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Originally Posted by spikes
I've been to "licensed and trained psychologists" and they all just kinda say "you hear voices? schizo--uhh... you have insomnia and anger problems too? ...affective" no one I've come across wants to do a thorough evaluation lasting more than half an hour.
I get cptsd is not a real diagnosis in the USA, just wish it was. I'll refrain from that rant.
fern, I don't really know if it's both. I'm not sure if I've ever really had true mania. My first "mania" was labelled so because I was pissed at my therapist one day. Unless I'm on an antidepressant or using a stimulant they never qualify as hypomanic/manic episodes because they hardly if ever last more than four days. What I get is spikes (haha) that last maybe half a day. Something good happens and I'm thrilled and it might look like euphoric mania to some who come across me during that time. I will admit to the psychosis but I won't admit to it being for sure on the schizophrenia spectrum since there's quite a bit of research linking trauma to psychotic symptoms later in life without it being the same as the chemical imbalances schizophrenia/schizoaffective are.
I've always thought dx didn't matter as long as you're getting the right treatment. Well, apparently treatment is based on dx, not symptoms. I think that's f'd up but I don't have a fancy piece of paper saying I read some books and wrote some essays so I guess my opinion will always be wrong.
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I feel you. I'm in a similar boat. I understand the frustration.
I was manic like and definitely psychotic, but it was also less than 4 days both times. I've never been depressed. I kept getting the 'you're abnormal' diagnosis which was uncomfortable to say the least. The treatment that worked does not match bipolar disorder or sxhizoaffective or anything in the DSM, so I went looking on my own after 2 years.
I did a bunch of research on my physical symptoms as well as the psychiatric ones. I recently presented my research to my doctor and offered a new theory of what might be going on with me. My doctor seemed pretty blown away, asked me to email him all of my work and referred me to a neurologist to confirm. If I am right it makes a huge difference in treatment. If I am wrong, I will be shocked but I will search again. Living without a root cause is not working for me.
Maybe you could do something similar if you feel your treatment is ineffective. That's exactly why I went searching. I was fearful the meds would make my issues worse and it turns out if I do have what I think I have the antipsychotics can actually make it worse if I take them long term.
So that's a long winded way of saying, throw yourself into the research and make your case. Do what you can to eliminate things like drugs and alcohol of you can because they muddy the waters and make it hard to know exactly what's going on. Stick to your meds and documemt your physical, mental, emotional and behavior patterns. Document your history. All of that together can help your practitioner weed out the wrong dx and find something that fits better. These are definitely spectrum issues, but we deserve to rest easy knowing our doctors have the correct spectrum.