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Old May 04, 2013, 03:01 PM
ultramar ultramar is offline
Poohbah
 
Member Since: Mar 2013
Location: USA
Posts: 1,486
Quote:
Originally Posted by Odee View Post
I absolutely love that people do it and that's why I do it myself. That way I can reference what people are talking about to their diagnoses and also pick up on what medications help what people.

I know that we are not our diagnosis, but I still think that a diagnosis can be a bit of a 'cheat sheet' to give a quick, even if simplified, idea of what that person experiences. For example, knowing that someone has ED and depression like you could make you more interested in their post because they mirror you.

I do, however, roll my eyes at people who go a little overboard with it. There are forums I have searched where people attempt to list every single Dx they could possibly remotely have and every single medication they are taking including irrelevant ones. Then they will list past Dx and past Rx and let the list grow. Some people even take one diagnosis and stretch it into three such as listing ADHD, ADD, and Difficulty Concentrating, as though they were all three separate diagnosis that they had! Or saying that you have Bipolar 1, Depression, Dysthymia, Hypomania, Mania, etc, as though they weren't covered under the first item.
This is actually a pet peeve of mine as well. I have noticed, for example, that some people will list medications for heart conditions, thyroid conditions and the like, in addition to their psych medications (this is not on the health forum) and sometimes it gives me the impression that they feel that the more meds they are on (and some people may not know and get the impression that they are all psych meds) the more messed up they are, or the more 'special' in some way.

I have also noticed what you point out about diagnoses; some overlap, some contradict, some don't even exist, and after getting to know some people on forums, you find that they haven't actually been officially diagnosed with it.

So, in some cases, though I think a minority, lists of meds and diagnoses seem to come to represent a kind of badge of legitimacy, a kind of proof of how 'messed up' one is, etc.

I don't think pain, distress, misery can be measured, can be quantified. Sometimes I feel that these lists are attempting to portray distress by quantifying it in a way. I know there are other reasons, and most people do not do this.

I actually found something similar on a forum I looked at once (not on PC) for chronic back pain sufferers. Many people listed all of their diagnoses, surgeries (with dates, etc.), summaries of MRI reports, and meds. Many would list DDD as a diagnosis, whereas it's actually a kind of non-diagnosis: we all have a kind of degenerative disc disease as we get older, it's very non-specific. But in any case, I think the reasons behind it are not the same, but similar. The more surgeries, the more suffering?
Thanks for this!
Atypical_Disaster, Odee, venusss