Can Anybody Help?

[lattelvr]

My 15 year old daughter is suffering with conversion disorder.  After a 7 day stay for seizures at a childrens hospital and numerous tests this was the diagnosis.  Took her home, could not feed herself, walk, etc.  Primary dr. referred to three day stay at pysch. ward.  At this time she sees a neuro, pysch and therapist.  Takes effexor, prozac, klonapin, topomax.  Nothing has clicked as fas as a traumatic event from past.  We have tried inpatient, outpatient 3 x a week therapy, EMDR. Dr's say she needs residential treatment for at least a month up to a year. As a single parent that works my insurance coverage is very limited for mental health, Am just over the income for SSI, and have been told if I had a home I could use that to get her in a program.  WHY DO OUR FAMILIES HAVE TO SUFFER?  This is a horrible disorder and it seems like there is not enough research and treatments.  My child went from an honor roll student, working a parttime job, happy go lucky, my best friend. Now she has contants tremors, facial tics, stuttering, headaches, crawling sensations, feels like someone is choking her.  If anyone can help or has any information please, please, post something I am desperate to help my child.

[Desperatemother]

As a mother, my heart goes out to you and your daughter. I live in Jacksonville, Florida and work at the hospital their. Let me know if I can be any assistance. I can ask around to other physcians, or for help. I know our hosptial offers a charity program and must everyone is qualified. Maybe, we can start a fund for your daughters medical expenses. Like I can do a fundraiser here and raise money. Let me know what I can do. Like I said, as a mother I can feel what you are going through. Believe me, stay strong and things will get better and some how they always work out.

Tracy

[Jabber]

I think I worry a lot.  I always think about death.  I feel like I will die young and this is the way it will be.  I am always thinking about cancer, I think about lung cancer a lot.  My father lost his battle with it many years ago.  I had a lung x-ray sevral years back because I was slowly driving myself crazy we thinking I had cancer and so on.  My doctor at that time was going to prove me wrong so I could live my lise and be happy again.  Well this feeling has come back again but this time I am unable to bring myself to prove it to myself.  I worry about everything.  People tell me I feel this need to fix everyone and everything.  I always expect the worst outcome.  I wish I could change this way of thinking and stop thinking about the what if's!!

[jonathan06]

I really feel for you and situation, as difficult as it is you and your daughter, please do not give up hope.

In the early 80's I was with a group that was like Doctors Sans Frontiers, working in Venezuela and was disturbed by the quality of mental health care there but impressed by the creativity and innovation of the doctors who worked there.  Now in countries like Venezuela then, as it is today, money is allocated by the state for treatments which statistically cause the greatest harm.  Mental health was not a priority and sadly, I don't think it is today either but regardless, the situation there was lock-down sanitoriums, not hygenic by our standards but not horrific either.    I witnessed a series of treatments for what was called "psychotic hysteria" or chronic hysteria.  These patients exhibited similar symptoms to those which you described concerning you daughter.  It was a form of Conversion Disorder. The treatments being used at that time were not used in the United States.  These treatments were viewed as antiquated and without proper peer review, not enough scientific background etc..   The only thing these treatments had going for them is that they had a great deal of success.  The treatment I witnessed were all similar and followed a course of two or three week stay.  

The patient arrived at the sanitorium.  Dianosis was made and the patient was assigned a room.  The doctor would begin the treatment the very next day.  The patient was injected with a powerful sedative and would sleep.  An intravenous drip would deliver a steady flow of sedative to the patient who would continue to sleep for one week.  After the week had passed, the patient's family were summoned and would be present as the patient was awoken.  The family was consuled to give extremely powerful positive feedback on how the patient was doing so well and would get better soon.  The patient was sedated again and slept for a few more days.  The routine was repeated with the family and doctors delivering prounouncements of a total recovery.  More sedation and slowly the patient would be allowed to be awake for longer periods of time in which he/she would be under close observation from nurses and attendants.   The patients I observed awoke and were talkative, calm, somewhat confused as to what had happened or even what day it was.    In the time I was allowed to stay and watch I did not see a single patient relapse, develop twitches, spasms or become excessively emotional, most seemed happy, hungry and excited to be going home.

