AVM Rupture

On 3/3/92 I had a AVM to rupture while at work. I'm a nurse so that helped by being there. It was located in the splenium of the corpus callosum. Surgery was not performed for 4 weeks, to allow for blood reabsorption and swelling to go down. I was sent home after 2 weeks in ICU. After surgery, I was unable to read, do simple math, etc. No deficits physically. I went through 8 months of rehab for cognitive retraining and speech therapy (stuttering problem).
The rehab physician put me on prozac 20 mg/day. My behavior was almost out of hand. I got in trouble at work for extreme anger outbursts. I asked my primary care md for assistance. He sent me to a psychiatrist. I've been with for 11 years. I left this MD after years of drugs, misdiagnosis. I'm now seeing a Neuro-Psychiatrist and trying to come up with a treatment plan. So I'm needing some guidance as to treatment options for the anger outbursts and depression. With this type of brain injury....is there anybody else out there that has gone through the same situation or treatment, and any type of meds that helped.
I'm currently only on Depakote 300 XR 4 at bedtime and Lithium for mood stabilizers. I'm just asking for other treatments. Thanks for listening.

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-CS]

the corpus callosum is an important structure for the transfer of information between the two cerebral hemispheres in order to perform complex tasks such as reading (what the brain 'sees' has to be transferred over to language areas in the left tempero-parietal area for analysis of what the written symbols mean - this is disrupted and causes an inability to read although other language functions not requiring vision are intact)

This area is also closely associated with the limbic system (the cingulate gyrus and the fornix tract of nerve fibers course near here). This is probably what is causing your psychological problems (although without seeing your MRI from the time of the injury I cannot tell exactly which areas were affected)

It is not a primary psychiatric disorder, it is a result of brain injury. There are specialists in Brain Injury Rehabilitation who even subspecialize in the cognitive and behavioural issues. They use medications like Beta blockers and Carbamazepine to control behaviour outbursts. I reccomend that you see one of these specialists (In the Cleveland area they are available at MetroHealth Medical Center). Also try the Brain Injury Association of America at biausa.org

good luck

[arisolanki]

A related discussion, recuperation after AVM burst in the corpus collosum was started.