922? an AVM is actuallly called an arteriovenous malformation(fed mostly by arteries like an aneurysm would be). there are various vascular malformations that one can be simply born with(usually brain and spinal cord), and some get created over years too. i had the venous fed counterpart to AVM inside my spinal cord called a cavernous hemangioma that i was born with. they just show up in some people.
i too think the med she is on should possibly be changed to something that will not impact her brain so severely. there just are sooo many different meRAB like the SSRIs adnd the anti S meRAB that can have in some people some vewry powerful and crazy side effects. my son had a bi polar disorder actually create itself from the use of prozac in an adolescent? it was over the top with what were actually manic episodes that i simply called anger explosions from hell. these meRAB just have the potential to actually change certain peoples personalitiys in ways that are really not something you would ever actually expect at all. i did NOT even KNOW my son on prozac and certainly not the child i had had before he was placed onto prozac.
but on the other hand, depending upon just what exacting area her AVM actually was, how large it was and if any other areas became damaged during her gamma, it could also be another part of the bigger problem too. do you know the exact area of her brain that held the AVM? was it completely removed or all actual bloodflow stopped to it feeding it by gamma or is some still there/active? how large was her AVM? i have never heard of them actually using the gamma knife on AVMs but they have been doing tons of research now vs before on the very best ways to try and get these lil suckers to either be removed or coiled like they do with an aneurysm so the bloodflow simply stops keeping these tangled masses of blood vessels continuaLLY fed and alive. once bloodflow TO them stops(or if can be removed), they usually will die off, but most are pretty entangled blood vessels so its very difficult to fully see all feeders in them or of them, ya know what i mean?
at the very least here, simply trying a totally different type of anti S med,esp since she DID have a break thru siezure, may be something to at least try and thwen see what happens with her personality? is there ANY possible way any one of your family could go with her to a follow up appt with her doc,i am assuming this is an actual neurosurgeon here? if she will not allow THAT, i would call her doc and report the changes in behavior to him. while in most cases, he cannot tell YOU anything, it does not mean that YOU cannot tell HIM things, esp the personality changes? this just IS stuff her doc neeRAB to know about, esp when this just IS her actual brain and changes in her thinking kind of situation? its kind of different than other medical situations that do NOT involve the brain at all?
but if she will nota allow anyone in, then you or someone in your family simply does need to either call her doc with a list of changes or symptoms she has been displaying handy and twell him, or she will not get this thru to him herself and things will not change. but the areas of her brain impacted also would play a part here too. and since he just knows the "where" of the vicinity her AVM was, he would more than likely be able to at least figure out of this is a brain and location reaction or possibly the keppra and may need a switch just to see if anything gets better. just get HIM the info so he simply knows.
but it also just DOES take time for the brain itself to get over the trauma of what it just went thru too, so do keep that in mind as well,K? hopefully things will normalize once you can get that doc in the loop and simply tell him what your familiy is seeing and hearing. ONLY because this is her brain that you are dealing with as far as telling her doc stuff? HIPPA gives a bit more wiggle room since anyone with any level of 'brain injury" or "trauma" WITH very definite personality changes usually is considered to be in a somewhat 'vulnerable" state? or in her case, a somewhat vulnerable adult, so things are not quite as strict in that sense? so DO TELL her doc this stuff since it just IS in her best interest here to do so. otherwise, how is her doc going to really 'know' any of this unless she even CAN/will tell him if she feels she is just "fine" inside her head but shes not? good luck with this,and i do hope that doc will at least try changing that med to a different one just to see if it could be med or her level of brain injury from where it was even attached there? and DO please keep us posted, FB
