her throat, demanding to give her money. To which the woman replied without any emotion that he could do anything. But she will return from the other world as a ghost and will torment the thief until the end of her days. Apparently, she looked so frightening that the guy fled. At the same time, the patient is capable of experiencing all other human emotions. The only exception is fear.

Is salvation possible?



Unfortunately, at the moment medicine is not able to cope with this disease. It is only possible to eliminate external symptoms, medicinal treatment of skin problems and eliminate seizures. Otherwise, doctors recommend that patients with confirmed Urbach-Wiethe disease rely on logic when making decisions in situations where an ordinary person would simply refuse out of fear.

The disease manifests itself very rarely: in almost 100 years since its existence was officially confirmed, about 300 cases have been recorded throughout the world. Although in reality there could be more. It’s just that pathological daredevils have a much higher chance of dying without learning about the causes of this condition.