[TryingToMoveForward]

This is meant to be a little lighthearted.

I was telling a co-worker how I accidentally started washing my hands with toothpaste last night.

She asked if it was from my health issue.

I told her, "Well, it has to be because of at least ONE of my conditions. And I have so many."

Really. I have so many diagnoses and health conditions, I don't even know where to place or justify that little incident. But I found my lost therapy appointment card at work, on the floor and realized I scheduled that appointment at the same time as my psychiatrist appointment. I was like FUDGE STICKS.

I forget appointments constantly, despite putting them in my phone, writing them on the calendar on my wall, and writing them into a schedule for my dad who drives me places. My memory doesn't have the capacity to memorize this stuff. I'm not even 30 and I have the memory of a 60 year old. I have cognitive impairments found in people 60 years of age. I have health conditions found in people older then me.

Yet I look like I'm 21. How do you even explain that?

Is anyone else ridiculously absent minded, have a really bad short term memory and do quirky accidental things? Is it common in bipolar people? I mean, I'm not even remotely hypomanic. I can't even blame this stuff on that.

[BlueInanna]

I recently washed my hands with toothpaste to try to get burning habanero pepper oil off, after making salsa - so that made me giggle.
Yes I've got major & minor memory problem history. I'm sorry you've got it too, but glad you can make some light of it. Sometimes can only laugh.
I'm 42 now, but was treated for add for years. Somehow, I've really improved. I'm off the adderall now for almost a year & have much better memory. Pdoc & t said that time on the med & therapy helped me get more organized & retrain my brain. I'm still somewhat spacey but way better. So I just want to say it could be possible for you too. I did not think the attention and memory proba would ever improve.
I have another problem where sometimes big gaps of memory have been lost, remembered years later. That's such a bad disorienting feeling. That has happened over the years. So that ones really hard having no idea what else I might be forgetting! Oh gosh just gotta laugh sometimes. Hugs

[TryingToMoveForward]

I have ADD too! But I'm not medicated. I was supposed to go on Adderall but my psychiatrist said it would make me manic and refused to prescribe it to me. Judging this, I'm going to blame the ADD. Bam. You helped me solve the mystery!

I have forgotten large gaps of time as well. I'm not sure I will ever get those memories back, but I doubt they're worth recalling. It was when I was a meds zombie. I wasn't really living. So there isn't anything I want to remember about then.

I guess I asked for rides a lot, because I was restless. But I also had appointments and needed to go to a support group. And my sister thought taking me was the biggest pain. And complained about having to give me rides, though I was incapble of driving. What was I supposed to do, never go anywhere ever again? My family sucks though. Its sad that people with a mental illness get treated like a burden.

[TryingToMoveForward]

Ok. Now I'm pissed and not laughing anymore. I had to throw my leftovers out because I forgot to put them away last night. That is a waste of really, really good food that I can't afford to waste because I don't have a lot of money.

I REALLY need to do something about my memory issues. They're a serious problem and get worse all the time. I'm really upset.

[gina_re]

Please don't take offense, but how does one get diagnosed with multiple disorders? Is it from seeing different doctors, or from an initial diagnostic interview with a doctor?

[TryingToMoveForward]

I was diagnosed by doing a psychological evaluation by a psychologist. Though it was my old therapist who diagnosed with me ADD once I had the suspicion it was there, I asked her to assess me. In the past I was diagnosed as having GAD and Major Depression. But since I was hypomanic, the counselor at the time didn't notice I was in a hypomanic stage. And she admitted she had difficulty discerning if people were bipolar or not. The first time I saw a psychiatrist, he said I was biopolar. I come home and a counselor said I was schizoaffective. Five years later I had an evaluation done and the psychologist found Bipolar Disorder Type II, BPD, and PTSD. So I was never actually schizoaffective.

Currently, I go by the results of the psychological eval.

The psychologist also did a neurological functioning evaluation and diagnosed me as globally mildly cognitively impaired. That's another condition.

I'm being assessed for epilepsy...or a brain tumor....some kind of neurological disorder because of seizure-like symptoms.

So I figure one of these has to explain all these problems and ADD really fits the bill upon further research.

