I am hoping that someone can point me in the direction of a reputable doctor, hospital or psyciatric clinic.. be it Sto Domingo, Santiago or elsewhere. The person in need is my mother-in-law, who lives in Barahona.
Any advice or anecdotal responses are welcome...
Here's my situation..
My husband came to the US last May... first time away from Mami. She is about 50 years old, with Type 2 diabetes- controlled by diet only, not insulin. Probably her sugar is poorly monitored. Since learning that he was going to be leaving (she also has 2 daughters that live with her both in their early 20's) she has gradually lapsed into some sort of psychosis which she seems to drift in and out of.. she has good days and bad ones. At first I thought her condition might be blood sugar related, but it seems to be worsening..
On my last trip there last April I saw that she was behaving significantly different than on previous trips through 2004. Here are her sypmtoms on bad days...
Her walk is more like a shuffle...
Her stare is distant...
She takes a long time to respond to a question.. just kind of looks at you while she gets an answer together in her mind..
Her voice is sometime inaudible...
She has some physical tic like habits, like rubbing her thumbs against the tips of her other fingers incessantly...
She's up all night, somtimes just walking around the house from room to room...
More recently, reports are that she has taken to walking around town without purpose.. talking to herself or nobody (sometimes yelling) with the subject frequently being "mi hjo this, mi hijo that" as if greiving his absense, and being very argumentative with poeple. Sometimes my husband winds up hanging up the phone on her because she start rambling and ranting and he doesn't know who she's talking to and can't get her attention... Although he insists to her that he is fine here, she can't be convinced... The general conclusion in her pueblo is "crazy".
My husband is beside himself and insists that he caused all this by leaving her, which of course strains our relationship. I try to tell him that while her fixation seems to be on his absense- his leaving cannot be the cause of her losing her lucidity/reason (pls tell me I'm right ?).
He says that she was like this once before, when the oldest daughter, who left for the US 15 years ago visited her Mom then returned to the US and didn't keep in contact. But eventually she improved...
I have asked my husband to find out who her Dr is in Sto Domingo and what meds she is on. I don't know if it's a Dominican trait to not ask a ton of questions, but it's like pulling teeth to get this information. I ask what kind of Dr she is seeing and he says one that specializes in "nerves" but I can't figure out exactly what that means...
If anyone can recommend a psychiatrist and/or neurologist I would appreciate it.
Thanks, Jeanmarie
Any advice or anecdotal responses are welcome...
Here's my situation..
My husband came to the US last May... first time away from Mami. She is about 50 years old, with Type 2 diabetes- controlled by diet only, not insulin. Probably her sugar is poorly monitored. Since learning that he was going to be leaving (she also has 2 daughters that live with her both in their early 20's) she has gradually lapsed into some sort of psychosis which she seems to drift in and out of.. she has good days and bad ones. At first I thought her condition might be blood sugar related, but it seems to be worsening..
On my last trip there last April I saw that she was behaving significantly different than on previous trips through 2004. Here are her sypmtoms on bad days...
Her walk is more like a shuffle...
Her stare is distant...
She takes a long time to respond to a question.. just kind of looks at you while she gets an answer together in her mind..
Her voice is sometime inaudible...
She has some physical tic like habits, like rubbing her thumbs against the tips of her other fingers incessantly...
She's up all night, somtimes just walking around the house from room to room...
More recently, reports are that she has taken to walking around town without purpose.. talking to herself or nobody (sometimes yelling) with the subject frequently being "mi hjo this, mi hijo that" as if greiving his absense, and being very argumentative with poeple. Sometimes my husband winds up hanging up the phone on her because she start rambling and ranting and he doesn't know who she's talking to and can't get her attention... Although he insists to her that he is fine here, she can't be convinced... The general conclusion in her pueblo is "crazy".
My husband is beside himself and insists that he caused all this by leaving her, which of course strains our relationship. I try to tell him that while her fixation seems to be on his absense- his leaving cannot be the cause of her losing her lucidity/reason (pls tell me I'm right ?).
He says that she was like this once before, when the oldest daughter, who left for the US 15 years ago visited her Mom then returned to the US and didn't keep in contact. But eventually she improved...
I have asked my husband to find out who her Dr is in Sto Domingo and what meds she is on. I don't know if it's a Dominican trait to not ask a ton of questions, but it's like pulling teeth to get this information. I ask what kind of Dr she is seeing and he says one that specializes in "nerves" but I can't figure out exactly what that means...
If anyone can recommend a psychiatrist and/or neurologist I would appreciate it.
Thanks, Jeanmarie
