Quote:
Originally Posted by genetic
To reiterate: both doctors who wrote "Manic Depression Illness" concur with the fact
that many psychiatrists are strongly challenged in their endeavor to diagnose a patient's
condition, especially when there are alcohol or other drug abuses. This view was confirmed by my psychiatrist less than 3 months ago.
So, Blue Wave, I would not think that your psychiatrist was oversimplifying anything.
He was making a strong effort to determine that your illness was not caused by alcoholism or other drug use.
Caffeine can make bipolar illness worse, especially in people who have a sensitivity to it, but I have not heard that it interferes with a diagnosis for bipolar illness. I know that it can cause brain damage to people who have a sensitivity to it when they have used it for years.
"Don't use alcohol or caffeine; they make bipolar illness worse" was the first thing my psychiatrist said to me after diagnosing the illness. Now, I've learned that caffeine is bothersome for only those who have a sensitivity to it.
See http://www.DoctorYourself.com/caffeineallergy by Ruth Whalen. |
Let me rephrase that: He was definitely oversimplifying things. I fail to see how your pdoc saying the same thing (was it the same thing?) is any reason to presume it is not an oversimplification. Doctors do that
all the time, especially when it comes to drugs. Now, as I've already said before, two pdocs and one psychologist agreed about my diagnosis. My drug use was not a huge obstacle to diagnosing bipolar, and I've yet to hear of one case where marijuana causes symptoms that are mistaken for bipolar. It seems like too far a stretch. To make the point even clearer: The measurable psychological effects of cannabis dissipate after 3 to 6 weeks (for some drugs it's even shorter), and I've had periods without cannabis that were longer than that with no alleviation of bipolar symptoms whatsoever. Supposing it takes the brain some extra time to "get back to normal" emotionally, which I don't think it does, it's still obviously not true that you have to live without using any kind of drug for six months to be accurately diagnosed with bipolar. Now I have talked with quite a few doctors and pdocs. Most or all of them should read up on the psychological and biological effects of drug use, because they're not up to date at all.
Edit: If you think this was harsh, then I'm sorry. But I hope you understand how basically saying that my diagnosis is bad is annoying to me. I have confidence in my own reasoning and the reasoning of the professionals who have diagnosed me. Unless all my professionals are incompetent or lying, it is safe to assume other professionals have been simplifying things a tad too much. With good intentions, I'm sure.