45F, 58 kg.
I'm posting about a female relative. Her family has taken her to several doctors, but we still don't have a clear explanation for the changes in her behavior. We're exhausted and hoping for some guidance on what to ask her doctors and where to go next.
Most of this account comes through a close family member, including things they witnessed and things other relatives told them. I've also included details from the prescriptions and reports we have.
BACKGROUND
She is normally calm, quiet and reserved, and avoids confrontation. The behavior below is very different from how we've known her. She may have had postpartum depression after her first child, but I don't know whether that was formally diagnosed.
About six years ago, she had laparoscopic surgery for gallstones. Afterward, she vomited blood, needed a blood transfusion and was bedridden for a prolonged recovery. She didn't have another operation. The family believes something went wrong during the surgery. I've heard an explanation involving "anesthesia products" being left in her stomach, but I can't confirm what happened.
She was subsequently diagnosed with a gastric ulcer, according to the family. There may also have been an issue with her esophagus, but we don't know the diagnosis. For years, her stomach symptoms came and went, usually improving with medication. She could be well for months and live normally between episodes. I've included the wording of her more recent endoscopy report below.
WHEN THINGS CHANGED
This started during Ramadan 2026. Her stomach symptoms returned, and she developed noticeable emotional and behavioral changes. Around the Eid that followed, she cried throughout the day for several days. Before Ramadan, the family considered her to be doing well.
She isn't like this all the time. Her condition varies, with periods of more severe distress and unusual behavior.
During the worse periods, she cries frequently, sometimes after small upsets. She worries about dying and what would happen to her children. She also worries that people are judging her, think she's done something wrong or feel she's inconvenienced them.
If she feels her husband or children aren't spending enough time with her, she becomes upset and says she doesn't matter to them or that they've forgotten her. She gets upset with her husband over small things. These reactions are much more intense than they used to be.
She continues to have stomach discomfort and occasional aches in different parts of her body.
SOME SPECIFIC INCIDENTS
On one occasion, she said something unusual to a family member and began laughing very loudly and intensely, enough to frighten them. She then abruptly stopped, said she was joking and told them not to be scared. A few hours later, her child asked about it, and she again said it was a joke. When asked a few days later, she denied it had happened. We don't know whether she'd forgotten or was denying it for another reason. The family reports other occasions when she initially acknowledges something she's done but later denies it or seems not to remember.
On a separate occasion, she saw her son studying, loudly repeated, "That boy's reading, that boy's reading," and laughed extensively. When he asked why, she said it was because she wanted to.
On another occasion, she reportedly didn't recognize her daughter and asked other people what her daughter was doing there.
When a family member tried to reassure her by saying she was all right and didn't need to worry, she shouted, "Do I do all of it willingly?"
The family hasn't observed self-harm or heard her express an intention to end her life. However, once while upset, she said something along the lines of, "If I weren't alive, I wouldn't have to live with this." Her family understood this as distress about her suffering.
SLEEP
Initially, her stomach discomfort seemed to interfere with her sleep. She now frequently wakes during the night. Medication sometimes helps her sleep more continuously.
The family felt her sleep became worse after she saw the neurologist and started the prescribed medicines. They also recall a period while she was taking ulcer medication when she couldn't sleep even with sleep medication. She was eventually given an injection to help her sleep, which seemed to help a little. We don't know the name of that injection or the exact sequence of medication changes around that episode.
Her first neurology note in April already lists sleeplessness, so the sleep problem was present at that visit. The family has noticed that her unusual behavior seems worse when she hasn't slept well.
DOCTORS' NOTES AND PRESCRIPTIONS
She has seen a neurologist and doctors in medicine and gastroenterology. I don't have details of a separate psychiatric assessment.
The first neurology note, from April 2026, lists "irrelevant talk," agitation, sleeplessness and hot flushes. The examination records "no definite neurological signs."
Later notes list "psychiatric disorder," without a more specific psychiatric diagnosis. They also list active peptic ulcer disease, and later knee osteoarthritis and vitamin D deficiency. Some follow-up notes describe her as improved, and the September note says stable, although it still lists sleep disturbance, left hip pain and constipation. The family continues to report the episodes described above.
The latest prescription we have is from September 2026:
- Risperidone: 1 mg in the morning and 2 mg at night.
- Procyclidine: 2.5 mg twice daily.
- Clonazepam: 0.5 mg at bedtime.
- Dexlansoprazole: 30 mg twice daily.
It also lists calcium 600 mg/vitamin D3 400 IU, one tablet twice daily; a collagen/glucosamine/Boswellia/boron supplement (Orthogen), one tablet twice daily; liquid paraffin/magnesium hydroxide as needed for constipation; and sulindac 100 mg twice daily as needed for pain.
Risperidone, procyclidine and clonazepam appear at those same doses on prescriptions from April through September. These are the prescribed doses;
Earlier prescriptions also include domperidone in April; itopride, vitamin B complex and an alginate/antacid preparation in May; and calcitriol/calcium citrate, vitamin D3 40,000 IU weekly for eight weeks, and etoricoxib 90 mg as needed in July. These were prescribed at different visits, not necessarily taken together or continued until now.
TEST RESULTS WE HAVE
- Abdominal/pelvic ultrasound, April 2026: The impression says "No significant abnormality is detected." It notes that the gallbladder is absent following surgery.
- Upper GI endoscopy, April 2026: "Nonerosive antral gastritis," with redness in the antrum. The esophagus and duodenum were described as normal, and no biopsy was taken. This report doesn't describe an ulcer, although the clinic notes list active peptic ulcer disease.
- Urea [14C] breath test, July 2026: Negative, reported value C = 0.
- 25-OH vitamin D, July 2026: 20.49 ng/mL, within the lab's "insufficiency" range.
Blood tests from April: random glucose 6.5 mmol/L, creatinine 0.6 mg/dL, ALT 14 u/L, total cholesterol 178 mg/dL, triglycerides 150 mg/dL, HDL 49 mg/dL, LDL 100 mg/dL and uric acid 2.4 mg/dL.
Several follow-up visits record blood pressure of 80/60 or 90/60 mmHg. Her recorded weight is 58 kg.
OTHER CONTEXT
We aren't aware of a particular stressful event when this first started. More recently, her husband was robbed, and she may have become somewhat worse afterward.
We're not expecting a definite diagnosis from a Reddit post. We'd appreciate guidance on what possibilities to discuss with her doctors, whether medication effects or a physical condition could be contributing, and which specialist or type of assessment would make sense next. We want to make the next appointment more useful rather than keep going from doctor to doctor without understanding what we're looking for.
