lizz4m
 

Lizz4m,

I see you have been asking for help. You said "I am looking for help for my son. He has such an array of symptoms. Is there any assistance for him. He is 19. He had 5 concussions in 14 months. 2 bad ones. The first an accident at school and the last one was a car accident.
He was diagnosed a variety of different mental disorders. Please, is there anything to help him? "

Please tell us more about your son's situation. We are here to help.

What is his specific concussion history with dates and symptoms and recovery?

What is his current diagnosis?

What are his current symptoms and struggles?

concussion
 

What is his specific concussion history with dates and symptoms and recovery?
He was dumped on his head by a school mate during a class at high school. It was explained that "His head bounced off of the floor." This was spring of 2008. There were 3 minor concussions that left him a little confused but functional, 14 months after the first concussion he was in a very bad car accident. He could not string a sentence together until more than a year later. There were MRIs made of his brain, but there was no conclusive evidence of brain injury.

What is his current diagnosis?
He is now between diagnosis' First bipolar then schitzoaffective disorder. Now they are concerned that it is due the 5 concussions because of some of his symptoms.

What are his current symptoms and struggles?
He reads very close to bipolar but is having some very strange visions, disgusting tastes and he is hearing voices. These voices are God and angles and the devil. He complains of occasional headaches. He attempted suicide several different ways. He stabbed himself in the arms and carved crosses in his arms. He inhaled a combination of clorox bleach and windex... not exactly good for a brain. We found later that he did this activity 3 times because he had a bad taste in his mouth and throat/nose. He walked up to someone's house at night. A shotgun pulled on him because the angles told him to go up the driveway. Currently he is in the State Hospital.. He is very polite and therefore he can convince the doctors that he is ok, as well as law enforcement. He refuses to take any kind of medication. I am so frightened that he will take his life. He has not been violent towards others, ever.
I am concerned that he may become that way if he doesn't get help.

This is a condensed version. I hope that I was able to give you enough information.
Thank you, so much for any help,
Beth

Beth,

I am so sorry for what you're going through. It must be very hard for your son and family.

Your son is in the best place he can be. How old is he? I'm not sure about the US, but in the UK, if he's under 18 he can be forced to take medication under certain rules. There is also something called a section 2 and 3 which allows for this, whatever the age.

I know it sounds horrible, but it sounds like medication is the best thing for him. I have known people make full recoveries from schizophrenia with the right care and medication.

It also sounds like he needs to continue to have his concussion symptoms investigated.

Let me know if you need any more information on psychiatric care/hospitals - I worked in one and can hopefully help with concerns you may have.

It has been horrific. I know that others have suffered longer. I am concerned for his health.. He is 19 almost 20. We are in the US. The laws are awful here for this situation. There is nothing that families can do to help. I tell every doctor he encounters, however, they don't seem to communicate with each other. I end up having to re-tell the story and symptoms over and over. This is fine... I'm his mom. I am so afraid I will forget details. I have things written down and the binder is growing.
Thank you so much for asking and offering advise.
beth

He was with a very violent patient. He was verbally assaulted over and over. He kept telling the nurses and finally they moved the other patient. He was so upset. It caused some of the symptoms to reoccur. I want him to try the medication; however, he refuses. It is all very frustrating and upsetting.
All of this just hit on July 14th of this year.
Thank you again,
beth

Wow, Beth, you have been through a lot as you have watched your son. I bet you have not recognized your son since 2008. My heart goes out to you. My family has explained how much my personality changed after my severe concussion at 10 years old.

Have you done anything to get guardianship over him? It sounds like he should not be making decisions for himself.

Since he refuses medication to stabilize his condition, will he follow any other disciplines to help his brain get stabilized? He sounds like he is very intelligent. This creates two problems. One, he is very frustrated with his thinking struggles because they are even more obvious to him than they are to you. Second, he can figure out how to snow those around him.

He could likely make improvements with dietary disciplines. Getting a thorough blood analysis can show any deficiencies. Deficiencies and imbalances in B-12, folate, D3, magnesium, calcium, full Thyroid (4), testosterone, DHEA, progesterone, estradiol, and a few others can leave his brain bouncing around.

