I am worried about my boy

[DirtyDogman]

I want to know if any of you have experienced this or know someone who has.

I am real worried about a good friend of mine. He is having some problems, I guess you could say mental problems.

He had told me last week how he was havin these spells where he would think all this wierd stuff like how he got to where was at on earth and what shti was, like what a stereo was and all sorts of wierd shit. I didn't really think much of it, I thought he was just havin some of those deep reflective thoughts that I believe msot folks have sometimes, but don't talk about. So I didn't think much about it.

Well they weren't deep thoughts, he was wiggin out. The shit got worse last week. He was havin spells where he didn't know where he was at or what anything was, kind of like going stupid all of a sudden. They would last about 10 to 15 minutes and then he would be fine. He tripped out driving home and stopped at a gas station just down the street from his house and didn't know where he was at. He called his woman, and she had to talk to the gas station clerk to find out where he was to pick him up.

Took him to several different doctors and ran all sorts of tests, thought they might have been mild strokes, put him on paxil and a blood thinner, but all the tests have came back with NOTHING wrong. The pills didn't help and he has gotten alot worse.

We think the shit is anxiety attacks, but this is getting worse, much worse for him much faster. Its like a week ago he was perfectly normal, and now he is startin to wig the fuck out.

He has a lot of stress in his life, a friend of ours got shot several months ago, he has a 6 month old baby, he has been having big issues with women, having been caught cheating, and he works what I think would be a stressfull job prepping dead bodies at a funeral home. And he is stressed out about this shit. He thinks he is going crazy. The only thing is, he's been caught cheating several times before, he's worked the job for probably 6 to 7 years, and been around it his whole life.

Anyway shit is getting worse and worse. He forgets who people are, he told me when he has his spells he thinks he is going to die or that someone is trying to kill him, other times he doesn't know where hes at or doesn't know what things are like grass or steel, other times he just does things repetitive like grabbing for thing multiple times over and over.

So anyone ever seen this before? What do you think he needs to do, and what, if anything should I do to help. He is supposed to have gone and seen a psychiatrist yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet anf find out what happened.

 

[beastboy]

Sorry, I couldn't keep up with the typing errors....but I do wish your boy luck!

 

[havoc]

Ahh, the contemplation of the stereo, a mind boggler that will keep one searching for sure, how about a psychologist?

 

[SofaGeorge]

Bro, my first fiancee became schizophrenic while we were together. I got to watch her change from the most wonderful woman in the world to a nut.
Then about 12 years ago I got to watch the slow decline as my best friend slipped into madness following a severe head injury.

It's a really hard thing to watch.

People's neuro chemical condition changes as they go through life. Schizophrenia usually appears in the late teens or early twenties. Get your buddy checked out. Medication might be able to help him - especially if he gets it early.

 

[john937]

Sounds exactly like my dad when we discovered he had a brain tumor.
He went thru exactly the same shit, one day perfectly fine...the next.. disorientation, didn't know where he was, forget names...
It affected parts of his mind, but not others, he could see, hear, and identify what he saw just fine. but then get dizzy, couldn't stand... And then 10 minutes later it would pass...at least for a while....and he went downhill pretty fast.
I so hope I'm wrong. Go see a neuro specialist.
If you want to investigate more search Google for "gleoblastoma"

 

[SofaGeorge]

Sounds exactly like my dad when we discovered he had a brain tumor.
I so hope I'm wrong. Go see a neuro specialist.

Yoiks... I should have added that too. That's exactly the pattern I saw with my wife.

 

[Silent Method]

Keep searching for a doc that can put his/her finger on something. My dad's buddy had a debilitating physical ailment for years that his doc could figure out. One day he decided to search for a doc that could help. On his third try, the specialist discovered his debilitating problem stemmed from a simple food allergy. Today, he is fine.

I hope that's the case with your friend, something very simple to cure, but who knows. I'd definitely see a psychologist and neurologist. You mentioned prepping bodies as his job. I'd look into chemical poisoning. The symptoms you describe sound very similar to the effects of smoking a formaldehyde dipped cigarette.

Bottom line, don't give up, keep searching for the root of the problem. I hope something can be done. Good luck.

 

[TEXgrl]

the biggest things i would have said to look for are already listed here, but i'll say them again:

Poisoning because of where he's working, and as bad as it sounds to ask, could he possibly be doing the formaldehyde on purpose, i've actually known people who did that is the reason i'm asking.

Mental disorder, like schizophrenia, or multiple personality type disorder because of the blackouts and lost time, etc.

Brain tumor or disease.

good luck, i hope your friend gets help. tell him and his girl to keep seeing doctors until someone fixes the problem.

 

[DirtyDogman]

I want to thank you guys for all your good replies. I really appreciate them. I am sorry for waiting so long to post a reply but my computer went down, forgot my password, then went out of town for a few weeks. Anyway I wanted to thank all of ya, and give you an update. It is kind of long btw.

My friend steadily got worse and worse. They put him in a mental hospital for a few days before they released him. They got him off the paxil and put him on a different drug which he was doing real well on. He still had some spells but not near as many, and he was normal in between. Where the paxil had him all screwed up. But after about a week he started stuttering real bad and since he believe the medicine was making him stutter he quit taking it untill they would get a different kind.

He got locked up again for a long time in mental ward inside a hospital. He didn't do well and they experimented with all kinds of meds and nothing was working. They said he was a schizophrenic and he started getting worse and worse. I'd go visit him and sometimes he'd be there just a little slow cause of the drugs, other times he'd be off in lala land and doing very strange shit. Finaly they said they weren't sure if he was really crazy or not

So they ended up doing a spinal tap and doing brain tests. The fucking neurologist said he wasn't crazy at all, but had bacteria in his brain. This shit has been goin on for almost 2 months and eveyone has been thinking he was loosing his mind when it was really some kind of brain virus/bacteria.

Right now he is at the mayo clinic in minnesota getting the best care he can from neurologist and brain doctors up there. Been up there a few days now and they are still doing tests to figure out what exactly the bacteria in his brain is, but once they figure it out they will be able to figure out how he got it and how to treat it.

So the virus/bacteria in his brain is what was causing him to act strange and make the doctors think he was crazy. Hopefully they will figure it out and treat him without him suffering any major brain damage.

Thanks again for all your guys previous replies.

 

[Big Moose]

I am sorry about your friend but you are lucky he is getting the treatment he needs. As a psycotherapist, a text book case of Schizophrenia came to mind reading your post (depending on age). I wish them the best of luck. Your support can help make a difference.