[Naturefreak]

I've been diagnosed as being Bi-polar , Chronic Severe Depression , Generalized Anxiety Disorder , Social Avoidance Anxiety , so is it possible to have all these
diagnosis together or can one cause the other . It is very confusing to me .
There are so many illnesses listed on this site that I could possibly have . So how can they be sure based on your symptoms alone , being that alot of these illnesses
have similar symptoms. If this is not making alot of sense it's because I really
don't know how to word it. Has anyone ever had ECT treatments for depression?
I'm willing to try anything right now because nothing seems to be working.
I know for a fact I am mentally ill , just not sure about the diagnosis
Can anyone relate to what I am saying? Any help is always appreciated

[leahcim]

I was diagnosed with "clinical" or "chronic" depression and "mild' bi-polar disorder. I believe it was partially associated with a blood test and an exam by a psychiatrist (after I saw my therapist). The anti-depressants made me so ill that I could not stay on them. I think they tried zoloft first then lexapro.

I am not sure, but I think that some of these blur together as I am on other forums and several individuals state that they are diagnosed with 3,4 or 5 "disorders" at one time. Then they are given one or two meds. that are supposed to cover all of the symptoms.

What has worked for me are the short term anti anxiety meds like xanax (lorazapam) and valium (diazapam).

[depressedalaskan]

Originally Posted by Babysteps09

I've been diagnosed as being Bi-polar , Chronic Severe Depression , Generalized Anxiety Disorder , Social Avoidance Anxiety , so is it possible to have all these
diagnosis together or can one cause the other . It is very confusing to me .
There are so many illnesses listed on this site that I could possibly have . So how can they be sure based on your symptoms alone , being that alot of these illnesses
have similar symptoms. If this is not making alot of sense it's because I really
don't know how to word it. Has anyone ever had ECT treatments for depression?
I'm willing to try anything right now because nothing seems to be working.
I know for a fact I am mentally ill , just not sure about the diagnosis
Can anyone relate to what I am saying? Any help is always appreciated

(((((Babysteps09))))) I don't have an answer for you I only have the same questions. I found this site after being told that I needed ECT treatments by my psychiatrist because medications were not working. I can only hope if someone can answer your questions that they will share them with all of us. Take care and good luck my friend.

[Naturefreak]

What has worked for me are the short term anti anxiety meds like xanax (lorazapam) and valium (diazapam).[/quote]

I am currently taking lorazepam for my anxiety and it seems
to help me . But I've been on it for almost a year now and that
scares me because I have heard some bad testimonies about
withdrawal symptoms if not tapered off correctly.

[depressedalaskan]

Re: How do Psychiatrists make a diagnosis ?

I am still waiting for an answer to this question. Can anyone help?

[Fuzzybear]

(((((((((((((( Babysteps )))))))))))))))
Sending hugs

[Amazonmom]

They take their observations of you and your self report of symptoms, and then compare those to the criteria for different diagnoses. The DSM IV is the book used right now. The DSM V is coming out in a few years and will updated criteria. (Don't know what is used in other countries than the US)

For example when I met my PNP, I met almost every symptom for a severe case of Major depression. Severely depressed people are terrible historians, so I had forgotten about the "up" times in my life and never told her about them. Since I had never sought psych help before she had no prior records to look at. So Major Depression was my diagnosis.

Then I had a lovely hypomanic episode brought on by the Zoloft she had given me. I was freaked out, and I told her that the hypomania reminded me of other times in my life that I had felt and acted that way, but not so intensely. I had actually suspected bipolar in the past, but thought I couldn't be bipolar if I wasn't fully manic.

So it was nobody's fault the diagnosis was not correct the first time. I had forgotten, and she is not psychic. It's the frustrating thing about mental illness...the illness can change. It can go away. You can have more than one, and there is symptom overlap.

[paddym22]

Originally Posted by Babysteps09

I've been diagnosed as being Bi-polar , Chronic Severe Depression , Generalized Anxiety Disorder , Social Avoidance Anxiety , so is it possible to have all these
diagnosis together or can one cause the other . It is very confusing to me .
There are so many illnesses listed on this site that I could possibly have . So how can they be sure based on your symptoms alone , being that alot of these illnesses
have similar symptoms. If this is not making alot of sense it's because I really
don't know how to word it. Has anyone ever had ECT treatments for depression?
I'm willing to try anything right now because nothing seems to be working.
I know for a fact I am mentally ill , just not sure about the diagnosis
Can anyone relate to what I am saying? Any help is always appreciated

Babysteps, I am sorry this is all so confusing for you and you are very correct to say that a lot of mental illness have similar symptoms. I am not a psychiatrist so I wont diagnose you but in my case I am Bi Polar and chronic severe depression is a symptom of that, I get severe anxiety as a result of the Bi Polar and I used to avoid people as I was so embarrassed by my illness and consequently isolated myself when both depressed and stable.

