I never in a million years thought I would EVER be having this conversation with one of my kids. Does this sounds familiar at all to anyone? This is NOT his imagination. This is what a psychotic episode is like. Hopefully this will help Dr. R to decide what we need to do. If anyone has seen this type of behavior please let me know. I’m at a complete loss. This is what has happened in the past except now he seems to be able to articulate the experience better. To me this is another psychotic break, meaning he has lost touch with reality. He did go to sleep after his Ativan and is resting for now. Please know that I was flying blind here. I didn’t know what to say. I just needed to gauge whether it was his imagination or something worse. I did the best I could considering I had no idea what I was doing.
As his father it’s hard to watch him go through this. He really seems emotionless. He’s so “matter of fact” when he’s talking about what he’s seeing. That really bothers me because it”s almost as though it’s a normal thing for him. That breaks my heart. We need to get him help. Monday will be spent making calls and preparations. Please say a prayer for Gavin.
Edit: I do understand what he is saying. I’m just trying to be careful how I word the questions. I’m doing my best to not put words in his mouth..if that makes sense..
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGAOQiiC7Ns[/youtube]
WOW. The whole situation is scary. I think you did a REMARKABLE job to NOT put words in his mouth. And Gavin did FANTASTIC at explaining this all. I hope you were able to get him some help for this (just realizing that this is an older post). Again, kudo's to you dad. You did fantastic.
Thank you. The Med change has made a big difference for him.
Thx
You're a good father. You guys are lucky to have each other,
Keep on truckin' Rob. Something positive has to eventually happen…and if ANYONE deserves a break-its you.
Thanks for all you do. Whether it's spreading awareness, supporting others ,supporting your family, or just Android development..you're doing great at all of it, and you ARE making a difference.
You seemed confused about what he was saying about the sound…
"it's really coming up… I mean… even when I hear a sound that's on the movie Penguins, I still see it when that sound is on… it's kinda like a lil freaky sound"
"I always… I also see it when that sound is on, it's a freaky sound like you'd see in a horror movie"
That particular sound is on a penguin movie you have (but he still likes the movie, so he doesn't want you to not let him see it), and it's a similar sound to something he would expect in a horror movie. It sounds to me like those certain sounds are acting as a trigger that sets off the visual hallucination, rather than being a part of the hallucination themselves. He may hear that sound regularly if they watch that movie much, or other sounds may seem similar enough that they set it off as well.
Of course that's just based on my interpretation of what I heard here, I'd want to question him a bit more along this line and see if that's actually the case.
If I'm understanding correctly he's having the visual hallucination in his window, but he's also seeing the same thing in his head when he closes his eyes. The one in the window is a wavering fading image like you would expect from a ghost, so he's probably not as scared of that one… he's afraid to close his eyes though, I imagine the one in his head seems more dangerous. Also, since it's in his head there's no safe distance… I wouldn't want to shut my eyes either.
Again with the "this probably isn't relevant, but…" the dehydration problem I have that causes me to walk into walls and slur my words? It also causes visual hallucinations when I get too dehydrated. It's probably completely unrelated, as it's a very rare condition, and these symptoms aren't even the typical ones, but it's odd they're all coming together like this.
I wasn't confused by what he was saying. I was trying to be very careful how I worded the questions so as not to put words in his mouth. It's not easy trying to figure out what's going on when you have to tip toe with the words I use. That's all.. 🙂
ah sorry, didn't meant to be trifling
You weren't.. I should have pointed that out.. You just fine..
To try to put a positive light on this, he comes across as very mature for his age in this video. I see someone who is very calm and collected, and putting a lot of thought into the conversation.
Another perhaps positive aspect of this is that he seems to have emotional control over the hallucinations, rather than them having control over him (at least in this instance).
He almost seems "detached" in a way doesn't he. I don't know if that's good or bad……
Any chance that this could be seizure related? On of my students was having hallucinations and they turned out be part of his seizure disorder… worth checking out if you have not already investigated it yet.
Thank you Beth. They ruled out seizures the last time he was in the Cleveland Clinic. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't check again….
Thanks
Rob