Why SO many comorbid conditions???

When my neuropsychological assessment arrived, I thought I was alone with my melange of diagnoses - in addition to BP, borderline personality disorder, traits of other personality disorders including narcissistic, eating disorder NOS in remission, OCD (thoughts). Later I saw a dissociation therapist who diagnosed me with DD NOS. I think this is it; I am writing from memory.

Now on this board I see people with elaborate flower arrangements of psych diagnoses, and OCD seems a staple.

Why?

I heard somewhere OCD is a pretty common quirk. Maybe civilizational disease?


Anyways, my approach to mental health is very known around here. I view it as being troubled more then anything else. And troubled cannot be put into need little box. We all come from different places and been through different experience, so the (negative) impact on our personality is gonna be different, but always layered and very very complex. That is why these conditions are hard to treat.

It's not really that suprising that some conditions are interconnected... it is because human misery, imho, overlaps and disrespect diagnostical cathegories.

**** if I know. Maybe ****ed up people procreate with other ****ed up people & create a ****ed up cocktail of conditions. That's at least how it works out in my relatives. :P

My guess? The stress of mood swings. If you're up and down and everything in between without any real warning signs (that you're aware of) of course that is going to make you anxious or something else depending on your personality, experiences, awareness etc. You're going to want to control it and your mind doesn't really know how so, it blerps out things like these comorbid disorders.

When your mood swings are under control how is the rest of your health?

when my mood is under control, my eating patterns are normal. in fact, i have successfully and with ease lost one third of the # of pounds gained during a trial on Zyprexa and during a period of anxious decompensation. So I see a connection there. My prior p-doc used to say that eating normally, not too much and too little, is one of the goals.

With personality stuff - seems more pervasive. Obsessive thoughts also do not go away, and oftentimes I wish I could swap them for some other obsessions - over cleanliness and order, for example. A sad joke for me. Better go clean my bathtub pretending I am a clean freak.

>>>See, it was not even that difficult!

OCD is a staple in so many BP patients.

On the other site I belonged to, one of the Community Leaders did some research and he said that so many people with BP Disorder also have OCD. They just seem to go hand-in-hand.

My dad had both OCD, BP AND ANXIETY, and my mom had anxiety issues.

I got them all so I think Shay is onto something, LOL!!!

My sister got off scott-free, whereas I got them all. I also have an eating disorder, and so did my 1st cousin.

My dads mother had OCD, and I truly believe she was also BP. Her brother, my great uncle had schizophrenia, so MI is throughout my family.

Genetics/biology. A particular neurological deficit will cause multiple 'disorders'. All bipolar is not the same and all OCD is not the same. It's better to think of it as particular combinations of genes that cause different neurological deficits. Each deficit will cause a constellation of different symptoms/disorders.

I'm one of those who is hit with the whole gamut of comorbidities. It's just a sign that my neurobiology is off in significant, widespread ways that seems to elicit a whole range of symptomology. I have a whole 'syndrome' rather than a bunch of different disorders.

OCD is a symptom of other disorders. It is a staple, but it can be diagnosed depending on the severity.