Patient Overview

A recap of Patient's history is highly beneficial/crucial at this point.

Around the time patient was turning 50 years old, patient tried to communicate to daughter that a problem in the brain was occurring, yet little explanation or details were given about what exactly was happening. Patient mentioned something about issues involving confusion or other supposed cognitive issues, yet there appeared to be no concern or cause of alarm from the family. No symptoms were visible from members of the family. Patient was convinced of having cancer, yet no confirmed reports ever surfaced from doctors. Patient appeared to have some sort of psychosis related theory.

At age 53 Patient experienced a blow to the head after being struck by a steel parking lot gate. No hospital visit occurred - patient did not lose consciousness.

Patient did experience at age 56 some depressing feelings when daughter moved away and got married.

Patient received positive mood lifts from taking DHEA, however use was discontinued due to hair loss.

A few years went by and then patient began to show signs of paranoia that family misunderstood to be a relationship conflict pertaining to a family member. Then, hallucinations, delusions and disturbing paranoia all began to surface and become very stressful for Patient and noticeable by family members. When evaluated by a doctor, Patient was given medication for supposed depression. The drug, Celexa was prescribed but it did not reduce patients paranoia, rather it sent Patient into a heightened, very paranoid state.

Celexa was halted and then switched to a different medication (an anti-psychotic).

Patient experienced continued paranoia and hallucinations while on Abilify.

On Respirdal, Patient's cognitive functioning was significantly reduced along with diminished personality. Patient also suffered from Tardive like symptoms, in which Patient's eyes would continuously close/want to stay closed involuntarily. This occurred within days of taking the drug. It was then halted due to these alarming/disturbing side effects.

Patient also tried Seroquel, which also produced negative side effects.
When seizures were suspected, Patient tried Tegredol and Keppra. Patient had a serious reaction to Keprra, which involved increased anger and paranoia.

In looking back on everything the past few years, one of the most crucial factors to point out is that as soon as Patient began treatment with psychiatric drugs as well as anti-seizure drugs, PATIENT HAS SLOWLY DECLINED IN MANY AREAS. PERSONALITY HAS DIMINISHED, THINKING ABILITY, RATIONALIZING, REMEMBERING DETAILS -- HAVE ALL BECAME A STRUGGLE. PATIENT'S HALLUCINATIONS AND DELUSIONS HAVE NOT GONE AWAY. Patient became less involved in social activities and has in the past 6 months suffered physical symptoms and episodes that the Family has never before witnessed in Patient.

Patient has not improved but clearly is struggling from something that is affecting the ability to live a normal life. Those who know Patient well can see that Patient is not the normal self they once knew.

Some friends have even described Patient to appear to be in a "drugged like state."
Patient is aware of some of the problems that are occurring with speaking, getting up, walking, pain side effects, etc and is very discouraged. At times the Patient's personality does seem to surface with moments of laughing and emotion expressed. Yet Patient has suffered so many physical symptoms it has interfered with many daily activities.

While on Zyprexa and Lamictal Patient has experienced decline in energy, fainting episodes, dehydration, dizziness, sleep disturbances, trouble carrying on conversations, troubles with word finding, memory disturbances, delusions, hallucinations (some related to smell). back pain, leg pain, weight gain.

When physical problems related to getting out of a chair or bed began to surface, family members noted that Patient could get up with no help if a motivation had occurred like the phone ringing. However, if Patient was sitting and then decided to get up, Patient would have difficulty initiating that act and gaining the muscle strength to rise out of a chair. In the past couple of months, Patient has needed more and more help getting out of a chair or bed regardless of a stimulant/outside motivation present.

At this point it is hard to know whether or not the physical problems and night time issues are due to an undiagnosed disease or condition, or a result of being medicated by the WRONG drugs. Patient has suffered MORE BURDENSOME/NEGATIVE side effects than one should undergo for drugs that should be providing relief from a suspected problem/illness.

Since patient's psychiatric symptoms did not significantly improve on medication, there appears to be no clear behavioral illness or psychiatric illness. From a common sense standpoint, if psychiatric illness was the main health problem, drugs should have done a much better job of correcting Patient's symptoms, especially after undergoing treatment with several types of psychiatric drugs. Also, medical professional has indicated that behavioral illness onset is rare for Patient's age group.

Regardless of what the real problem is, the Family has witnessed a gradual decline.

We can say with assurance that Patient was significantly altered once Anti-psychotic medications were introduced for treatment and has not returned to normal self -- the self that Patient's family remembers.

Members of the family still suspect that there could be an allergy, or chemical imbalance/deficiency that could have produced the initial symptoms of paranoia a few years back. Patient has suffered stomach/gastrointestinal upset on a regular basis for many years.
Perhaps there is a link that to this day, has still not been identified.
Likewise, the Family is interested and open to the natural medicine approach, as it may provide a valuable/added evaluation that has not been considered by all of the doctors involved up to this point.

Patient has not been clearly diagnosed, yet the journey continues and the family has not given up on finding the right treatment for Patient.

Currently, patient is being evaluated and tested again for seizures.