It will take some work to find a doctor who understands the fine differences in blood chemistry. You can sometimes find them as specialists in ortho-molecular psychiatry or life extension. Both disciplines try to fine tune the brain and body.

Just as a whimsical thought, How are his teeth? Does he have any rotten or abscessing teeth? Or, could he have an embedded sinus infection? A sinus infection can get embedded into the bone and be hard to find and treat. It can release toxins into the brain. It can also cause strange tastes and smells.

I get a strange taste whenever I have even a minor head bump. The taste system can be injured and malfunction. Few doctors will accept this as a valid symptom of brain dysfunction, especially a simple bump.

I hope this is helping you to have hope for improvement. You may see an improvement but it will take months of discipline.

My best to you and your son.

Thank you for your words. No, it has been so quick and it is very difficult to get guardianship unless the doctor is willing to sign the paperwork. Our son can sound very reasonable... Yes, he has changed. Did I mention Hyper-religious? Alone can be ok, but with these other symptoms has been very dangerous.

We have the paperwork to take to the doctor at the state hospital for the guardianship.
We were told that even with medical guardianship, if he is Mentally disabled we cannot get him into the hospital. It doesn't include mental illness. If it were health related, yes.....

Did anything happen that could have triggered his recent decline? Was it possibly from his attempts to hurt himself? Have there been any serious tox panels done after his recent change?

With his bad concussion years ago, you did not notice a change in personality?

Clearly you're doing absolutely everything you can and you care so much for him. I wish I knew more on US law so that I could offer more advice. In the UK he would most likely have been sectioned by now which signs all his rights over the the hospital, on the basis that he is a danger to himself without knowing what he is doing.

Is there any way you could get another psychiatrist's opinion? When you say state hospital I assume that means psychiatric hospital? It may even be worth talking to a lawyer if you haven't already.

I think that there was an incident where he went over the "edge" and all of his close friends turned their back on him. He became more angry over the course of his jr and senior year of high school. This was after the last concussion.
It has been very difficult for him and I hurt to see him experience this.
I did have some news today....
He said that he took the first round of medication last night. I was very surprised. I asked why he had a change of heart. He said they gave him no choice. They were going to hold him down and inject the meds into him if he didn't comply.
I just hope that after all of this.. it works.

I will keep you apprised of the situation as it unfolds.
Thank you for all of your support.
Beth

He is in a psychiatric hospital, yes. No, he has seen several psychiatrists. See the last post. He seemed a little down that he doesn't have any choice anymore. :confused: I just want him to be healthy... Mental health care is a nightmare in the states. an awful horror movie.... Honestly It has been a very rough roller coaster.

I want him to be healthy....

It is my desire to bring clarity to this mess and to put light on the subject of mental illness and concussion victims. It is just awful the way people are treated because of miss-perceptions.

I plan to do everything I can to spread a little light in the dark corners of this trouble that my son is experiencing every minute of every hour of every day.

Thank you for asking and continue to visit with me.

His teeth are good. He just had braces taken off of his teeth. He has now lost his glasses and his retainer. He lost so much not just monitory.

I do like the idea of the specialist. I will look into that.

He has had blood drawn every time he went into the hospital. I was not told of any unusual substances in his blood.

Thank you for continuing to visit with me. I may not answer all of the questions. I am writing late, for me.. I will check back in tomorrow. :hug:

Beth,

I think a big problem with mental health and concussion is simple. The mental health issues are treated with mental health techniques by mental health workers. They are not trained in neurology. If you have a pain in your lower right abdomen and go to a surgeon, they will expect appendicitis. Same goes for mental health. There needs to be a screening process through doing thorough medical histories when mental health issues are addressed.

A key example is your son was put with a loud and screaming person. He should never have been exposed to such conflict and blatant over-stimulation. It is not good for people without brain injuries and damaging for those with brain injuries.

His experience at school sounds like what I went through in school. As he struggled, his social environment became even more isolating. A simple trigger can cause a catastrophic outburst. A friend criticizing him at the wrong time can become an explosive event.

