Phase 1 · Understand the Body — Why the disease behaves the way it does.
The One-Line Truth
The whole disease in one chain
Everything on this page exists to explain this line.
High fever plus stiff muscles that feel like lead pipes plus confused brain plus wild body signs plus high muscle enzyme after antipsychotic drugs.
The Stuck Thermostat in a Locked Room
Imagine a thermostat (dopamine system) that both reads the room temperature AND controls the furnace and air conditioning. Now lock the thermostat in the 'heat mode' position (antipsychotic blocks dopamine). The furnace stays on full blast even though the room is already hot. The walls (muscles) get so hot they start to crack and crumble (muscle breakdown). The person locked inside (patient) can't adjust anything, can't think clearly because it's so hot, and their body is literally destroying itself trying to escape a heat that won't stop. The thermostat was supposed to turn things off when danger came—but it's broken. Every sweaty, confused, stiff, overheating thing that happens is the locked room's system trying to save itself while the control switch lies broken.
American Psychiatric Association (APA) Practice Guideline 2020 · Neurocritical Care Society · UpToDate / BMJ Best Practice · Critical Care Medicine 2018 review · reviewed 2026-07-07