Click for  clips of this the author's R/C model aircraft he plan-built single-handedly between 1987 and 1989. 

 

      Sensational New To Medical Science Brain Damage Psychogenically* Dismissed

(*misdiagnosed as mental illness).

     

Stephen Cattier, 2007, sufferer of the condition.     On vacation, Cheddar Gorge, May 1976. The words subsequently added  by the author for a black joke.

 

This is a true story. My extremely bizarre brain injury has been misdiagnosed as mental illness since December 1974. It was caused by nervous exhaustion a type unknown to science draining my mind's fuel to an injurious level (the nerves are still alive but malfunction). It became exacerbated over the following three weeks until Limbitrol 5 (amitriptyline and chlordiazepoxide - antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs respectively) suddenly temporarily paralysed me in mind and body in just ten days. Now, my senses, muscles, mind, speech and emotions  are basically only able to function safely for short periods of time owing to a permanently meagre fuel supply becoming expended more quickly than its replenishment. Therefore, frequent rests are required to recharge the nerves to avoid a sudden relapse from this  over-depletion. However, approximately fifteen of them have occurred; major ones causing a temporary inability to walk, speak and communicate and each time increasing the symptom's number and severity. The condition has been variously misdiagnosed as catatonic schizophrenia, malingering, hysterical conversion, cerebral allergy and Asperger syndrome although I had at least four symptoms of the latter up to 1974 and beyond. I have wrongly spent a total of four years in mental hospitals, and over half as a formal patient for refusing medication. It is amazing I survived because this is one of the most serious of illnesses and one of the worst cases of misdiagnosis in history. Notwithstanding, I presently look well despite literally only being a few seconds away from suffering a relapse in a number of different ways e.g. 1/ Closing my eyes when insufficiently tired or interested enough in doing it, and it occurred once before in July 1976 2/ Doing movement, thought and speech  to order. Consequently, I do them spontaneously instead. - Stephen Cattier.

Stephen Cattier, UK resident, born 1951, is the author and sole creator of this approximately 330 Mb web site. Copyright © Stephen Cattier 1998-2008. All rights reserved. Updated 25 February 2008 15:04.

This web site's other URL: www.misdiagnosedillness.com

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Chapters                                                                                         Email Stephen Cattier:

  1. Introduction, history, causes for the exhaustion, plus current and some past symptoms.

  2. Symptoms from October '74 to first week of December when breakdown started.

  3. December '74 to exacerbation of the brain damage in '75.

  4. January '75 onwards, plus report in REDBRIDGE GUARDIAN and INDEPENDENT newspaper, Wanstead and Woodford, London, of ill-treatment I received in Claybury Hospital, Woodford Bridge, Essex (issue of September 24, '76, Vol. CV11, No. 5559, page 1). Newspaper report of the '76 B.B.C. Radio 4 item highlighting my Claybury experience.

  5. Author's religion and the illness. I was baptized one of Jehovah's Witnesses in '69.

  6. Medical test results including eight EEGs (brain waves) with diffuse abnormalities. EEG 22/03/79, "...raises the possibility of subacute sclerosing leucoencephalopathy." Doctors'  reports of author when in & outpatient.

  7. Personal photos including the above model and other model aircraft of author.   

  8. Open Mind magazine article about the case, issue No. 60, Dec. '92/Jan. '93, page 14.

  9. The latest news in becoming diagnosed.

  10. Videos clips. Symptoms of the condition, author's model aircraft in flight, general clips. 


AMAZING! The Bible's Ten Commandments are inscribed in an ancient language upon a rock in New Mexico, USA. The author believes that this and other evidence indicates that ancient Mediterranean peoples from the Middle East preceded both Christopher Columbus and the Vikings to North America. See: www.mhccorp.com/archaeology/decalogue-introduction.html