Wednesday 2 April 2008

MY SON'S STORY

OUR EXPERIENCE WITH CONSUMMO


My son, was diagnosed as a paranoid/disorganized schizophrenic in 2004. The first signs we saw over the period 12 - 16 months, before he received (Consummo) treatment, were: He wouldn't eat, everything tasted "funny" or he thought I was putting something in the food to make it taste "funny". He wouldn't even eat McDonalds food, which he always loved. He will leaves the kitchen and will not eat with the rest of the family because of a fear that we are contaminating his food he has an extreme fear and belief that family members are placing toxins and poisons in his food. Because of this fear he  only purchased food in small prepackaged containers (cans, individually wrapped food items, etc.) that he can eat entirely at one sitting. If he doesn't completely eat or drink what is in that package he will just throw the rest away rather than put it in the refrigerator for later consumption. If we walk into the kitchen while he is eating he will frequently throw all his food garbage because he seems to believe that we have "contaminated it". He lost 50 lbs during this time (6 - 7 months). I took him to our family doctor who did a series of tests, including a drug test, all came back negative. He then started to zone out for long periods of time (1 - 2 hours). He wouldn't blink very often or change his expression. I would ask him if anything was wrong and he'd just shake his head no. He then started to laugh during these times for no reason. He would sit and stare at his hands for hours, when I would ask him what was wrong with his hands, he would say they are different than they use to be.
During this entire period, his grades in school went from C's - D's to all F's. The school would call and say he would get up and walk out of class and just roam the halls. Starting in June , he started getting very aggressive, talking to himself and laughing in his room. He would get very upset and run out of his room, down the stairs and outside. He started doing this everyday. It started really going down hill from there.
He would never say he was hearing voices, but it was very apparent he was. God told him what numbers to play for the lottery, if I bought a ticket I would win millions. He heard other voices, I would hear him talking to them.
He started talking in a language we did not understand, after research I found these to be called "word salads". He would call me by a name that no one understood, he said I was from a different planet sent here to kill him.  He would come out of his room, scream at all of us in the foreign language, and tell us we all were going to die. Would no longer watch T.V., In fact he broke his cd player by doing this. Paced constantly or do just the opposite not get out of bed for hours during the day. (he would not sleep at night). Started to hallucinate. The walls had bugs on them, we all looked different, my eye brows were pointed upward and my ears had grown. He said things were moving when they were not. During this time I was totally freaking out.
The above are a brief summary of what was happening, so many things occurred during this period I can't remember or have blocked some of it out. I was able to admit him to the hospital by telling him we were just going to the doctor but effort by Doctor prove abortive, we resort us into getting Consummo.
I credit my son recovery to Dr.Justin Rodwen Hill (Consummo). I just hope our story will inspires you not to think the future of your son is hopeless. He now find it easier to talk to people now, which was not the case years ago. Though we still have many other ups and downs constantly in our family but our son is back to his normal senses which is most important, because for someone who has never had confidence , and has low-self esteem I think he have accomplished a lot and he now have a targeted goals. That is our experience with Consummo 

--- Authored by: Mariana Gheorghe (Valerie's Mum), 04/2008