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Originally Posted by CopperStar
I've wondered about this when reading some of your other posts, but wasn't sure if it would have been out of line for me to speculate. DID can mimic the symptoms of many, many other mental illnesses and disorders. Without integration, I think it's almost impossible to confidently diagnose other illnesses/disorders alongside DID. Compartmentalization can produce mood swings, anxiety attacks, depression symptoms and even psychosis-like experiences via flashbacks and layered perceptions.
Something else to consider is that some research studies show that dissociative symptoms are very common in bipolar disorder, as the disorder itself can be so overwhelming as to trigger such strong coping mechanisms. DDNOS from childhood trauma combined with bipolar disorder can present very much like DID.
A sure-fire way to detect DID is periods of amnesia. If you have large chunks of your memory missing, and/or lose time throughout the week/day, this strongly suggests DID. And if you have DID, DID itself can, again, cause tons of symptoms that can present like many other illnesses/disorders.
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For sure, you are absolutely right, DID is often misdiagnosed as bipolar, borderline, or some other disorder and may take years with many different diagnosis and going through a bunch of non working meds because there aren't many pdocs knowledgeable about Dissociative Disorders.
And yes on the amnesia, or missing memories. My days and weeks haves holes in it. Memories stay with the one that experiences it. If anything, that's the part I hate the most. I have no past it seems, just bits and pieces. Flashbacks happen then fades away. Like right now, I really don't know what the workers do, other then they go build stuff.
Sure fire way to tell if one is bipolar is to prescribe them antidepressants (which some pdocs do), and if it drives them nuts, then they are most likely bipolar. Whatever, the meds works, but the others still have their own moods. I'm sure drinking doesn't help none, it's a depressant and it affects some that way, and others it fuels their edge. I surely wish that I was just bipolar. They make a pill for that.
DID or OSDD....it doesn't matter, it all sucks.
