Posted by tancu on September 14, 2002, at 8:55:35
In reply to Re: facial features/psychosis onset , posted by Mark H. on September 14, 2002, at 0:51:00
Thanks for your reply Mark H. This is such a delicate matter because the close friend is my wife. I was a psyc major at a school of science many years ago, and I have this vague memory of facial features sometimes being affected by psychosis. To answer a few of your questions--yes, she has, in my opinion, had psychotic episodes in the past. These were all drug/alcohol and sleep-deprivation induced, complete with both auditory and visual hallucinations. You see, I have young-onset (at age 34) parkinsons, and my doctors have prescribed various meds to improve the quality of my life while holding off the admistering of sinemet--because of it's horrible long-term use side-effects. Believe me, it's quite a struggle for me to NOT take the few sinemet that I have remaining from a script given to me in Jul 01' basically as a final test to confirm what was already plainly evident. I agree that we need to hold off on the sinemet for as long as possible. But I digress. It's the various meds intended to improve the quality of my life that my wife helps herself to whenever she can "find" them. These include amphetamine--so I can make it through the work day, as well as any family outings, darvocet for pain, remeron for depression and insomnia, and ambien for when I'm too exhausted to sleep. These "feel-good" drugs maintain and regulate my "quiet desparation"--thus keeping it from becoming full-blown despair and major depression because of all that I have already lost--my physique, my ability to play music, my confidence, over 15K$ in savings due to lost work, etc. As I have lost these things and have become saddened, my wife has also lost them and become saddened. She too is being treated for depression, but she isn't doing well at all. She sneaks into my "feel-good" meds, washes them down with a little liquor, and feels great--until she reaches a point of complete exhaustion--which brings on the psychotic episodes. She has had maybe ten of these episodes (auditory and visual hallucinations, some violent behavior, some calm almost child-like behavior, disorganized speech, irrational thoughts) in the past 6 months. I have had to miss work in order to watch over her after these episodes. Prior to any of the episodes I noticed subtle but very distinct changes in the appearance of her face. I don't believe they're the result of normal aging. People don't age that quickly. She has always fought depression. Now she is further saddened and distraught over slowly loosing her once strong husband. She even partially blames herself for my disease, and she feels helpless to do anything that might help us. I'm tired...gotta get some rest...Any advice?...thanks.
poster:tancu
thread:1065
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20020829/msgs/1070.html