Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Canberra, Australia
Daughter's With Different 'brain' Illnesses Posted: 04-04-07 04:38am
Hi, I have four children, a son and three
daughters all who are now young adults. My
query is are 'brain' illnesses possibly
genetic? From my reading I understand many
conditions affecting the brain are due to
chemical imbalances in the brain. Could
this be caused by an incompatibility in
genes of the parents? Why is my son
'normal' and my girls all have a different
type of brain illness? Background to
questions: My eldest daughter developed
schizophrenia about 5 years ago after
getting into alcohol and drugs. She still
does not understand she has this illness
and is medication non-compliant. The
specialist has told her if she takes the
current medication (she is under a court
order to do so)and never touches the
illicit drugs and alcohol again she will
eventually come off the prescribed drugs
and be 'normal'. The next daughter was
diagnosed with ADD at age 7. She had an
EEG which showed very unusual brainwaves
and was put on dexamphetamine. This worked
amazingly well but after about 8 months
she was getting withdrawal symptoms so I
took her off it. She does not have the
hyperactivity side, only the unable to
concentrate. At age 18 I gave her the
choice to see a psychiatrist and get back
on medication to help her concentrate to
be able to enter University. She did this,
was put on Ritalin, and was able to get
into university. If she stops taking
medication she is literally off with the
fairies but it is not as life disrupting
as schizophrenia. My third daughter is
borderline Asperger's, she suffers from
depression, mood swings, at one time
self-harmed, experiences anxiety attacks,
and stresses so much she finds it
difficult to cope with many 'ordinary'
situations, though she has improved as she
has gotten older. She refuses to take
medication but does understand she has a
'condition' which makes her different but
very special.
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naomi48
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 22 Feb 2007 Posts: 21 Location: europe
Posted: 04-04-07 09:46am
Hi Yuki... what I'd like to know is did
you or your husband ever suffer from
depression on mood swings, things like
that...
Also, what kind of family environment did
those kids have when they were growing up,
in other words was it a healthy family or
were there problems involved - like family
violence, alcoholism, lack of love &
understanding etc etc.
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Yuki
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Canberra, Australia
Reply to Naomi48 Posted: 04-05-07 05:54am
My children all had a happy, loving
childhood. Both parents were non-drinkers.
Neither suffered from mood swings nor
depression.
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Spirit
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 388 Location: Canada
Posted: 04-05-07 07:35am
Could be psychological, parenting,
imprinting, genetics, environmental
etc................I opt for mostly
genetics and
environmental............something in
their genes that makes them susceptible to
certain things.....whereas most peoples
would have that little extra something to
keep them from gettin "it", something in
their .D.N.A makes them
vulnerable.........some experts believe
the childhood shots may be responsible for
the high occurrence of mental and
developmental
disorders.....................and previous
generations didn't have to deal with the
excessive pollution in our air, water and
food.................who knows for sure?
and it's unlikely the "experts" will agree
within our life time...................but
I do believe all or most is correctable
with intervention..................my deal
is high nutrition and removing all
allergins..................whoever you
believe in.............god...........a
higher being of some
sort................has blessed you with
these wonderous complex
children..............it's not
easy..............but the good stuff never
is
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Georgia59
Supporter
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 5557 Location: Along the Mississippi, USA
Thanks: 90
Thanked:32
Posted: 04-25-07 12:42pm
These are all very different illnesses,
and the idea that they all have the same
cause is simply not true. We don't really
know the causes of any mental illness, but
genetics seems to play a part. The current
idea is that someone is genetically
predisposed to the illness, and if they
get it or not depends on environmental
factors.
Also, your daughter with schizophrenia
probably started drinking and doing drugs
because of her illness when it was in it's
early stages, it probably did not cause
her illness.
