10/21/11 New possibilities

Chris and I make our first visit to Dr Z. He specializes in difficult cases. I call him Dr Z because, in a figurative sense, we have already been through doctors A through Y. This doctor, unlike most we have seen, actually read a chapter from the draft of Beyond Mental Illness, a book written the patient’s father.  Imagine that! T’is a far cry from the doctor discussed in my first book who patted me on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. When your book comes out I will be the first to read it.” Not only that, but Dr. Z said the ideas in it are a good starting point.  The chapter he read is entitled “My Son Does Not Have Mental Disorder.” Fair enough, you ask, then why has he had at least 20 psychiatric hospitalizations?  That is a subject for a book, three books actually, but let’s just say that I don’t believe his bipolar syndrome has been properly and consistently treated.  So, I hope this will be more of a purposeful journey rather than the meandering odyssey as reported in my first book. This time around, instead of listening to the siren songs of the experts, we will hopefully stay the course with a better compass for a guide, a compass that may help you as you explore paths not taken for yourself, your loved one, or your patient.Dr Z listened to Chris as he described his repeated psychotic episodes and the shame he felt after them. He shared his own experience with his elderly father who once became psychotic in respond to an illness I can’t even pronounce. He told Chris that he had no basis for blaming himself for behavior that occurred when his brain was broken. His first question to Chris was “How would you like me to help you?”  Chris said he was tired of having psychotic episodes and wanted them to stop. Dr Z had asked Chris to take his temperature each morning a few days before the appointment. It was consistently around 97 degrees. Is this from thyroid issues or damage to the temperature regulating mechanisms secondary to forced administration of Risperdal or its derivatives?Since I became his conservator I had been giving Chris 500 mg of carnitine a day. The reason? Depakote lowers carnitine. Records from years ago showed that Chris had a carnitine deficiency, yet his doctors never treated this. Dr Z suggested we increase the carnitine to 1500 a day. I had also been giving him and 1000 mg Omega 3 fatty acids and he suggested bumping it up to 3000 mg a day. He also suggested that Chris start taking DHEA to improve his exhausted adrenals from all the trauma he had been through. Since his temperature was routinely around 97 in the morning, Dr Z had Chris give blood to assess thyroid function and DHEA levels.He invited Chris to take a new test that promises to change the landscape in the assessment and treatment of Lyme and associated infections. Thus far, that test has proven to diagnose Lyme disease with 100 percent accuracy, something no other test can do. It actually grows spirochetes from the blood. If you read my first book you will know that Chris went along with the treatment but never really accepted the diagnosis.  Dr Z said that at our next appointment we would do a challenge test to see whether Chris had excessive mercury. (Some of us detoxify mercury better than others. The presence of tubulin antibodies, which Chris has, is often indicative of heavy metals. He also wanted Chris to start taking some select amino acids but I told him I would like to study that. To my knowledge Truehope with amino acids has a track record of efficacy and I had not heard of this other product.