confusing neuro symptoms

eyes of heart

New member
A 47 yr old male friend started getting daily headaches in Nov 2009, out of the blue. Around the same time, he has grown increasingly grumpy, loss of interest in hobbies, low libido, worries about retirement,$$ etc. More recently he has exhibited weird rage, and feels tired right after and has not memory of it at all the next day. One night at a baseball game, he thought he lost control of his bowels and wanted to go home, but his wife didn't want to go right away, so he left without telling her. She went to look for him after a half hour and found him in the parking lot, pacing back and forth and proceeded to yell at her and call her lots of names, said he was cheating on her and pushed her to the ground twice. He forgot where he had gone and could not find their car anywhere. They took a cab home where he berated the cab driver and her the whole way. The next day he only remembers going into the ball game, nothing else. They found the car the next day on some side street in front of a fire hydrant.(he did drive it because he had the keys)
He was not drinking/drugs and not on prescipt drugs for 6 wks.
he has normal MRI, EEG, hormone levels, Lymes test..any possible test done was found normal. He is now on antidepressent and another headache med.
All his friends are stumped..none of this is like him. Can someone just get bipolar?? or could it be a form of epilepsy? 9 mnths prior, he was hospitalized for 5 days for an unexplained viral flu-type sickness.
Any thoughts??
 
Has anyone diagnosed him as bi-polar? Where did that diagnosis come from or is that just a guess on your part or his part? I'm asking because there is a form of bi-polar that does start at that age(40's) and it can be hard to control. I know a couple of people who got it in their 40's and it's a tougher time trying to treat it than for those who get it in late teens/early 20's. I guess maybe because they are more set in their ways and emotional patterns more set. Or because the disease is actually different in the way it affects the brain. I'm not a neurologist or psychiatrist.

I hope your friend does stabilize and soon.

Jenny
 
unless like jenny said, thaere is some really valid reason to even suspect a bi polar type of issue here, i would make darn certain to start getting some in depth neuro testing done here on him,sooner vs later. the behaviors you have described really do not 'sound' so much like a true bi polar(my son has one form of this) but more of a 'something" that may have actually either been triggered or changed within the overall landscape of his actual brain here??

i just now saw that he DID actually have at least the MRI done? unless this was actually done using a contrasting agent of some kind, he should possibly have it again WITH a good contrast added to help ID certain areas that can simply be somewhat hidden when it comes to actually scannitng anything really? and he should also have that MRA as well. there IS also a much more deeper in depth type of scan they can do on his brain called a 3T or 3 tesla scan that actually uses three times the overall magnetism of the more standard MRI even. this just DOES obtain much clearer and deeper pics, esp within our brains. they used this on mine to really even see my brain aneurysm back in 2005? it would NOT actually show only upon standard MRI, but DID upon that deeper tesla scan. just one more much better and deeper type of scan that may show something that will not actually just show upon MRI only. any scan of an area is JUST only that, a mere "scan" and NOT a true actual picture. so the better scanning and the deeper you can go here right now, the better.

just because something does not actually show up on any given scan, trust me here, it does NOT actually mean in all cases that there is not actually something there, not at all. it just ONLY means that whetever the ability of what the scan actually has cannot capture it with its own limitations. certain things should just be double checked here and newer different scans attempted.

this just simply could be any number of very real types of neurological issues that have started up/triggered themselves in some way, or something more solid possibly going on withihn his brain as well?? its the overall wide varying nature of his symptomology and forgetting too? that usually is not a part of any real bi polar type issue in most people(tho like that rage definitely IS, but only part of the symptomology here). not saying it is not a 'possible' here since when it comes to our brains, there simply is sooo much yet that even the best research scientists stilll cannot truely understand or explain even today with all the types of testing and ongoing studies that have been going on pretty much since we were discovered to even have a brain and people trying to fully define it?

i seriously DO think that his wife really does need to first, take him in to his own primary for a basic eval/consult, and some basic bloodwork, and a referral for some in depth brain scans(an MRI and MRA would be ideal as baseline tests) using a good contrasting agent. and from there, and also depending upon just what may even be found upon that scan, getting him in to see either a good neurologist or neurosurgeon which would totally depend upon what was or was not actually even found within that MRI, seriously NEEDS to be done. he really could hurt either himself or even someone else here with the huge swings in his personality going on. the mere fact that he has already attacked his own wife here just seriously ups that NEED to find out just what may be going on in his brain right now.

there IS a possibility that he may NOT do this willingly only becasue of the huge personality changes he is excperiencing here? if that should occur,you would really need to involve the police here,and i AM dead serious. the fact that he attacked his wife, and just did some of the things he has, would BE an ideal situation to place at the very least here a 72 hour hold on him. unfortuently when it comes to people having any issues within the brain, sometimes you simply DO have to go to this extreme just to even be able to obtain testing within a protected environment. we DID have to go this route with our son, even after he was over 18 too? its the nature of the real threat that anyone displays in this type of situation and not so much how 'legal' they are. if they cannot make "appropriate" decisions, or are seen as a threat to anyone at all including themserlves, the police DO have an obligation to not only that person and anyone living with them, but the public too. it does change everything. the man already, legally committed what IS classified as at the very least here, 5th degree domestic assault on his wife, that NEEDS some intervention soon.

hopefully it will not have to go to that extreme and he will want to also know what is going on inside his own head here. but depending upon the basic causes, he may not behave in a way that one would simply expect. just wanted you to know that so you are not blindsided here? this just really does not actually 'sound' like what takes place with manic cycling or anything truely bi polar, but something is definitely neurologically going on to even create this level of ongoing personality changes and that IS what really needs to be identified right now, that 'reason'. contrasted MRI of his brain may simply show whats up here? even having a stroke in certain areas(or ongoing small ones called TIAS) can do this too. you just really wont know what has taken place in his head til that good look inside takes place. hopefully it will show the reason.

the mere fact that ALLLL of this actually was precedded by headaches really does UP that need for seeing inside his brain right now. its just the way that ALOT of the more major types of neuro issues actually can start more often than not. headpain is usually a first sign of an underlying brain issue with certain neuro problems and or "events" too. does he still have the headpain? i do hope getting him in to see his doc and that referral for the MRI and MRA(the MRA would simply rule out or in ANY strange types of possible arterial vascular malformations like aneurysm among possible others too that you CAN actually even be born with) will simply find the source so some form of real appropriate treatment can begin, depending. this just DOES soo much need a good thorough neuro eval and deeper scanning too(NOT just a simple CT, no way.). please DO let us know anything you find out here, K? i do hope thisngs get found out sooner vs later and everything can be stabilized soon for the both of them. FB

hey jen, nice to have you back hon........
 
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