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Prison Abuse

Sun, 01/24/2010 - 11:58

This is a story of a staggering atrocity that a woman seeking help, wrote to me at my website.

Here is her story:

"My 24 year old son began having grand mal seizures about nine years ago. Until 5 and a half years ago they were very far apart, and his doctor's recommended not to medicate him, explaining that the seizures may disappear completely as he ages as mysteriously as they began.

Then something horrible happened. He was charged with a crime he did not commit (which although his attorney compiled evidence clearing him, he was frightened into taking a plea bargain for 10 years in prison the night before he was to enter the not guilty plea).

The problem with his epilepsy was that on the actual night of his arrest, the officers interrogating him (who did not like his answers because they did not fit their theory of the crime) forced him to stand up for 12 hours straight without food or water in hopes of 'cracking' him.

The result of this was that he fell into a grand mal seizure in which he did not breathe for 10 minutes, and received a concussion. Instead of getting medical help, he was tossed in a cell and left to recover on his own.

This was to change the severity and frequency of his seizures permanantly. It is also probably related to the prosecutor's ability to maniputate him into a plea bargain months later which would never have stood if the case had been heard by a judge or jury.

My son has already served over half of his sentence, and has been brought back to life dozens of times by prison EMTs. He has been on lethal doses of Tegretol, Dilantin, and now Dilantin and Lamictal (300 mg & 400 mg per day each, respectively). I never know if my phone conversations with him will be my last.

My question is this, when the current dosage levels of these drugs quit working, and they will, is there any other medication being tested now that would be worth the risks, and have they found any effective substances for epileptics that do not cause Steven's-Johnson Syndrome?

Right now my son's seizures come in 3's, and always deprive him of oxygen and often cause injuries that in themselves are life threatening. Can you give me info on where I can find out about cutting-edge research on S-J syndrome and medications, including human studies being conducted? Is there anything known that might help keep him from getting Steven's-Johnson?"

I gave her several links, a list of anti epilepsy drugs (anti-epileptic drugs) with their possible side-effects: http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/medica...treat-seizures

I also included a site that helps give information for prisoners who suffer from epilepsy:
http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/sites/epi..._prisoners.pdf

And another website with a table of epilepsy drugs, brand names, average dose, treatment and possible side effects: http://www.epilepsysociety.org.uk/Ab...gsusedinadults

I also urged her to call her local State Representative and Congressman. Do you think she has any other recourse?

 

phylisfeinerjohnson

www.epilepsytalk.com 

Comments

Re: Prison Abuse

Submitted by zealot on Wed, 2010-10-27 - 12:25

Phylis,

Someone already wrote the book!

Amazon.com: From Snake Pits To Cash Cows: Politics And Public Institutions In New York (9780791464397): Paul J. Castellani: Books.

Devorah Zealot Soodak http://psychout.typepad.com/ the zealot needs help!

P.S.  I pray that you are not offended by the Phyllis Diller remark in my comment response to Tadzio on my blog.   I was very upset when I wrote it and did not yet know who you are or why you were reacting the way you did.  I believe we've both learned a lot since then.

Phylis,

Someone already wrote the book!

Amazon.com: From Snake Pits To Cash Cows: Politics And Public Institutions In New York (9780791464397): Paul J. Castellani: Books.

Devorah Zealot Soodak http://psychout.typepad.com/ the zealot needs help!

P.S.  I pray that you are not offended by the Phyllis Diller remark in my comment response to Tadzio on my blog.   I was very upset when I wrote it and did not yet know who you are or why you were reacting the way you did.  I believe we've both learned a lot since then.

Re: Prison Abuse

Submitted by zealot on Wed, 2010-10-27 - 13:17

Phylis,

I just tried narrowing down those searches to those that mention epilepsy.  Wow!  The epilepsy thought police are hard at work.  And the ugly PNES thing creeps in. 

I'm tinkering with the advanced searches and will most likely resort to writing the queries by hand.  At least I know where to start to get a base result set.

My docs would rather ignore epileptiform activity on my EEG, base line EEG abnormalities, Video evidence of seizures, and evidence of seizures via direct examination than admit that a woman with a history of traumatic sexual abuse could actually have epilepsy. 

I don't believe there's such a thing as PNES anyway.  I think it's more blame the victim for something we don't want to understand.   Maybe the rat-bastards are perverts, too.

I also think that Columbia Presbyterian are trying very hard to avoid a criminal prosecution involving falsifying medical records involving Class II Controlled Substances.  They changed my med orders from eight to 14 milligrams a day of IM Lorazepam at two milligrams a pop to two milligrams PO HS and illegally shipped me up to State Psychiatric Hospital Hell at Rockland Pschiatric Center, which is run by my favorite folks at the New York State Office of Mental Health.

I made sure I showed everyone the injection site bruising and told my doctor.  She checked with the folks at CP, of course, and they lied.  I went through acute benzo withdrawal and suffered permanent damage.  I had to teach myself how to write again. 

