Health

had a dx of ptsd, despite not having any ‘real’ trauma, no deaths, beatings, attacks. she’d had health issues, that were hard, but not anything that threatened her life, or required surgery.
she thought ppl were following her, and started refusing to go out, esp after dark. she spaced out for several minutes at a time. she spent time in a psyche ward. she had a full neuro/psyche exam.

then she finally start having overt seizures. she was hospitalized, wired to an eeg. 10 min later they came in an asked- did u ever have a bad head injury? y yes, at 5 yo, her brother had accidentally thwacked her head on a radiator. turns out it cracked her skull. i knew it at the time, but she showed no symptoms besides a ‘goose egg’.

she’s still trying to get control of her epilepsy. but here’s the thing- she’d seen a pediatric neurologist. for a while. she had sleep issues, and depression. she had an mri.

if i ran the world, intake to a psyche unit wd involve an eeg. and a sleep study.
and yes, a full physical. i have many bouts of depression which i’m quite sure were due to physical issues. finally got a dx of chronic fatigue. i also had a tbi at 6.

this is y i hate the term ‘mental illness’, as if the mind was separate from the brain, and the brain was separate from the body.
shrinks and neurologists dont talk enough. not nearly enough.