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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Mental Illness Relapse with severe signs of dementia
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
Mental Illness Relapse with severe signs of dementia
by CasaParisi, Dec 15, 2001 12:00AM
My mother is 57 and has suffered throughout her life from recurring lapses of mental instability (anxiety, severe depression, delusions). She has spent lengthy periods recovering in mental institutions. She was stabilized for the last 13 years on Navine/theothixen. Her GP's assistant took her off of it for no apparent reason less than a year ago and now, of course, we are dealing with the consequences. Since September she showed the usual signs of depression until she could no longer be left alone as a risk to herself and others. One day she completely lost control, became violent and had to be admitted to the elopement risk sector of the local mental facility. I do not live close but at that point came to see her. I had noted immediately her dementia which hadn't been an issue at all in our phone conversations prior to her severe breakdown. They finally put her back on her old medication and the anxiety/depression subsided but the dementia remains. The few words I was able to get from the terrible doctor who was always too busy to give me any information dropped in my lap that she could do nothing more and that we are probably looking at alzheimer's. She gave me no time to ask questions, gave no suggestions and left the room. I am dumbfounded. I do not want to be in denial, but I also do not want to be quick to agree with her "diagnosis"(she is not a neurologist. My mother is rather young, had shown no signs previously and they seemed to suddenly come on with her relapse. Is there ever a dementia reaction to a relapse of a mental illness? PLEASE HELP!Thanks
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Dec 15, 2001 12:00AM
, Dec 15, 2001 12:00AM
That is certainly not a common pattern..and what is called dementia may be a subtle form of her mental problem remaining.
The most important thing for you to do is get a good doctor and a proper workup by a neurologist and a psychiatrist. You don't have to, and shouldn't, stand for the kind of treatment you received from her doctor.
The most important thing for you to do is get a good doctor and a proper workup by a neurologist and a psychiatrist. You don't have to, and shouldn't, stand for the kind of treatment you received from her doctor.
