I told him that I thought that it was a really bad idea after hearing some horror stories about what happens to people w/lyme when they go to mental hospitals and explained that the psychiatrists try to retest for lyme with unreliable labs and unreliable tests like the ELISA, and think they are experts on Lyme after talking to an ID over the phone.

He let the mental hospital thing go for a couple of days and then brought it up again. My mom and I both said unless he was thinking of hurting himself or others it wasn't a good idea.

He let it go for a couple of days again, and then said he was thinking of suicide or hurting others. So we took him to the mental hospital.

He was released like 5 days later to an out-patient program. Anyways my aunt takes him to the appointment and I guess he got out early because while she was getting the perscription he just walks out of the building and no one saw him walk out of the building at all.

He was missing from fri at 2:15 till 7:00 yesterday. We were going crazy reporting it to the police and trying to get the kaiser to check the premesis to make sure he was there.

We didn't find out till saturday they never did a full check of the premesis, saturday we found out the police only did a suicide watch not a missing person's report as we had requested.

T.V. stations wouldn't report a missing person without a police report. So I was talking to people in the area and handing out flyers.

Anyways some police found him Saturday evening at a park and took him to the hospital and he was of course sent back to the mental hospital. The doctor then of course proceeds to tell us that his antibody test for lyme came back negative.

We ask him if it was an ELISA and he just says it was an antibody test (of course it probably was an ELISA that is all that Kaiser probably covers).

Anywho he goes on to tell us that Kaiser has an excellent ID department. We have an LLMD thank you very much--I am sure he probably doesn't know what that means.

So my mom tells him we have a test that proves that he had lyme antibodies (done by Igenex). I am so frustrated because my mom doesn't really know that much about lyme so she can't tell him where he is wrong.

I know that the psychiatrist is trying to undiagnose him. I don't understand why they think that they have the medical knowlege to do that after talking to an ID on the PHONE!

Anyways we are trying to get our LLMD to talk to him. In the meantime the psychiatrist proceeds to tell us that if he continues to be so unresponsive (to meds. etc. he is not talking at all right now) they want to do electro-shock therapy.

I cannot tell my mom how bad of an idea I think this is. My mom is only getting advice from these psychiatrists b/c our LLMD is not calling back and basically I am her daughter I am only 21. My opinion doesn't really hold much weight with her b/c she sees me as her child.

I am so glad I was not this out of it when I got Lyme because I can see that some very important decisions are being made without the best information.

Anyways I told her that we should at least wait until my dad has the SPECT scan done (the LLMD said he wanted to have a SPECT scan done to see how the lyme is effecting him mentally) and if he has this electro-"therapy" I am sure it would effect the SPECT scan.

Somebody please talk to my mom to tell her what to do or tell me. This is ridiculous.

Can you tell us a little more about what symptoms you dad is having? Does he have depression or halucinations or phobias or violent outbursts? Maybe if we know a little more we can help you better.

From what you have said, I would suggest that maybe you could write a letter to your mom about your concerns and suggestions.

That way you could get your thoughts straight and she maybe your mom could take you a little more seriously.

I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to not know where your father was for so long and now to have him not talking.

I wish I could give you some better advice. But maybe someone else will come along soon.

PS Just so you know, it really helps if you write a few lines and then hit enter twice.

That breaks up your post and makes it a lot easier to read for the folks with eye problems and neurolyme.

Sometimes folks will pass over posts that aren't spaced out.

His was caught a couple of months later than mine because his symptoms didn't show up right away. He was depressed when we found out I had it and probably before that too.

I almost feel like he just gave up. Before he went in the hospital he kept on saying he needed more and more help and the more would do for him the less it seemed that he actually could do.

I would say he is just really confused. Just before he went in the hospital he got really religious. He has never really been "religious," but now all of a sudden he thinks he has commited some kind of unforgivable sin and is hung up on that.

I believe in God and think religion is good, but he has become religious in an unhealthy way. I think he comes to conclusions about God that are unhealthy (i.e. he has fears that God is not good, he has made a deal with the devil, it is obvious that religion is a stressor not a help for him).

In the mental hospital people thought he couldn't talk because he wouldn't talk to anyone. When we came to visit him he just would say a sentence or two, but not much.

He has been described by many people as catatonic. He just sits there as if he can't move. When you talk to him he doesn't even look at you unless you ask him to.

Even then it seems like he has a strange fixed glare. The main reason they are talking about doing the shock therapy is because he isn't talking to anyone in there and won't move around.

He is capable, however, of talking and moving around because when my mom and I go in there and ask him to do something he'll usually do it and when we talk to him he responds.

The psychiatrist in there says they haven't seen any of his lyme symptoms. The thing is they aren't watching him all the time, they probably don't know what to look for, and it's not like you can always see it.

I've seen his hands shaking/tremor like symptoms and his muscles twitching in his legs even before they put him on all these mind meds.

If I were in your position. I would be calling the LLMD continually until he/she spoke with the psychiatrist. Does he have an office manager? Try speaking to them. They have the ear of the doc more than anyone. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Secondly, there are a few experts on how lyme affects the brain. Brian Fallon, Virginia Sherr (sp?) and others that I can't think of right now. Do a search in the medical forum. Go armed with these articles to the psychiatrist. Will these docs do a phone consult? Encourage that.

Lastly, ECT is not as barbaric as it used to be. And unfortunately, there are those that they only respond to that and nothing else. My mom used to get headaches afterwards and long term memory loss that she never recovered. I am not saying that this is the answer in your father's case. I would exhaust all efforts advocating for him. Especially in attempting to find a Lyme literate psychiatrist.

Have you contacted your local or state support group for help? They may have encountered something like this before and may have some help for you.

Remember in all of this. You can control only so much. Do not sacrifice your health. While going through this try to take care of you.