Psycho-Babble Medication | about biological treatments | Framed
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Happy Ending :P - OCD/major depression/psychosis

Posted by temoigneur on March 28, 2008, at 0:51:37

I cried as i relayed this email to my mom, the one next to myself, who has probably most deeply felt the pain of my illness. If I can be helped, there is surely hope for all of us..

Sent to the American Psychiatric Association, in response to an anecdotal report of a lady with similar response to memantine..

Hi, I'm a 29 yr Male, with an extensive psychiatric history. My life was profoundly changed with initiation of memantine therapy, around October of last year.

I was diagnosed by a neurologist at 16 with Tourette syndrome: it was of acute symptomatic onset. From that point on, the next decade, may be described at times, as a tormenting battle with OCD, severe GAD, and major depression with psychotic features. Eventually diagnosed as schizo-affective, my condition was sometimes exacerbated by trials of pharmaceuticals.

I deteriorated from being a healthy, relatively well adjusted child, even a provincial medalist in Piano, to a semi-vegetative, episodically catatonic, cadaver. Between the acute onset of my illness in my mid-teens, up until the initiation of memantine treatment, this past October, I was hospitalized in psychiatric wards, eight times, with a mean stay of approx. one month.

In my case, symptom remission was almost immediate, and dramatic, upon introduction of memantine. Poly-pharmacy obscures its effects, but upon initiation, it felt as if.. a dischordant, frail psyche, had been replaced by a robust, dynamic, intellect. Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, I gracefully flew from the torment, masochism, and agony, to a beautiful place, where in my mind, it is often 34 degrees Farenheight, where I sit in pristine view of the Napa Valley vineyards, .. indeed, mine is a waterfront home in ... oh don't ruin my moment, what's that district on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge..

Unable, for long, to piece together a coherent train of thought - since age 15, I have returned to school, full time. I study math, and chemistry, through an online school. I am near the top of my first year Biology class, the one course I could get into this semester, at a local college.

As the tired cliche goes, every day is a gift, and my fervent passion is to enter psychiatry, and help the unknown heroes that have no voice, or know any significant hope.

As with anyone given so much more than they could ever hope for, I am happy to share any part of my story, in any place it may be of use.

I have waited until the present to share my story, because there were environmental factors that needed to be resolved, before retrospect would become more objective. If my story is of interest to the society, my phone number is xxxx.

Thank you,

Ben Humphries


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Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:temoigneur thread:820264
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080316/msgs/820264.html