This column addresses questions about health problems of the elderly. Dr. Beata Skudlarska, who answered this question, is a Bridgeport, CT, geriatrician. Part of the question and answer are below.
Q. I am truly beside myself. I just don't know who else to turn to. I must have talked to dozens of different doctors, and no one is able to help me. This is about my mom. She is only 59. She had me and my twin brother early.
About six months ago, my mom started losing the ability to speak. Initially, we thought she had a cold, except the cold never went away. She has seen an ear, nose and throat specialist and a neurologist. She must have had 10 different X-rays and an MRI. They also worried she may have seizures. Then they worried she had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. But the tests show nothing...
A....First, there has to be no explanation found in the form of tests, blood work, X-rays and such. The second criteria is eliminating patients who essentially pretend or "fake it," usually to gain something. Some patients get caught, or simply confess, but if they don't, we may actually never know for certain.
The last requirement is the easiest to establish. There needs to be a history of an emotional event or trauma.
Very often, this will be a history of sexual and physical abuse. This could have happened many, many years before symptoms start. More often, though, the connection is closer in time.
Most of the time, diagnosing conversion reaction requires the collaboration of many specialists, including neurologists, psychiatrists and primary doctors. I have to also warn you that many doctors are quite biased against this disease.
Many of us physicians still are too arrogant to understand that, just because we cannot find an explanation for a problem, that does not mean that it does not exist.
http://www.ctpost.com/health/article/Mom-s-symptoms-might-be-manifestation-of-trauma-5236019.php
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