As a follow up; in my practice I have had occassion to meet with two women from Venezuela who described their symptoms to me and their treatment.  It was the treatment that I witnessed 25 years ago.  Both women are fine today.  One owns her own Daycare center in the city and the other is the mother of three children.
They do no know or remember the cause of their trauma, but they are better.   The greatest success is sometimes just being able to live a normal life.

I tell you this because there is indeed hope.    

Now it seems you have a doctor who wants to put your daughter in a hospital for a month or up to a year.   I know that I don't like the sound of hospitilization for the sake of hospitalization.    There are a few things that bother me a great deal.  

Patients who wait too long to get treatment
Patients who are under or over-medicated
Patients being treated for disorders that they do not have
and
The revolving door phenomena of mental hospitals.

Briefly, the revolving door phenomena is where doctors will, in essense, take patients who have untreatable or difficult to diagnose disorders (like CD) and dump them into the county hospital system. Once in the system the patient recieves symptomatic treatment, lots of drugs, many for disorders they do not have with the unspoken intent of getting the patient to the threshold where they can be legally discharged.   The patient leaves the hospital and is on their own.  Slowly, the patient relapses and is sent back through the revolving door, back to the hospital, more drugs, more therapy, back to the threshold, discharged, and the cycle repeats itself over and over again.

I would not want that for anyone; not for your daughter or you.
If your confident that your daughter has had every reasonable therapy than hospitalization may be the appropriate step to take.

I wish you and your daughter the best.  Have hope, there is good reason to believe that things can change for the better.

[imcrazy2]

Hi, Alex
Your best bet is to post your own original question for the doc, and other people will usually respond for you. You can't really pose a new question on someone else's thread.  Plus the doctor only answers questions from new posts.

[alex123]

just wanting 2 know if there is a doctor around, im in serious need of some answers

[jonathan06]

pardon any typographical errors.  I don't have a lot of time to do this so I write fast.   I guess I type faster than my brain can think and proofread effectively.

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

I sympathize with you and can only suggest that you stick with the therapy program even though it has not clicked in yet. This is a tough disorder, but it's something that can be worked with.  Hang in there now as long as you feel the professionals you are working with know what they are doing.

[Scared 400]

Alex, have you seen a therapist on a regular basis for last six years?

[alex123]

HI ALL,

My name is Alex im 27yrs old, for the last 6 years i have been suffering from ocd and anxiety, my main worries over these 6 years has been thinking i have HIV with every girl i come in to some sort of sexual contact with, even though i have always used protection.
I have had around 35 blood tests in the last 6 years just for this disease and have always been negative,so everytime im with a girl oraly or sexually i become a hermet at home for 3 months till i know i have passed the window period for HIV and i can get an 100% result, fortuanlly my doctor understands my neurosis and never turns me away which is a huge help.

But now i have started on a new venture of ocd and anxiety a disease called parkinsons.

I started to notice twitches in my fingers, as soon as i saw this i searched the net for symptoms of parkinsons and now believe i am a parkinson sufferer.

My today symptoms are the following:
Stiff aches and pains in my neck and shoulders and ankles.
slight tremors in legs,hands and arms.(more on the left side)
twitches all over my body and times of the day.
Constipation and week urine passing.

I have been back to the doctor with all these symptoms and he assured me its all anxiety,due to my anxious and neurotic ways i demanded a referal to a neurologist.

So last week i went an saw the head proffesor of neurology at one of australia's leading hospitals.

He did all the muscle and reflexes test and assesed me all over and found there was nothing wrong, that alot of this is from my anxiety and told me i would be best to see an anxiety specialist.

For some reason i still believe i have parkinsons, im having a very tough time at the moment i cant stop surfing the next looking for an explanation, and what makes it worse is when you see how Michael J Fox started to notice a twitch in his pinky finger and then had tremors and pains in his shoulders, which inturn was diagnosed with parkinsons.

I know i am highly anxious and it is becoming hard to know if i am just imagining all this.

Please help me does it sound like i have parkinsons.

Regards
Alex