Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Husband has 'seen' trucks veering at him...
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.
Husband has 'seen' trucks veering at him...
by Hubby's Hallucinating, Aug 29, 2004 12:00AM
My husband told me last night that he has seen about 20 "hallucinations" since he was about 16 (he is now 30). He said the majority of them were tractor trailers crossing the line while he is driving and hitting him. The other hallucinations were: hanging his arm out of his truck window and "seeing" his arm being severed off by a pole, a neighbor of ours standing on his front porch watching him getting into his truck in the morning when he was getting ready to go to work (by the way he said the neighbor looked like a zombie), and he admitted the weirdest one was guy diving through our big front window with a machette. He realizes that what he is seeing is not real. I asked him what he does to make them go away. He said he just closes his eyes for a moment and shakes it off and it goes away. I am frightened because his mother is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. My husband however does not otherwise show ill mental health except maybe for a short-fuse temper at times. He works daily even overtime, is a loving husband, and a loving father to our 2 children. I have been reading up on schizophenia, he does not think people hear his thoughts or anything like that. He realizes what he is seeing is not real. I told him that seeing things is still not normal and joked with him not to "go schizo" on me. He laughed and said he doesn't want to go schizo on himself either. Can you tell me if I should suggest his see a psychologist for the visions?
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Sep 03, 2004 12:00AM
, Sep 03, 2004 12:00AM
There are probably more cases like this in the world than anyone realizes but there is not much literature to guide us here. This may be a symptom complex that is basically a stress relief, and it will go no further, but be an expression of an underlying stress. I would be on the safe side and have a very experienced doctor, probably one from a university hospital, make an evaluation. There is probably no hurry, but would be wise to do when you can. Just be careful of not being over-diagnosed and given medications that you don't need. if that seems to happen, get a second opinion.
Hallucinations are an organic disturbance for which there are a lot of reasons, meanwhile the criteria for recovery from "schizophrenia" is the ability to make and maintain friendships, support family, and pay income tax (or do well in school). If that is true it doesn't seem that your husband would be in danger of being diagnosed "schizophrenic". You probably just want to make sure that he is not having delusional thoughts and becoming "schizophrenic". I don't think you have anything to worry about unless your husband was a former drug user, and that would depend on the extent and type of drug used. One other possible cause of hallucinations is sleep deprivation. Sleeping pills and certain psychiatric medications can mimic sleep deprivation by interupting the dream cycle, and therefore cause hallucinations.
If the hallucinations were disturbing him, I think he would see a psychologist on his own.
A wacko science fiction writer, I suppose you believe in his Dianetics as well....Guys a quack, the only good thing about him is that he's dead now...
As for L Ron Hubbard's specific detoxification method...I believe the studies he references are valid. I don't know about the science fiction. I don't know what you are talking about, but Narconon International, www.narconon.org talks about his method and how it helps people, so it must be somewhat reasonable. It's something people should know about so they can take responsibility for their health.
From Narconon:
"While drugs and their metabolites quickly become undetectable
in blood and urine, some as rapidly as 3 days after last usage,
drug metabolites remain stored in fatty tissues for years. That accumulated drug residues continue to cause adverse symptoms led L. Ron Hubbard to develop a program aimed at reducing levels of toxins in the body to assist in recovery."
"As a doctor it was evident to me that the long-term physical, mental and emotional consequences of drug use had something to do with the residual effects of the drugs themselves." Dr. Meagan Shields
http://www.narconon.org/narconon_studies02.htm
http://www.narconon.org/narconon_detox.htm