[Gr3tta]

so we wer diagnosed did many years ago. because of lots of things we have not had any t, any psychiatric care for over 1 year now. we've been doing pretty well. we have a pretty good job, have been in no trouble there. we are in an excellent relationship. we take good care of our pets.
we had recent iepisode we had to go hospital, and ew had psych consult. she said no did. she said we were psychotic, and we were schizophrenic.

she wantd us take anitpsychotics. last time we tak we almost died. not takoing. not understanding why would say this. she said calling us did damaged us made us mentally mor e sick.
we think knowing what did was made us able to cope, to live with the way we are.
so upset. so upset.

[Elysium]

Gr3tta....

This is not to speak poorly of practitioners who work in inpatient units, but not a lot of Psychiatrists or Psychologists who do inpatient work recognize DID very often or even understand it well, unless they specialize in Trauma and Dissociative Disorders. Often times, DID is completely overlooked and invalidated in a standard inpatient setting and people are mis-diagnosed and placed on anti-psychotics because psychosis is something they can throw drugs at and treat, stabilize, then discharge. This is my own personal, and professional opinion. I've worked in inpatient settings before. I've also been a patient in an inpatient setting, before my DID diagnosis, and I went in with the diagnosis of Major Depression and PTSD. I didn't now what was happening to me. All I knew was that something was wrong. So...I walked into the in-patient Psychiatrists office and asked him if I should try Depakote and Risperdal and he said "Sure, i think that would be fine." There was NO REASON to place me on these drugs, he just threw them at me because they had to appear to be treating me for something.

Now, three years later, I've been diagnosed with DID and been told by three Ts that that was an inappropriate hospitalization and inappropriate use of medication.

I tell you this not to steer you away from the meds or from what this Doc said, but to encourage you to trust what you know. If you were diagnosed with DID by a T who specializes in Trauma/Dissociation and the appropriate testing/interviews were done to make that diagnosis, I would trust that.

It's always easiest to throw the psychosis label and anti-psychotic meds at people when you're an inpatient Doc. You don't have to do much else and you don't have to challenge your own thinking....and the real clincher....you don't have to fight the insurance companies or medicare for payments because psychosis and meds are covered under ICD9 codes and DRGs where DID is generally not because there's really nothing they can do for DID in hospital, unless they're specifically specialized, except promote your safety and look out for your well being which, as far as Insurance and Medicare are concerned, are not reasons enough for you to be kept in hospital.

This, again, is my personal and professional understanding of inpatient facilities.

Please trust what you know, and feel free to verify your diagnosis with your T who treated/diagnosed you to begin with.

[Korin]

I had five hospital stays over a period of twenty years and no one even suggested or suspected DID. Three years ago a new psych-doc sent me to a psychologist. In just two visits he diagnosed DID.

[Gr3tta]

Elysium, thank you very much. We do realize that DID is not often diagnosed, and that some doctors don't even "believe" in it. We've been trying to work through that knowledge amongst us, so all understand. Your own explanation helps us a lot.
Korin, thank you very much for sharing too. It's always good to know you're not the only one. We hope you are doing much better with the correct diagnosis. ~Emma