Did you see the Dr. Drew show yesterday? It was one of the most disturbing things I have seen in a long time. Don and I were flipping around channels and somehow landed on this show and we could not stop watching it once we started. It was incredible. The show was about 12 teen girls in New York that all attend the same high school and mysteriously, basically overnight, developed massive tic disorders. And in one girl’s case, a worsening of previously controlled epileptic seizures. Although no one knows what caused this, apparently the State of New York says it has investigated for environmental causes and has eliminated environmental toxins as a cause. So now they are leaning towards conversion disorder as being the lead contender in determining the cause of this predicament. Here’s the link:
Now, am I the only one thinking… Conversion disorder??
Really?
These girls all attend the same high school. They are all around the same age. In all of them this illness came on suddenly and is now life altering. To me, there is such a miniscule chance of this being conversion disorder and psychologically based. This is some kind of toxin (be it a virus, a bacteria, a metal, a mold, a fungus) that these girls were all exposed to and is affecting them neurologically. And someone needs to help them find out what it is. Now, may stress be exacerbating the symptoms? Sure. But that is not what is causing this.
And I’m really upset that they so far are leaving it to the State of New York to rule out physical causes. That’s like leaving it to a pharmaceutical company or the FDA to tell you if a drug is safe or not. Let’s get some real, unbiased help for these girls. They deserve it.
As far as the show itself goes, here’s the part that really disturbed me. As the show and interview were taking place, one of the girls fell to the floor in a seizure. As the show rolled on and the burden was on the girl’s mom to care for her seizing daughter while continuing to answer questions on camera, Dr. Drew was very concerned for the girl and was visually distressed by the situation and concerned about the seizing girl’s well being-which was reassuring. He continually asked how the girl was doing and showed great empathy for her and her mom’s situation. Dr. Sharp [the Psychiatrist from Harvard Medical School], on the other hand, not so much. Maybe it was just that he was trying to answer Dr. Drew’s questions, but Dr. Sharp continued to talk on through the crisis and through the seizure about how this is probably psychologically based and is caused by a disturbance in their psyche(s). And he seemed to just think the seizure this particular girl was having right then and there was caused by the emotional stress of the interview, thereby affirming the hypothesis that this could be caused by conversion disorder.
To watch these girls and this family go through this horror and then be brave enough to share about it on television only to be told by a Harvard Psychiatrist that this is a psychological reaction to… what? School stress? As the girls are literally seizing and having massive tics and falling apart right there on camera. Ughh. It was terribly sad to watch. And really disheartening. And doesn’t speak very well for psychiatry, if you ask me.
It was unforgettable.
Going forward, I really hope these girls and their families get some high quality medical help from this exposure. Someone needs to step up and get these families some true comprehensive help.
14 Comments
Thanks for posting about this. It’s quite interesting. I wonder if they came up with this diagnosis because they are teenage girls. It used to be that all women’s issues were labeled “hysteria.” It’s sure disappointing that when they don’t know the cause, they assume that it’s psychological! I could understand a short-lived psychological response to something, but this has been going on for months! They say it’s going to get better… like when? This must be so frustrating for the girls and their parents. I hope that this media exposure gets them some better answers!
This is scary. Please keep us posted. I haven’t heard anything about this except here.
I just hope someone was watching this show and will step up to the plate and offer to get some help for these girls. Surely some has seen this before!!!
Personally, I would love to see the Mayo Clinic take this on and find the cause and a remedy. These girls are so incredibly impaired it was truly painful to watch and until they find a way to reverse the symptoms the girls and their families can’t live any kind of normal life.
And, what’s to keep it from happening to others if they don’t know what caused it?
I was honestly shocked to see the mom continue the interview while her daughter suffered a seizure. Maybe her thought process was something along the lines of making people SEE what her child is dealing with and daring them to tell her its psychological in nature, I could probably understand that.
I just heard Erin Brockovich got involved in this situation up there in NY. She is no slouch. I hope she is able to force (legally) the state of NY to do more than it’s already done (nothing). These poor girls don’t deserve to fall by the wayside just because some snooty “thinks-he-knows-it-all” doctor believes this is all in these girls’ heads. Not one of these girls’ has mental illness in her pathology.
Thanks and I completely agree with you! How could it Not be something at the school or maybe even in the water? How big is the town? Just a thought. I highly doubt it’s a psychological disorder… That’s just too coincidental. I missed that dr drew but I have been following this story. Why wouldn’t CDC be involved? It’s shocking! Parents all need good attorneys and top researchers to see about that school. It makes me angry.
Good! I hope Erin Brockovich is able to get some action on this. This could be any one of our kids and it completely disgusts me that nothing substantial is being done to help these families or prevent it from happening to others.
My prayers are going out to these girls and their families…I, myself, am a seizure patient and these girls need the BEST of the BEST Neurologists to get to the root of the problem and put them on the right medication..it was the neurologist that saved my life (and of course the Power of Prayer)…
On a more personal note..my husband and I were trying to think of how these girls in this school were coming into contact with Something and the only place that girls are allowed and not boys is the girls bathroom! I think a boy has recently been infected and so maybe it is now seeping into the boys bathroom! Maybe a new cleaning agent used to clean these bathrooms? Let’s just Pray for an answer before anymore students are infected.
I know this sounds stupid, but can this spread to the world?
Ashley, I don’t think it will spread to the world but if they don’t know what it causing it, it can happen to others. From what I understand there is a boy now from the same town with the same symptoms as those girls so that’s not good.
i have a daughter who is having major anxiety problums wiyh school,and for some reason she came up with a tick.she does some hissing about every minute,will this go away she is only eight years old.a people stare at her,she now home schools hoping this will help.thanks god bless
I was wondering if all these girls had gotten the Gardesil shot because it has show to give symptoms such as these girls are showing!!!
My daughter started having migraines and muscle pain with body jerking two days ago. We are at the hospital and she is being tested for everything the doctors can think relevant. So far, the cause is a mystery. Where do we go from here?
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