Tuesday, April 12, 2005
You Will Actually Probably Get This
"Radial nerve palsy" -- sounds boring. That is, until you meet its sexy sobriquet, "Saturday night palsy." Now it's party time. This awesome rager of a disease, immortalized in classic 70s films and Cat Stevens covers, is so called "because it occurs in people who drink heavily and then sleep soundly with an arm draped over the back of a chair or under the head. The nerve damage weakens the wrist and fingers so the wrist may flop into a bent position with the fingers curved." (Merck Manual of Medical Information).
If they want to scare people away from this condition, why do they paint such a darling picture? Sleeping soundly with one arm draped over a chair, wrist flopping about? Who'd believe that this charming lagabout would soon be manually incapacitated by complete loss of function and uncontrollable tremor?
If they want to scare people away from this condition, why do they paint such a darling picture? Sleeping soundly with one arm draped over a chair, wrist flopping about? Who'd believe that this charming lagabout would soon be manually incapacitated by complete loss of function and uncontrollable tremor?
