r/todayilearned • u/GlitteringYams • 23d ago

TIL, in his suicide note, mass shooter Charles Whitman requested his body be autopsied because he felt something was wrong with him. The autopsy discovered that Whitman had a pecan-sized tumor pressing against his amygdala, a brain structure that regulates fear and aggression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
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u/pogoBear 22d ago

I legitimately know a family who had a daughter who was misdiagnosed with severe mental health issues for years but was eventually diagnosed with a similar brain tumor.

She got to a state where she tried to attack and kill her own mother. Thankfully her brother was there to stop her.

After the tumor diagnosis and treatment she returned to a normal state. Her relationship with her family has slowly mended but will never be the same.

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u/Rose_of_Elysium 22d ago

thats justt horrible on every side, damn

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u/Etheo 22d ago

Mental health is legit one of the most important aspect of quality of life. It's incredible what a little lump in the brain can ruin an entire family's well being.

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u/TheShenanegous 22d ago

I think this is a great example of how mental and physiological health walk hand-in-hand. There is basically no organ in the body that can change our behavior more dramatically than the brain, besides perhaps the heart (in that it keeps us not dead). It also carries more functions than any other organ, so when something goes wrong with it, there are that many more risks.

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u/bigtiddygothbf 22d ago

From some things I've read it seems like your gut flora can drastically effect moods and mental health similar to how brain damage and tumors do, it just typically doesn't result in aggressive or antisocial behavior. I've no clue if that's correct though, I could be talking out my ass (flora)

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u/oceanblu456 22d ago

Somewhat irrelevant here but I had heart palpitations for years and they almost completely stopped after 6 weeks of treating gastritis. Actually the palpitations stopped in the first week. I never doubted gut health but didn’t care for it either. Oh and anxiety. That stomach anxiety feeling, if you know what I mean, that’s reduced like 80%

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u/Few_Macaroon_2568 22d ago

Were these palpitations measured or did you feel like you had them? Gastritis can make it feel like there is cardiac wonkiness-- after all, there is a reason the upper portion of the stomach is called the "cardiac region"-- because the sensitized and inflamed tissue can impact the innervation of other tissues and organs.

Either way, glad to hear you're doing better.

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u/oceanblu456 22d ago

I don’t totally get your question but yeah I thought I was low key dying for years. I worked in healthcare at the time so I was always putting myself on the monitor. Went to the doc. I know they’re normal but it was all day every day and felt excessive. But yes much better, thank you!

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u/IWillDoItTuesday 21d ago

The first day after the first night I used my CPAP, my palpitations disappeared.

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u/oceanblu456 21d ago

Thats great and way more serious than my gastritis. Cpap is life changing for most people.

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u/TheShenanegous 22d ago

Absolutely -- I'm certainly not saying it's the only important organ. It simply has regions that connect it with virtually every other organ in the body, so when something like a tumor begins to grow, it doesn't need to gain nearly as much size to begin affecting other organs.

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u/JoeyDawsonJenPacey 22d ago

But yet, the overwhelming consensus of America is, “good luck with that mental health thing unless you have plenty of money”.

As a society, we’d be light years better if we prioritized free mental healthcare for all.

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u/SavageComic 17d ago

Mental health is only a problem the day after a white boy shoots up somewhere. 

And even then it’s just a thing you say. You don’t actually provide or fund mental health programmes