- Mike Bellows planned a vacation to Turks and Caicos in 2016 hoping to surprise his girlfriend with an engagement ring.
- He wasn't able to propose on the trip because of a rogue protein that made him tense and irritable all week.
- Mike's case is one of many medical anomalies described in Sara Manning Peskin's book, "A Molecule Away from Madness."
Twenty years after he saw her across the high school cafeteria, Mike Bellows knew he had finally found his dream girl.
He reconnected with Amy by chance two decades after graduation, and the pair quickly fell into a comfortable courtship. There was one thing left to do: pop the question on the white-sand beaches of Turks and Caicos.
Mike's plan for the perfect proposal began to go awry in the weeks before they left. He was tense and irritable, and he started having night sweats that soaked the bed — all-consuming symptoms that persisted as Mike and Amy headed off to the Caribbean.
The couple's vacation turned into a nightmare that didn't stop when they arrived home, according to a detailed account of Mike's case in "A Molecule Away from Madness," a book in which Sara Manning Peskin explores cases of brain functioning gone wrong.
One section of the book covers "rebellious proteins," which is what caused Mike's tense demeanor. His immune system had created an antibody that blocked his ability to relax and eventually caused violent, full-body spasms.
A molecule blocked a vital receptor required for relaxation
An army of Mike's antibodies had latched onto an important set of receptors that run from the base of the brain down the spinal cord. His girlfriend noticed his movements were stiffer than usual, and his temper changed entirely.
On one night that Peskin described in detail, Amy called security after Mike punched a hole in the wall of their hotel room. He couldn't remember what happened the following morning, but he knew he didn't propose.
Mike's symptoms escalated when the couple got home. He developed muscle contractions so severe that doctors had to restrain and intubate him. He spent about half a year bouncing between hospitals and rehabilitation centers, until finally one neuropsychologist had an idea of what might be wrong.
Dr. Greg McCarthy suspected that Mike's receptors for glycine, a vital neurotransmitter, were blocked. Another doctor confirmed his theory with a spinal tap, which revealed curious antibodies in the patient's spinal fluid.
"For our neurons, sensing a burst of glycine is akin to drinking chamomile tea and taking an Ativan," Peskin wrote. Mike had become numb to the molecule's relaxing effects, and the antibodies blocking it continued to attack his nerves until he couldn't control his muscle spasms.
Doctors still don't know why Mike's immune system went rogue
Other cases described in Peskin's book could be solved with surgery. Mike's condition started to improve within a week of receiving treatment, which included steroids to suppress his immune system and a drug that destroyed the cells making the antibodies.
Doctors still don't know why Mike's immune system started making antibodies against glycine receptors. Similar cases have been reported around the globe, and research into the condition is ongoing today.
After months of physical, occupational, and speech therapies, Mike was able to get at least one answer he'd been looking for. He was still wobbly from the long-term muscle tension, but he managed to get down on one knee and propose to Amy in her kitchen.