Bob,
It's time for me to be serious.
I'm so glad you brought up mental illness which is an issue I feel very strongly about, as many of my posts here show. It's definitely not discussed enough -- there's still a stigma associated with mental illness which is extremely sad considering we're in a new century.
I've always openly admitted that MS has affected my mind, and my family, doctors and I keep a close watch for any changes -- I sincerely wish you had such support because psych problems can be hard to manage, even in the year 2010.
I believe I know why I have CCSVI. When my mother was pregnant for me in 1961, she attempted suicide (slit her wrists) and was committed to a psych ward where she was given approximately a dozen electric shock therapy treatments of the kind depicted in the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (with Jack Nicholson). She was also given heavy psych drugs. This happened during the exact time period that the cerebrospinal system is being formed in the fetus. I was not expected to survive.
My CCSVI tests (MR venography, Transcranial US) show that I have severe deformities in the venous system (the sinuses) of my brain and that I'm missing a jugular vein. If you'd like, you can search here for the IR's reports. I've also posted about mental illness on Dr. Sclafani's thread, if you'd care to search through all those pages.
So... I've learned much about mental illness during my lifetime -- here at TIMS, I've learned that some behaviors sometimes exhibited by MS patients, such as rages, can be helped, so I do hope those patients keep in close contact with their doctors.
In case you didn't see the thread, CCSVI treatment by Dr. Mehta "worked miracles" for an MS patient struggling with mental health issues. Dr. Mehta was so impressed with the outcome that he immediately started investigating CCSVI and working on setting up a large-scale trial (500 patients) for both CCSVI testing and treatment -- hopefully the trial will start soon.
I've held back many times from posting to you with offers of help and support. In fact, I've only posted to you with such offers when your behavior seemed to be out of your control. Out of compassion, most times my posts to you were very short, but other times they had to be longer, such as when you angered my husband on Rici's thread.
At BT, I proudly and compassionately helped and tried to defend a woman in the final stages of MS (not pretty), and I would proudly do so again. I left BT because the moderators wouldn't let me post a link to support services for her, even when PMs were not working -- the moderators showed absolutely no compassion which is something I think is very important. At the same time I left, she did, too, when she was moved out of her home by social services.
Btw, I've been reading here for many years, also, but my visits were sporadic so I ended up not seeing some important threads. At BT, I was the one who suggested to HarryZ, whose wife had MS, to visit TIMS because there was a husband posting here who said his wife has MS, too. I thought Harry would appreciate the support, but was I ever wrong -- this is Harry's thread titled "autopsy":
http://www.thisisms.com/ftopic-5840-day ... ied-0.html
If I had more time, I would copy & paste into this thread lots of your insensitive, sick and cruel posts from that thread -- if I think you need more help, Bob, I can always come back because I still feel personally responsible for sending Harry into your clutches -- thank goodness for all the compassionate people Harry did find here.
Compassion is key. But some people don't have any.
Hopefully, I'm finished with you here, Bob.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Malden,
I always try to give the benefit of the doubt to MSers, and I should have with you if you are who you claim to be. It's not much of a consolation, but at least you get to say that you're one in twenty-thousand if you are who you claim to be.
~HP
