> When my brother was first diagnosed, he was, of course, committed to a
> psychiatric institute, heavily medicated, submitted to electro-schock
> therapy. He had years of psycho-analysis, both individual and family. This
> included, blaming him, blaming my mother, blaming the family, blaming
> whoever. Basically, years of pain.
> But about 15-20 years ago we started to hear about the possibility of
> schizophrenia being caused by a chemical imbalance. These were still years
> of pain for my brother (and the rest of us to a lesser degree). Skip to
> 4 years ago, my sister was reading an article about a new medication to
> treat schizophrenics, brought it to the attention of his doctor and, with a
> couple of adjustments, have found the BEST treatment for him. He is now
> functioning, for the first time in his adult life.
><Lena Holms
> caregiver for Ilmi, 74/2
> Oakville, Ontario, Canada
> [log in to unmask]
>
Dear Lena,
It seems to be nearly impossible to accept the extent of our ignorance. In the
sixties and seventies much people working in psychiaatry thought schizofrenia
as a disease which run into some families. The physiological causes however
were completely unknown. Even in post mortem examination nothing was found. So
this disease could be used easily by people whose goal was not to be a patient
researcher who has to work hard and besides needs good fortune to be able to
bring a little bit light in a world of darkness. This people already knew and
fitted fashionably in existing views on society. Much harm is done to families
of schizophrenics, who already suffer from havin a loved one with a so cruel
disease. This has happened to you and your family. You have survived keeping
contact with your brother. That is something you should be proud of.
Now in the brains of schiz. differences are found from normal brains and more
effective meds exist. The puzzle is however not solved. Stating that
schizofrenia. and pd could have some common cause because they both are about
dopamine, is much to simple. In our brain many funktions use dopamine and
dopamine is produced on many places in the brain. This is not less true for
PWP's. The production of dopamine is diminished only in the substantia nigra
and not in all other places. So it makes sense to think that different
neurological diseases with different causes both might have some connection
with dopamine.
Schizophrenia and PD both are not exceptionel. So the coincidence of both in
the same family by chance is to be expected. I don't know about any statistics
that shows this coincidence happens too frequently to be based on chance.
Ida Kamphuis
Holland
