(no subject)
It's been almost two years since I entered anything here. Sorry.
I started seeing a therapist about 2 years ago because of an eating disorder (bingeing). She diagnosed me as having ADD, and I started taking meds.
In about November or December of this year, my therapist told me that she wanted me to see a neurological psychologist because I have not responded to her treatment or to any of the combinations or dosage changes of my ADD meds (i.e. I still eat like it's my last day on earth. Hey--someday it will be, okay?)
The new doctor, Dahmer-White (easier than spelling "neurological psychologist" over and over) saw me in late January for a six-hour day of testing. There are no machines that can give an accurate picture of any brain damage and how it affects you, but how I perform on the tests can give her a very good idea of what, if anything, is wrong with my brain. She also got a copy of a MRI done April 2, 2004 (the day afer I had my stroke). By the way, I had a stroke 7 days after Amanda was born. According to my neurologist at the time, most of the young women who have a stroke have recently given birth.
There has been some damage from the Arnold-Chiari malformation that I was born with, but most of my memory and self-control issues have gooten worse in recent years.
I scored in the 95th percentile on the tests that analyzed the left side of my brain (yay me!). I scored in the 45th percentile on the tests that analyzed the right side of my brain. The MRI showed her that the stroke occured on the right mid parietal-temporal lobe. It was a small stroke, and she said that I was lucky that it wasn't bigger because I could have ended up with some serious visual-spatial processing problems. Of course, if I had, we would have known that something was wrong and I would have gotten some rehab.
She was surprised and a little upset that I had not been sent to the stroke rehab center at St. Peter's hospital (which was also the hospital where I had been sent the night I had the stroke). I didn't know what to look for, and I wrote off my problems as exhaustion from taking care of a newborn and a four year old. Who wouldn';t be a little scatter-brained? After that, I was able to compensate for the most part (remember that 95th percentile score I got on the left side?)
But I still have feelings of being a failure (can't remember much sometimes, can't control my impulses, can't finish anything I start, overwhelmed easily--you know, indications of right-brain damage.) Sometimes I feel very small.
Fortunately, even though it has been almost eight years, stroke rehab may still be able to stimulate the right side to work more (through the wonders of neural plasticity--look it up, it's fascinating).
So Dr. Dahmer-White suggested that I stop taking the ADD medication (in steps, which I am doing) and start taking a mood stabilizer, which I am also doing, in steps. At some point, when all of the paperwork involving the tests is finished, she will make a referral to the Stroke Rehab Center, and we will see what can be done.
Maybe there is still hope for me.
I started seeing a therapist about 2 years ago because of an eating disorder (bingeing). She diagnosed me as having ADD, and I started taking meds.
In about November or December of this year, my therapist told me that she wanted me to see a neurological psychologist because I have not responded to her treatment or to any of the combinations or dosage changes of my ADD meds (i.e. I still eat like it's my last day on earth. Hey--someday it will be, okay?)
The new doctor, Dahmer-White (easier than spelling "neurological psychologist" over and over) saw me in late January for a six-hour day of testing. There are no machines that can give an accurate picture of any brain damage and how it affects you, but how I perform on the tests can give her a very good idea of what, if anything, is wrong with my brain. She also got a copy of a MRI done April 2, 2004 (the day afer I had my stroke). By the way, I had a stroke 7 days after Amanda was born. According to my neurologist at the time, most of the young women who have a stroke have recently given birth.
There has been some damage from the Arnold-Chiari malformation that I was born with, but most of my memory and self-control issues have gooten worse in recent years.
I scored in the 95th percentile on the tests that analyzed the left side of my brain (yay me!). I scored in the 45th percentile on the tests that analyzed the right side of my brain. The MRI showed her that the stroke occured on the right mid parietal-temporal lobe. It was a small stroke, and she said that I was lucky that it wasn't bigger because I could have ended up with some serious visual-spatial processing problems. Of course, if I had, we would have known that something was wrong and I would have gotten some rehab.
She was surprised and a little upset that I had not been sent to the stroke rehab center at St. Peter's hospital (which was also the hospital where I had been sent the night I had the stroke). I didn't know what to look for, and I wrote off my problems as exhaustion from taking care of a newborn and a four year old. Who wouldn';t be a little scatter-brained? After that, I was able to compensate for the most part (remember that 95th percentile score I got on the left side?)
But I still have feelings of being a failure (can't remember much sometimes, can't control my impulses, can't finish anything I start, overwhelmed easily--you know, indications of right-brain damage.) Sometimes I feel very small.
Fortunately, even though it has been almost eight years, stroke rehab may still be able to stimulate the right side to work more (through the wonders of neural plasticity--look it up, it's fascinating).
So Dr. Dahmer-White suggested that I stop taking the ADD medication (in steps, which I am doing) and start taking a mood stabilizer, which I am also doing, in steps. At some point, when all of the paperwork involving the tests is finished, she will make a referral to the Stroke Rehab Center, and we will see what can be done.
Maybe there is still hope for me.