Man diagnosed with rare brain disease after having violent seizures and severe hallucinations

Ryan Alto, who lives in California, USA, began suffering from severe hallucinations and seizures. Among other things, he became convinced stuffed animals were real, and alive. After his wife took him on an emergency trip to the hospital, doctors eventually found out he suffered from a rare brain disease.

Ryan Alto suffered from severe hallucinations

As reported by Mail Online, Ryan Alto, a 48-year-old livestock owner from California, began suffering from symptoms usually linked to the flu in October 2024. He later became disoriented, and his health quickly deteriorated. After a week, his wife Jennifer managed to convince him to go to St Joseph Hospital, in Arcada, California. Over the next five days after he was admitted to the emergency unit, Ryan Alto suffered from violent seizures and severe hallucinations. Indeed, the seizures caused his heart to stop beating, and he could no longer recognize those around him, including his wife and children.

His condition continued to get worse, and he eventually had to be airlifted to the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. It took doctors another two weeks of tests to finally diagnose Ryan Alto with anti-NDMA receptor encephalitis, a rare brain disorder. The condition caused Ryan Alto to fall into an eight-week coma. Even after he woke up, the 48-year-old still experienced hallucinations, as he believed stuffed animals were alive.

Ryan Alto spent another 19 weeks at the hospital, as his condition made little to no improvement. He still struggles with short-term memory loss, as his brain 'resets every few minutes', which is very frustrating for him. On Facebook, his wife Jennifer wrote:

Though he couldn’t speak due to a tracheotomy, I could tell he was still in there — his eyes told me he was fighting. Now, almost 19 weeks later, Ryan is still in the hospital. His brain is recovering, but it’s a long and grueling process.

As his condition slowly improved, the family was advised to seek treatment at specialised neurological rehabilitation centres, but they faced several denials due to his limited mobility and tracheotomy. Finally, he was accepted at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, and his family launched a GoFundMe to help cover his medical expenses.

His recovery is expected to take at least another six months to a year.

What is anti-NDMA receptor encephalitis?

According to the Cleveland Clinic website, anti-NDMA receptor encephalitis affects about one person in 1.5 million in the United States. The condition, which was only discovered in 2007, causes the body to produce antibodies that attack a person's brain receptors. It generally causes swelling and a wide range of neurological and psychiatric symptoms, such as dysfunction in talking and walking. The two main triggers for the disease are carcinomas, a type of skin cancer, and herpes simplex encephalitis, as these two conditions can cause a brain infection.

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Sources used:

Daily Mail: Within hours my husband couldn't remember his name and thought toys were real after being hit with rare disease

Cleveland Clinic: Adult-onset Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis