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Re: WHAT COULD THIS BE? » scatterbrained

Posted by DSCH on October 11, 2003, at 7:57:50

In reply to WHAT COULD THIS BE?, posted by scatterbrained on October 10, 2003, at 23:36:33

> Thank you
> I had a speck scan a few months ago. Strangely,the Nuropsychiatrist who order the test concluded that there were these sort of spotty portions of my left cerebral something or other that indicated some kind of "Brain Damage".

SPECT can be a little lacking in the ability to resolve fine detail. It also shows only the metabolic side of the picture. In my outsider/non-professional opinion the NP should have gone on to MRI to confirm if this was available, as this will show structural details. (fMRI and PET will show both degree of activity and structural detail IIRC, but are still uncommon)

>He said that this was most likely something inate however if it was inate why all of a sudden would I start to have these debilitating symptoms?

I didn't want to alarm you, but the possibility of a tumor cannot be discounted without having a look. A carcinogenic tumor would likely show up as a hot spot rather than an inactive spot, though.

>It just doesn't make sense and I'm going to go to another nurologist. I had asked the Dr. if the vast amounts of psychotropic drugs that I've tried including anti-psychotics could have caused this and he got very defensive and said "no,no,no not the this extent".

Well, you only started on these after the symptoms arose. Is that correct?

>So you can get brain damaged to an extent from these psychotropics?

The older anti-psychotics do have some severe syndromes resulting from chronic use such as tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome, but these are more motor-related than cognitive. I think the "damage" is in the wrong place for him to HAVE to consider the posibility of it being iatrogenic. (You touched a nerve there with that question!)

>In any case he went on to say that my speck was not consistent with clinical depression. He also said the part damaged is the part of the brain that regulates mood; said nothing about cognition and memory which are my main symptoms. So, i'm in the dark, don't know what to do and need as much advice as possible because I'll fight to the bitter end, I'll never give up, I WANT MY LUCIDY BACK!!!!! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP. WHAT COULD THIS BE?

Until you find a second neurodoc it might be best to keep working on this with the one who ordered the SPECT. Make sure you he hears you out on details regarding mood and cognitive ability in a sort of timeline (what came first? what was the order of drugs taken and their effects). Going into self-diagnosis or blaming the medications will likely turn on his defensive/oppositional/"I am the professional here" mode rather than therapeutic/medical detective mode you need.


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poster:DSCH thread:268048
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