Excerpt: 'Against Medical Advice'

Read an excerpt of James Patterson's new book, which is based on a true story.

ByABC News via logo
October 27, 2008, 2:55 PM

Oct. 28, 2008 — -- James Patterson and Hal Friedman have written a book called "Against Medical Advice," about the true story of Cory Friedman and his struggle to find out what was medically wrong with him.

At age 5, he woke up with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck and from then on he and his family went from specialist to specialist trying to figure out the problem. After the family deals with the medical establishment for decades, its battle ends with maddening results.

Read an excerpt of the book below, and click here to see more from the "GMA" library.

I'M SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD and lying like a pathetic, help¬less lump in the backseat of our family car, being transported to a place that treats crazy people.

This is an exceptional event, even for me. I know that my brain causes unusual problems that no one has been able to treat, but being insane isn't one of them.

How and why I've gotten to this point is complicated, but the main reason I'm here is more immediate. I've ?nally found the one thing that brings me peace ? alcohol.

Now this self-medication has become a life-threatening danger that I cannot ?x by myself. The doctors at the place I'm going to promise they can help me. I've heard that one before.

After about an hour, we arrive at a large brick building with a sign that reads DRESSLER PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL. In a split second the reality of what's happening becomes very real and very scary.

"Why does it say that?" I call from the backseat, my heart suddenly pounding.

"Don't worry about the sign," my mother says to calm my rising panic. "They treat all different kinds of problems here, Cory." Dad looks as worried as I am but says softly, "Let's not deal with this now, okay?" Not deal with going to a hospital for psychos? Sure, no prob¬lem. What can my father be thinking?

Inside the main entrance, I enter a very crowded, some¬what noisy waiting room. Being on view always makes me uneasy, so as soon as I start to walk, my feet need to perform a triple hop, three quick steps only inches apart, which throws me off balance.

I have to do this in order to satisfy a tension that is build¬ing up in my legs and can't be released any other way. Some¬times this trips me up so much that I go ?ying to the ground.

I do the triple hop a few more times before reaching out for the safety of one of the empty waiting-room chairs.

Welcome to my fun house, folks.

MANY OF THE PEOPLE in the waiting area are still staring at me as my right hand shoots up in the air with the middle ?nger extended. Oh boy, here we go, I think. Giving people the bird is another one of my involuntary movements, or tics, that pop up exactly when they shouldn't. Try telling people that one's not deliberate.

Another middle-?nger salute. Hi, everybody!

For a moment I think about the new medicines I'm tak¬ing, which are, as usual, not doing their job. Wellbutrin for depression, Tenex to keep me calm, Topamax as an "experi¬ment" to see if a seizure medicine will help. So far I've been on ?fty or sixty different medicines, none of which have worked ? and a few of them can become deadly when washed down with Jack Daniel's.