My mom has an interesting history of drug use as a result from outdated science regarding migraines. Since our dad passed in 2015, my siblings and I have come to realize she is probably autistic (very high functioning). We live in Northern California, and I am curious to know what the legal process is to obtain her medical history. Would I have to hire an attorney to access the information? I, too, suffer from migraines and I am grateful to have access to modern medication with little to no side effects. I have done quite a bit of research in my journey to conquer migraines and would like to do a deeper dive in past treatments of migraines from the 60s 70s and 80s, in which I believe my mom participated. Thank you in advance for any tips you can provide!
"Like any mental health issue, if left untreated, ADHD can create a personal environment that makes depression and anxiety more likely to strike. There have been many studies that link untreated ADHD with other mental health challenges, such as depression and anxiety.Dec 28, 2018"
I will repeat, and this is from the doctor who told my RN daughter, Adderall will not work if you don't have ADD or ADHD. If you become high from it, you don't have ADHD.
https://www.verywellmind.com/adderall-for-depression-4845418
We are such a drugged society, in all truth. Hard to keep up.
Prior to the 1960's and 1970's, migraine treatments were mainly based off drugs (ex. Fioricet/Fiorinol) for other conditions. BTW, those two are addictive as the main ingredient is butalbital. Phenobarbital was also an option and it is now a class C-IV control substance.
In the late mid 1960's to late 1970's the beta blockers (ex. Inderal) were released as migraine drugs. The calcium channel blockers (ex. Topomax) came along in the early 1990's. Imitrex was approved for use in 1991 and started the triptan drug wave.
The next wave of CGRP medications for migraine started with the release of the first one -- Aimovig -- in 2018. Since then there has been at least 5 or more of that drug class to hit the market.
Midrin was used as a migraine drug from 1948 on but was discontinued due to not having FDA oversight. It then came back on the market and may or may not still be available.
Many other drugs were tried for migraine prior to the advancements we have today. Your mother may or may not have been in a drug trial that caused her direct problems while not actually leading to anything wider for the rest of the participants. So with that, the drug may or may not have ever been approved or the results released to the greater public.
If you have some approximate time frame that she was in a drug trial, you might be able to track down more by starting here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3149409/ and here https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/about-site/history or here https://www.nih.gov/health-information/nih-clinical-research-trials-you
There is also one other avenue you might pursue but it gets expensive quickly. Attorneys use medical records retrieval agencies. There are several and with a web search, you may find one in your area.
Good luck.
Caregiver, I too think your best bet would be the person who wrote the article.
Yes, I have wondered about FOIA - I will definitely check this out.
Thank you so much!
You surely can see an attorney but I feel if your mother is NOT incompetent and you are NOT her guardian or conservator, you will not get access to any of her records. Do check with an attorney.
If you are on her HIPAA forms you can request them as well.
If she was is studies there is a possibility that all the info you want might not be available if the studies were "blind" studies her records may not indicate if she was on an "actual drug" or a "placebo"
My nephew was 19 when I started the process. Since my sister had passed, my brother had requested all his record up to 7 because nephew was being moved 2 states away. I found out when asking nephew's new doctor for records, that they had purged his earlier records and my SIL did not keep copies. Purging meant that there was no record, with them, that my nephew was born with birth defects. So had to go back to the previous doctor and got copies and had to pay $30 for the copying and mailing.
Your problem is, you have to know who Moms doctors were and what studies she was in. Depending on her age, the doctors may have died and their practises closed up. Records could be stored in a warehouse somewhere, purged, shreaded or burned. I am 74 and there was no storage on computers back then. I was still doing work manually up to about 1985 or so. There is not a Portal where a persons lifelong health records are stored.
Without Mom having kept her own records, I don't see how even a Lawyer can help you.
My Mom suffered from Migraines. She found that yeast and cheese set her off. My ex found it was certain brands of beer. Weird thing was, he could drink Budweiser but not Michelob which are manufactured by the same company.