- He might not be bright, but it seems he’s doing just fine.
Going to the doctor is like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re going to get. The human body is weird in the sense that an issue with one part of it might stem from something that seems utterly unrelated.
For a perfect example, just take a look at this Frenchman’s case.
The man had been dealing with weakness in his left leg. After putting up with the issue for some time, he finally sought medical help.
Suspecting a neurological issue, the doctors gave the man a brain scan. What they found took them by surprise.
Or perhaps we should say that the surprising thing was what they didn’t find. The scan showed that the man’s brain was barely half the average size due to massive fluid buildup within it.
The small size of his brain hadn’t just left the man with physical issues. When the doctors gave him an IQ test, the results showed that…
Well, let’s just say he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.
The good news is that draining the fluid from the man’s brain resolved his leg weakness. Unfortunately, it did nothing to boost his IQ.
That said, the man was able to return to his work and loving family. So who cares if his bulb shines a little dimmer?
The Troublesome Leg
The man in our case is an unnamed 44-year-old from France. His bizarre medical story has been reported in the journal The Lancet.
He had been living a perfectly normal life. In fact, with a wife, two children, and a steady job as a civil servant, some might say he was doing very well for himself.
However, at one point, he developed a strange issue with his left leg. He began experiencing mild weakness in the limb.
It wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t walk, so he tried putting up with the problem until it went away. But it didn’t.
After two weeks of limping around, he finally got sick of the issue and went to see a doctor. After all, this wasn’t the first time he’d had difficulties with his left leg.
As a six-year-old toddler, the man had suffered from hydrocephalus and received a shunt in his brain to drain the fluid. When he was 14, however, he began having muscle weakness in his left leg, which resolved after the shunt was removed.
A Layer of Brain
Having heard of the man’s medical history, the doctors began to suspect that something might once again be up with his brain or nerves. So, they put the man through CT and MRI scans.
We can only imagine how awkward it must’ve been to explain the results to the man.
It turned out that the man’s brain wasn’t exactly up to par. In fact, it was just barely half the size of a regular human brain.
Well, that’s not actually correct. The man’s brain was, in fact, bulging against his skull on the inside, but the brain wasn’t full of little gray cells.
Instead, the man’s brain consisted mostly of giant cavities filled with fluid. His had only a thin layer of actual brain tissue smooshed against his skull.
Seeing his bizarre brain, the doctors decided to evaluate the man’s mental capacities. The results of that test weren’t exactly flattering, either.
The man’s IQ was a measly 75. Although he’s not considered disabled socially or intellectually, that’s still way below the human average of 100.
He’s Got What Matters
The doctors now knew what was wrong with the man, but they still had to resolve the problem. They drained the fluid from the man’s brain, which initially relieved his leg weakness.
However, the issue soon returned, and new scans showed the man’s brain had once more filled with fluid. So, the doctors decided to do the same thing as 44 years ago and gave the man a brain shunt.
This solution turned out to be more successful. According to the medical report, the man’s leg weakness disappeared within a few weeks and his neural activity returned to baseline.
Unfortunately, the treatment did nothing to boost his mental capacities. After all, there’s only so much puzzling you can do when you have only half the puzzler, and the man’s IQ remained unchanged.
But so what if his IQ has one less digit than average? He’s leg is now back to normal, and he has his family and job.
If stupid is as stupid does, well, this Frenchman is certainly not that.