[gina_re]

Originally Posted by TryingToMoveForward

I was diagnosed by doing a psychological evaluation by a psychologist. Though it was my old therapist who diagnosed with me ADD once I had the suspicion it was there, I asked her to assess me. In the past I was diagnosed as having GAD and Major Depression. But since I was hypomanic, the counselor at the time didn't notice I was in a hypomanic stage. And she admitted she had difficulty discerning if people were bipolar or not. The first time I saw a psychiatrist, he said I was biopolar. I come home and a counselor said I was schizoaffective. Five years later I had an evaluation done and the psychologist found Bipolar Disorder Type II, BPD, and PTSD. So I was never actually schizoaffective.

Currently, I go by the results of the psychological eval.

The psychologist also did a neurological functioning evaluation and diagnosed me as globally mildly cognitively impaired. That's another condition.

I'm being assessed for epilepsy...or a brain tumor....some kind of neurological disorder because of seizure-like symptoms.

So I figure one of these has to explain all these problems and ADD really fits the bill upon further research.

OK thank you so much, I've always been curious. I don't think I have had an evaluation like that. I was originally diagnosed with MDD from my GPS but then it turned out to be bipolar after some hospitalizations. I never questioned it once I figured out what it was. But I see traits of other disorders in there, but who knows..

[Ocean Swimmer]

Any way you could carpool or public transportation?
I had friends driving me around last Sept. Then my girlfriend had foot surgery so I had to drive.

Meds or not.

She had no one else. Her parents are dead and her kids out of state.
Also she cares for a 97 yr old from her church.

She handles things with medical marijuana.

I've often considered that option.

[TryingToMoveForward]

Gina, if its something you suspect, it might be worth discussing with a therapist, psychiatrist of even a PCP. Then again, we can have traits of other disorders without qualifying for a diagnosis. If you really think there is evidence though, maybe you should look into it. I never dreamed I might be Borderline or have PTSD, but once I was told it hit me like a brick wall and I was like, "Oh my god. It makes so much sense."

He diagnosed me as schizoid, but I actually disagree with that. Because it isn't that I don't want relationships, I can't have them because of my other disorders. I'm not close to my family because they aren't very supportive, caring, loving or even bother speaking to me most of the time. I don't have my own family because of the PTSD making it impossible for me to be intimate with men, and I have never had lucking finding a lesbian after my last girlfriend. I'm also not emotionally or psychologically fit to be a mother. So no. I'm not schizoid. After explaining this to my therapist, she agreed with me.

So don't take everything lying down. If you think something might be wrong, speak up. Tests are perfect. If you can get a referral for a psychological evaluation I would highly recommend it. Even if its just to see where you are at now, in comparison to where you were during your initial diagnosis.

Ocean: I'm in too rural a place for public transportation. A taxi from where I live to work costs me $20 one way.

I do intend to get my license, I just need the neurologist to give me the approval. Until they decide if I'm having seizures or not, and if I have a neurological condition, I can't drive because I would be endangering myself and the public. Giving that I have a severe driving phobia, this would be even worse. I've tried to get my license 3 times, and failed them all. It's...it's difficult.

I have heard great things about medical marijuana! I saw a documentary on it, and was very impressed.

[Ocean Swimmer]

Me too. It was 2 parts and called Weed. Is that the one you saw?

[TryingToMoveForward]

YES! It was! Though I didn't see the second part. I saw one about children who had seizures too. Was that the same episode? Or was that an entirely different show? My brain is...I can't remember things. LOL.

[gina_re]

When all of this began, I thought I had BPD, but my psychologist at the time didn't think so. I know some of those traits between BPD and BP can overlap, so I'm not sure. It is what it is, I just want some kind of stability.

[TryingToMoveForward]

You can do an assessment for it with a mental health worker. Get out the DSM V and go through the criteria. It might be worth looking into, but if you do have BPD there aren't any set medications that treat it, there's still a lot of trial and error in that regard. CBT and DBT are the best ways of treating it.

I told my neurologists I thought I was having seizures or something similar. He brushed it off as being mental health related.

A week later I was there because I was having legitimate seizure like symptoms and had been in the ER. He started saying possibly epilepsy and not writing it have as a mental illness issue. Professionals can be wrong. They don't know everything, certainly about you. Only you know you best and if you feel its a possibility, then you have the right to bring it up. Because if you do have it, its not a disorder you really want to dismiss. Its extremely difficult living with it.