Any hope???

[mamamac]

In June of 2000 my sister-in-law had a rather large, 1.5 to 2 cm., colloid cyst removed from the 3rd ventrical by endoscopic resection. She had a drain placed in the form of a right frontal Rickham for future CSF taps. Since the surgery she has little to no short term memory and has had a major personality change.  She did have speech therapy after the surgery. She is driving, but only to take her children to school or to the grocery store. She does not engage in any social activites that are outside of her home(and those are forced). She gets very nervous and will start twitching the side of her face if she is out of her element. She wont engage in conversations, answers are simple and closed ended. She wont make decisions. She doesnt take care of herself like she used to, she does shower, but doesnt put on makeup, fix her hair, or wear nice clothes. She has a "uniform", wearing the same thing over and over. She has gained over 70lbs during the last 3yrs. She does function in her house. She keeps it clean and does laundry over and over, never will you go over and the washing machine isnt running or she is folding clothes, and she still cooks. My brother in law has lost a wife, she refuses intimacy of any sort. The children have lost their mother, she cant be depended upon to due to her short term memory loss. I have lost my best friend, she is a walking zombie. Is there anything we can do? She is here physically, but gone otherwise. She does take Prozac and Aricept. No changes. She is very loved and has been shown much support, we just want her back.

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

Has she had an MRI since the surgery? I would recommend doing this to assess for any new structural lesions. The symptoms you are describing could be do to dysfunction within the frontal lobe of the brain. Also, dementias can sometimes present with similar features. Therefore, I would recommend being evaluated by a neurologist with expertise in dementia. Other studies which can be performed to assess brian function include neuropsch testing, and functional imaging such as a PET scan. A PET scan analyzes how the brain uses sugar. Lastly treatable causes of dementia should be excluded suchas thyroid disease, Vitamin B12 deiciency, and in rare cases syphylis. Good luck.