I actually convinced my docs that a psych patient was telling the truth and that the August Columbia Presbyterian Hospital was lying.  Quite a feat for a patient in a State Bin.

That is only one of the horrible things they did to me.  I really have to write that letter to the New York State Inspector General's Office.

Devorah Zealot Soodak http://psychout.typepad.com/ the zealot needs help!

Phylis,

I just tried narrowing down those searches to those that mention epilepsy.  Wow!  The epilepsy thought police are hard at work.  And the ugly PNES thing creeps in. 

I'm tinkering with the advanced searches and will most likely resort to writing the queries by hand.  At least I know where to start to get a base result set.

My docs would rather ignore epileptiform activity on my EEG, base line EEG abnormalities, Video evidence of seizures, and evidence of seizures via direct examination than admit that a woman with a history of traumatic sexual abuse could actually have epilepsy. 

I don't believe there's such a thing as PNES anyway.  I think it's more blame the victim for something we don't want to understand.   Maybe the rat-bastards are perverts, too.

I also think that Columbia Presbyterian are trying very hard to avoid a criminal prosecution involving falsifying medical records involving Class II Controlled Substances.  They changed my med orders from eight to 14 milligrams a day of IM Lorazepam at two milligrams a pop to two milligrams PO HS and illegally shipped me up to State Psychiatric Hospital Hell at Rockland Pschiatric Center, which is run by my favorite folks at the New York State Office of Mental Health.

I made sure I showed everyone the injection site bruising and told my doctor.  She checked with the folks at CP, of course, and they lied.  I went through acute benzo withdrawal and suffered permanent damage.  I had to teach myself how to write again. 

I actually convinced my docs that a psych patient was telling the truth and that the August Columbia Presbyterian Hospital was lying.  Quite a feat for a patient in a State Bin.

That is only one of the horrible things they did to me.  I really have to write that letter to the New York State Inspector General's Office.

Devorah Zealot Soodak http://psychout.typepad.com/ the zealot needs help!

Re: Prison Abuse

Submitted by zealot on Wed, 2010-10-27 - 17:36

Phylis,

My latest blog post: 

Epilepsy Carpe Diem: Psychiatric Patient Abuse Google Searching for Answers

I've got a new google search in there that actually turns up some stuff.  I'm working on another.  I hand-wrote that search query.  It's not so easy to do.  The advanced search does not generate correct search queries so I rarely bother with it except to see what it does come up with for other reasons.

I hope the query helps you find some useful stuff.

Thanks again for your interest in a topic that seems too hot to handle.  When I can deal I'm gonna tackle the PNES bullsh-t thing.  It's as bad as Freud's Electra Complex and just as abusive.

What happened to all of those research papers showing EEG evidence of temporal lobe epileptiform activity during dissociative episodes?  Hmmm...  I wonder... (not!) 

Devorah Zealot Soodak http://psychout.typepad.com/ the zealot needs help!

P.S.  I just got Slam, Spam, No thank you, M'am'ed.  It decided I was spam even though I filled out the captcha gotcha for trying to put in the link to my blog post.  I put it in the top of the old Ecstatic Seizures Forum so you'll have to get it there.

When are they going to white list my domain?  That is a standard practice.  I am not a spammer.  In fact, I just flagged another nyu-epi forum for directly soliciting users for research in direct violation of this sites policies.

Of course, Mr. Lambert is from NYU so I understand why nyu-epi is still allowed to prowl.

Phylis,

My latest blog post: 

Epilepsy Carpe Diem: Psychiatric Patient Abuse Google Searching for Answers

I've got a new google search in there that actually turns up some stuff.  I'm working on another.  I hand-wrote that search query.  It's not so easy to do.  The advanced search does not generate correct search queries so I rarely bother with it except to see what it does come up with for other reasons.

I hope the query helps you find some useful stuff.

Thanks again for your interest in a topic that seems too hot to handle.  When I can deal I'm gonna tackle the PNES bullsh-t thing.  It's as bad as Freud's Electra Complex and just as abusive.

What happened to all of those research papers showing EEG evidence of temporal lobe epileptiform activity during dissociative episodes?  Hmmm...  I wonder... (not!) 

Devorah Zealot Soodak http://psychout.typepad.com/ the zealot needs help!

P.S.  I just got Slam, Spam, No thank you, M'am'ed.  It decided I was spam even though I filled out the captcha gotcha for trying to put in the link to my blog post.  I put it in the top of the old Ecstatic Seizures Forum so you'll have to get it there.

When are they going to white list my domain?  That is a standard practice.  I am not a spammer.  In fact, I just flagged another nyu-epi forum for directly soliciting users for research in direct violation of this sites policies.

Of course, Mr. Lambert is from NYU so I understand why nyu-epi is still allowed to prowl.

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