This post begins a series that covers a significant update to my Brain Trauma Chapter, available only here on the web. I did not cover it in my book because I learned about it after it was published. There will be several coming posts to this and will eventually be formatted in the correct order that they were written. I have been waiting for sometime to finish writing these just to see how things settled out. It has been a pretty amazing last 8 months. There will be lots of new information that I hope you will find useful. - Pat
For almost 2 years I have been on cruise control feeling really good. I still had some issues come up every now and then, but for the most part I had been getting along good. Then in August of 08, I got severe stomach flu. I had severe diarrhea, and high fever. Doctor said it would likely end in less than 7 days. And I did feel better around the 7th day. But every other day I continued to feel very fatigued and I would have fever and night sweats. I went back to the doc and asked “why does this virus keep hanging on”. He questioned me and simply said it is not a virus, you just have not replenished your electrolytes. You are severely dehydrated. What you are experiencing right now is nothing more than the symptoms of dehydration and loss of salts.
So out I went to the store and bought a ton of Pediolyte and V8. Within a day I was physically feeling much better. I kept drinking a lot for the next few days and my strength grew. But something was wrong. I felt "off", mentally and emotionally. I felt like I was on the edge of the cliff of another “pit” experience.
Those of you have read my book, know that I refer to episodes that occurred to me off and on for 35 years as “the pit”. About 6 weeks after having a serious car accident in my sophomore year in college (1972), I experienced my first pit. I suddenly found I could not sleep, I was very anxious for no reason at all, I felt confused and depressed. I had severe GI problems. My fight or flight response kicked into high gear and I had little control over it. Over the next 2 years I dragged myself through college and learned techniques and things that would help me. By the time I graduated I felt about 80% recovered. I stayed that way for a few years before falling into the pit again. This pattern continued for the next 35 years. But gradually I learned how to get out of the pit faster because of the many things I learned. I write about most of those things in my book and in two additional chapters here on this blog.
Well this infection, with its fever and debilitating diarrhea, and big disruption to my sleep patterns put me at the edge of the pit. I could feel myself right there. But I never really fell all the way in. I attribute that to the fact that the meds I had been put on by the Amen Clinic kept my damaged brain much more stable.
I saw my psych doc and he said that this was exactly the kind of thing that caused many of his patients to relapse. He said dehydration, lack of sleep was very disruptive to the brain. He temporarily increased my meds and that helped. But I still felt off. Perhaps it would just take more time to recover I thought.
A few weeks later I sort of crashed physically. I was simply tired and worn out. I wrote about that experience here. I realized I needed to go back on small doses of hydrocortisone as I had used for many years. The infection etc seemed to have worn out my adrenals again. I had weaned off for some months but the new physical challenge simply wore me out. Almost immediately I felt very much better, at least physically. My energy returned. But I still felt off.
I began to do what I always do when I don’t feel right. I research. I considered many things. I went back and re-read the long report I got from Amen Clinic. I re-read Dr. Amen’s books and website. Gradually I came to a huge conclusion. I was not being treated for the number one thing that Amen clinic said in their report. The main finding by Amen clinic said my pre-frontal cortex was basically turned off.
The more I studied this I realized that basically I was being under treated. I was being treated to remain stable but the main area of my brain that had been hurt in the accident was being left untreated. And the way to treat it was very obvious. I was upset both at Amen, my psych doc and myself. “How could they ignore this major issue when there was a straightforward way to treat it?” Why did I miss it? More in the next post.