I get very long severe depressions that do not react sufficently well to standard anti depressant therapy so I have had 3 courses of ECT to date. I cannot speak for anyone but myself when I say i found it very effective and quite quick to alleviate the depression, the only initial side effect was a blurring of my short term memory and a slight headache but both went away after a while. I would sooner get ECT now than wait to see if an anti depressant works after 3 / 4 weeks which it invariably hasnt for me in the past.

If you need any information or have questions about it by all means please PM me.

Thanks

[depressedalaskan]

Originally Posted by Amazonmom

They take their observations of you and your self report of symptoms, and then compare those to the criteria for different diagnoses. The DSM IV is the book used right now. The DSM V is coming out in a few years and will updated criteria. (Don't know what is used in other countries than the US)

For example when I met my PNP, I met almost every symptom for a severe case of Major depression. Severely depressed people are terrible historians, so I had forgotten about the "up" times in my life and never told her about them. Since I had never sought psych help before she had no prior records to look at. So Major Depression was my diagnosis.

Then I had a lovely hypomanic episode brought on by the Zoloft she had given me. I was freaked out, and I told her that the hypomania reminded me of other times in my life that I had felt and acted that way, but not so intensely. I had actually suspected bipolar in the past, but thought I couldn't be bipolar if I wasn't fully manic.

So it was nobody's fault the diagnosis was not correct the first time. I had forgotten, and she is not psychic. It's the frustrating thing about mental illness...the illness can change. It can go away. You can have more than one, and there is symptom overlap.

Thank you so much for this information...

[depressedalaskan]

Originally Posted by paddym22

Babysteps, I am sorry this is all so confusing for you and you are very correct to say that a lot of mental illness have similar symptoms. I am not a psychiatrist so I wont diagnose you but in my case I am Bi Polar and chronic severe depression is a symptom of that, I get severe anxiety as a result of the Bi Polar and I used to avoid people as I was so embarrassed by my illness and consequently isolated myself when both depressed and stable.

I get very long severe depressions that do not react sufficently well to standard anti depressant therapy so I have had 3 courses of ECT to date. I cannot speak for anyone but myself when I say i found it very effective and quite quick to alleviate the depression, the only initial side effect was a blurring of my short term memory and a slight headache but both went away after a while. I would sooner get ECT now than wait to see if an anti depressant works after 3 / 4 weeks which it invariably hasnt for me in the past.

If you need any information or have questions about it by all means please PM me.

Thanks

Thank you so much for this information..

[Knitnut]

I haven't read all the replies above, so this may have been said before. It can be a frustrating process. My psychologist who I have known weekly now for three years and I don't see eye to eye about his diagnosis of me. The psychiatrist I see for meds management (I changed recently to the new doc) has dxd me with Cyclothymic disorder and depression, which my psychologist does not fully agree with.

From this website I found the following and there is more than this on this website:
http://www.enotalone.com/article/3041.html
"At the moment, there are no tests for mental illnesses. They cannot be diagnosed by checking the blood or body fluids of the person experiencing symptoms. A diagnosis will usually be made by an experienced psychiatrist in working with other health professionals. [I can assume the psychologist a patient may be seeing is consulted.]

"At first the person will be observed for symptoms, and the doctor will use pre-determined criteria to explore the person's behaviour, then the person will be observed over a period of time.

"A full medical history should be taken and information about recent changes in the person's life should be obtained from family and/or friends. Usually one or more of these people will be involved in providing care for the relative with mental illness, and as a result will have an understanding of how the person's condition has developed.

"The psychiatrist's ongoing assessment will follow one of the internationally agreed diagnostic schedules such as the International Classification of Diseases (ICD10) or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM4)"

This website has more information, but is similar to the above website.

[Rohag]

I understand the mental disorders section of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is frequently used outside the US for diagnoses. Like the DSM, the ICD is also periodically updated. I've read there's been some covergence between the two in diagnostic definition, but they still go significantly different ways in some areas.

Edit: BigCasper beat me to it - I just obsess a bit much over posts...

[stefano]

My pdoc diagnosed me informally with depression and generalized anxiety, but he said that one aim of the therapy would be to find out which element was first. Then we found it was depression, and anxiety as a consequence. Lately we discovered a slightly bipolar pattern in depression, and this led to an improvement in the therapy. So I think that while many disturbs can be present at the same time, and symptoms overlap, it is always important to locate the biggest and primal problem, the one to be addressed with therapy.