Do you know what med they gave him? Often times, they just want to calm the patient down. Some of the sedating meds can be rough on an injured brain and just mask symptoms rather than treat a symptom.

Hang in there. In time, you may be able to get a better diagnostic assessment.

My best to you.
A lead researcher in concussion problems believes that 'possible concussion,' IDC9 849.5 needs to be in the medical record whenever there is a possibility of a concussion. The problem is even diagnosed concussions often do not get into the medical record in a way that other doctors will read it.

He refused to tell me the name of the medication. I left a message at the hospital for someone to call me back, but I got no call. I hope I get a call on Monday because we have a court hearing on Tuesday. My husband is going to tell the judge that we feel he needs to have more care in the hospital and an MRI done. They were going to do a EEG... I have no idea if they found anything.

There is so much not know about the brain and I know less that the smallest fractional amount.

Nate has developed a friendship with someone who was released from the hospital and then returned. The last time he was there the young man pretended to be Nate (I knew it wasn't my son) and then told me to call back after they turn the phones off. When I told him that was fine, but they turn off the phones in 20 minutes, he hung up on me.

I think Nate was playing games with me last night. He asked, "Why are you talking him?" I was only talking to Nate. He said that Nate is going to die and that he wanted to taste steak one last time before he left.
We have traveled every weekend to see him. He is in a hospital 4 hours away. I spent 2 days with him over the Labor Day weekend. He was fine to me when his father was with us. As soon as his dad left, he started in on me and told me I was the cause of all of his hospital stays, suicide attempts etc...

I understand it is an irrational mind. I thought the meds would help. I need to talk to the dr. It doesn't break my heart like it did when it first started. He is wearing me out..

Thank you again for listening. It feels like someone is understanding me and my concerns for my son.

Beth,

An MRI will not likely show anything. A functionalMRI may be worthwhile if done by a specialist in psychiatric disorders.

There is also a diffusion tensor image that can show things that a standard MRI will not show. The question is, If they find something, what is the likelihood that they can do anything about it?

A problem that occurs when someone injures their brain during adolescence, sometimes, the brains maturation process is interrupted. When this happens, you can end up with an adult who has the maturity level of a 12 year old. I know 2 people who are dealing with this. One has learned to depend on his mother to help him with decisions. The other has gone off on her own and is living a difficult life. Both are in their late 20's.

A challenge with this above situation is their intelligence continues to develop even though their judgement/maturity skills are lacking. This is a common problem with youth who use drugs or otherwise chemically injure their brains.

Has your husband spent some time with him alone? Maybe there is a dynamic that will change when he can talk to his dad alone. It is obvious he knows how to and likes to push your buttons.

Something we did with a rebellious son was discuss these issues with a third party. He at least learned to keep these thoughts to himself. He did end up poisoning his wife's opinion of us. Now, 10 years later, he is dealing with the mess he created.

Sometimes, we just need to let go. It is a very tough and gut wrenching position to be in. We've gone through it with all three of our kids. We needed to let them come back to us when they are adults. They broke away acting like children. When they came back, they were acting like adults.

Is Nate your oldest or your only?

You are correct about finding out the cause of his situation.
I pass the phone off to his daddy when he pushes my buttons. He won't say the same thing to him.

Yes, sometimes we have to let go...
What worries me with him is that he will end up in the streets alone and unable to get "ok." Thank you again.

Beth,

Many times we need to let our kids learn their life lessons the hard way. Our son has rarely learned from easy lesson. We have needed to let him learn his lessons the hard way.

Maybe your husband can help you be strong as you let Nate learn some hard lessons. I needed to help my wife let go rather than try to always save our son from himself. She took a 488 mile 'mother bear run' the last time she tried to protect him from his own decisions.

It is not much different than many with PCS. They fail to slow down to get quiet rest until they waste 6 to 12 months, get frustrated and finally decide to try quiet rest to recover.

I know it is tough, even agonizing. That's parenthood.

Then, 10 to 20 years down the line you get to agonize over grandkids growing up.

My best to you.