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.