My music--a case of musical reminiscence diagnosed courtesy of the BBC.

Abstract

Letters to the Editor marked reduction of muscle permeability to potassium.' Effects of lithium on potassium metabolism have been the topic of in vivo and in vitro studies. Results are contradictory, depending on the study design and the patient's psychiatric state. No noticeable and consistent systematic effect of lithium on body potassium has been reported. Nevertheless, lithium could enhance Na-K pump activity, similar to potassium.2 Lithium therapy has already been proposed in various forms offamilial periodic paralysis with varying results.34 To our knowledge, there is only one other report concerning lithium therapy in a patient with FHPP.' In this case, carbonate lithium was administered to reach serum lithium levels up to 10 mmol/l. No benefit was observed, notably on attack frequency which remained about one per week. Biochemical homogeneity of FHPP may be questioned on the basis of such discrepant results. Some forms could be lithium sensitive and others, lithium resistant. Further studies are clearly needed to elucidate this problem. Lithium, as an oral potassium add-on therapy, is worth trying in FHPP cases resistant to standard therapies. It is safe and can be beneficial on rate of attack. We are grateful to Drs N Daieff and S Sirot from LABCATAL laboratories for their help in the trial design and the provision of the drug, and to Professor Guy Chazot for his valuable help.

Musical hallucinations: review of treatment effects

“…Many of our patients, after proper explanation, prefer not to try any medication, whereas others try one type of medication but refrain from trying another type. In our experience some patients are content with explanation and practical advice, which is also described by others (Shapiro et al, 1991 ; Feehan and Birchwood, 1993 ; Bhatt and de Carpentier, 2012 ; Johns and Zuromskis, 2012 ; Teunisse and Olde Rikkert, 2012 ). However, the fact that patients show themselves content without any pharmacological intervention does not mean that no treatment should be offered (Podoll et al, 1991 ; Keshavan et al, 1992 ).…”

“…We then excluded all reports of musical illusions, pseudohallucinations, palinacusis, hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations, and obsessions (i.e., “earworms”); only rarely did our interpretation of obsession vs. hallucination (i.e., “earworm” vs. MH) differ from that of the original authors (e.g., Islam et al, 2014). A total number of 276 cases in 147 articles met these inclusion criteria (Colman, 1894; Penfield and Erickson, 1941; David et al, 1944; Mulder and Daly, 1952; Rozanski and Rosen, 1952; Arieff and Brooks, 1958; Rennie, 1964; Ross et al, 1975; Scott, 1975, 1979; Schiffter and Straschill, 1977; Miller and Crosby, 1979; Raghuram et al, 1980; Wieser, 1980; Gilchrist and Kalucy, 1983; Hammeke et al, 1983; Mackworth-Young, 1983; Aizenberg et al, 1986, 1987, 1991; Jonas, 1986; Cambier et al, 1987; Lanska et al, 1987; Patel et al, 1987; Keshavan et al, 1988, 1992; Duncan et al, 1989; Fenton and McRae, 1989; Wengel et al, 1989; Berrios, 1990; McLoughlin, 1990; Donnet and Régis, 1991; Fisman, 1991; Nevins, 1991; Podoll et al, 1991; Shapiro et al, 1991; Vallada and Gentil, 1991; Wagner and Gertz, 1991; Freeland and O'Reilly, 1992; Klostermann et al, 1992; Paquier et al, 1992; Erkwoh et al, 1993; Feehan and Birchwood, 1993; Fénelon et al, 1993; Gilbert, 1993; Inzelberg et al, 1993; Isaacson et al, 1993; Couper, 1994; Hosty, 1994; Murata et al, 1994; Terao, 1995; Wodarz et al, 1995; Baurier and Tuca, 1996; Gertz et al, 1996; Stephane and Hsu, 1996; Douen and Bourque, 1997; Marneros et al, 1997; Thorpe, 1997; Clark, 1998; Fernandez and Crowther, 1998; Fukunishi et al, 1998b, 1999; Terao and Tani, 1998; Baba and Hamada, 1999; Terao and M...…”

Auditory hallucinations: phenomenology, neuropsychology and neuroimaging update

“…Reviews by Keshavan et al (25) and Berrios (26) show that musical hallucinations in non-psychotic individuals almost invariably implicate hearing loss (27), sometimes with additional cerebral pathology (28,29). Recent reports (30,31) do not contradict this if one accepts that onset in old age implies some hearing impairment, whether or not it is obvious. One German case report, of a 52-year-old man, does claim purely central pathology on the basis of white matter lesions on MRI and focally increased metabolism detected using 18-fluorodeoxyglucose PET (32), although there was some high-tone loss.…”

Music and trauma in Polanski'sThe pianist(2002)

“…At times, the sounds were 'heard' as irksomely out-of-tune. It was ultimately assessed that these musical hallucinations were a response to traumatic distress, precipitated by her learning of the dissolution of an important family relationship (Shapiro et al, 1991). does in the fermata of the second section of Chopin's B minor Scherzo, in a stormy tempo of quavers going on and on, more and more tempestuously, until the closing chord, at which point the Germans would retreat to their own border as vigorously as they had advanced ([1946] 1999, p. 57).…”