pulling my hair out

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my 16yr old son has Asperger's, 18mths ago he started hearing voices. to cut a log story short he has had eeg, sleep deprived eeg, ct scan and mri. all showed abnormalities except ct scan, though findings were unconnected on all tests. so far i have been told he may have schizohenria, epilepsy, bi-polar disorder and the latest suggesion is a type of depression. so far none of the "profesionals" he has seen have diagnosed or disputed any of these disorders, just hinted to all. by professionals i mean 2 psychiatrists, a therapist and 2 neurologists. anyone with any advice would be warmly welcomed x x

That is a lot to deal with. Right now the best thing you can do is take care of yourself so you can deal with whatever comes. I am near shutdown mode over problems no way near as serious as yours. Once you get a definite diagnosis you'll know better what to do and how to proceed.

whatever's goin on for you, it will be worth hanging in there for possible answers. thank you for taking the time to try and help me..xx

Keep going. Adolescent brains are changing, so your son may be in the prodromal phase of whatever is going on. Or it may be something else. Ideas in neurology and psychiatry are changing too. For instance, bipolar was until recently not considered as a diagnosis for anyone below age 18. Personality disorders are still not formally diagnosed in children, though informally they are recognized by some practitioners.

I've been through many of the tests you mentioned, and know that the results are often inconclusive, or not useful for diagnostic purposes. My MRI is perfectly normal, but my EEG clearly showed I have seizures. I've been through three neurologists, three psychiatrists, four psychologists, and several therapists and counselors in my years, all coming up with explanations and diagnoses that worked to some extent, but not enough to address the underlying issue, which in my case is AS.

I've also had hallucinations (auditory and visual). Because of my seizures and synesthesia, when I'm sufficiently stressed, my brain does very odd things. I don't know if this would explain your son's situation, but people on the spectrum can be brittle, and once pushed past their comfort zone, can melt down or shut down in a variety of ways. I've done both in many ways, some of which resulted in meds, one of which almost got me hospitalized.

I hope you can keep your son comfortable while pursuing the cause of his hallucinations (which I hope have ceased). Let me know if this was too much info or if you want more.

Well, you may be getting what are sometimes referred to as 'best guess' diagnosis. This is when a doctor looks at data that clearly indicates and abnormality, but has no idea what to do with it. So, they just give it their best guess. For example, the doctor may look at your son's EEG (which measures electrical activity inside the brain), and notice that the signals are erratic. This can indicate any one of a dozen things from autism, to epilepsy, to schizophrenia, to drug use, etc. Since they have no way to know, they just pick one and say, "We think your son may have epilepsy/schizophrenia/etc."

Some doctors will just do a few simple tests, spend a few minutes with your son, and make an educated guess at a diagnosis. You shouldn't take these as absolute truths. They may be right, but then again if they were right, shouldn't they agree with each other?

There are a few things you might want to be aware of. Autism and abnormal brain wiring are synonymous. Seizures are fairly common. After all, a meltdown is nothing but a partial brain seizure, so it can occur quite frequently. So, an abnormal EEG and MRI mean nothing more then a conformation that yes, he is indeed autistic. These shouldn't be surprising.

Also, being autistic creates a lot of stress. It is somewhat hard to explain properly, but allow me to assure you that there are problems associated with the condition that lead to being stressed out often. Sounds are too loud, lights are too bright, information overload is a constant problem, your often picked on at school, people treat you poorly because you are different, etc. I am not trying to sound like an attention seeker, but you should understand that your son has probably had a great deal of stress in his life.

And constant, prolonged stress can lead to things such as depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, and of course stress induced psychosis (such as hearing voices). I know that schizophrenia has a genetic component to it, but this just predisposes the person to the condition, it usually takes a stressful event, or life style to lead to full blown schizophrenia.

If you are looking for ways to help your son, then you really shouldn't worry about what diagnosis he has, worry more about helping him with his difficulties. Without meeting your son, or getting further information, it is hard to give good advice. But my best guess is that your son is likely feeling rather overwhelmed right now, and taking steps to reduce the stress and anxiety should help him out.

The co-morbids can be lovely, can't they? Sarcasm definitely intended. The one thing I wanted to ask while reading your post is if he's been on any medications, and what types. I am not a scientist nor an expert but I've read quite a few personal stories where it turned out the medications were causing the problems in the teen. Definitely consider it; many meds are incompatible with the changes a teens body goes through, and many families find it improves things to clear them all out instead of continuing the cycle of adding med upon med. Be very, very careful when the doctors suggest medication; it may be what they instinctively want to do, but it may not be right.

at present he is on no medication at all, the experts cant decide which ones he should take.

*sigh* Yeah... It sounds just totally frustrating. It's good they're not jumping the gun with medication, though, because meds could make it worse--we could tell you about a million stories about exactly that happening to us. If the doctors try medication with your son, make a big stink about it if they don't try carefully and with low doses.

Maybe you could bring him here. At least he could talk to some of us who've been through similar problems. I think they went through about ten different (incorrect) labels before they finally figured out, "oh, hey, Asperger's!" with me.

At least you two are in it together. It helps to have your parents on your side, it really does.