[Singularis]

I have been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder in the past, but that diagnosis has changed to schizoaffective disorder. Which is basically bipolar and schizophrenia in one.. yeah.. it sucks. Anyways I never knew what dissociative identity disorder was when I was diagnosed. Now that I do know what it is I'm afraid I have it, but I'm not sure.. My accent sometimes changes especially when I drink.. and I feel like a whole different, more confident, person at times. I've also done things that I would never do right now as if I were a completley different person. So I'm confused and am considering going to the hospital. Is there such a thing of having a mild form of D.I.D. with schizoaffective disorder? Maybe I shoould ask a doctor.. that's if they don't decide to rob me blind when I get to the hospital

**thanks guys

-Singularis

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Singularis

I have been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder in the past, but that diagnosis has changed to schizoaffective disorder. Which is basically bipolar and schizophrenia in one.. yeah.. it sucks. Anyways I never knew what dissociative identity disorder was when I was diagnosed. Now that I do know what it is I'm afraid I have it, but I'm not sure.. My accent sometimes changes especially when I drink.. and I feel like a whole different, more confident, person at times. I've also done things that I would never do right now as if I were a completley different person. So I'm confused and am considering going to the hospital. Is there such a thing of having a mild form of D.I.D. with schizoaffective disorder? Maybe I shoould ask a doctor.. that's if they don't decide to rob me blind when I get to the hospital

**thanks guys

-Singularis

if you think you have DID contact your treatment providers they can do diagnostic tests that will tell you whether you have DID or not.

Originally Posted by Singularis

My accent sometimes changes especially when I drink..

one of the diagnostic criteria is that the symptoms can not be because of drug and alcohol use. when people or do drugs it causes all kinds of things to happen like accents changing, slurred speech, mood changes, lowers their inhibitions ie the shy introverted person becomes the life of the party type person and other problems that may mimic DID.

yes people can have all kinds of mental disorder combinations.

that said Schizoaffective disorder does have symptoms that does mimic each of the dissociative disorders and many other disorders too. sometimes only a treatment provider can distinguish the symptoms of the mental disorders from each other. So I think your idea of contacting your doctor is a good thing to do.

[venusss]

what you describe sounds like a (hypo)manic episode. More confident.... does not necesarilly mean you are DID.

I tend to put on accents when manicky. (I am not DID).

feeling not yourself is "normal" with several other issues.


btw,.... do you have any blackouts or are you losing time?

[cin1]

i have both schizophrenia, and bi-polar. it helps when i am on the right meds. when i'm not, things are nasty.

[Lexi232]

Can I say something?
From knowing you?
From my experience with you I believe you do have DID... That's just from my experience... and my outward estimates and observations.
Maybe they can co exist? I do not know. But perhaps that pdoc is seeing something making them think diffrently?
do the meds for it help? I dont really know what that diagnoses is that you mention them changing you to.
And because of that, I can't really tell you rather you do or dont have that diagnose from my "observation" of you. weird word to use, i'm sorry, I can't think of the right word to use that means watching. but less in the studying type.
But i dont know. I know is shouldn't contradict any pdocs or anything, but i realy do feel like you have DID. just... over somethings i experienced... and also how we wrote to eachother.. dont worry i wont go into anymore detail, i just wanted to let you know why i think what i do.
And i know you like studying and reasearching, so do all you can on it mkay?

~Mary+Abbi+Hope

[Crew]

From what I understand about having MPD/D.I.D. is that schizoaffective disorder is a fine line between the two.

yet they are so opposite.

I was diagnosed schizoaffective disorder then was diagnosed MPD at the time.

It turned out I was MPD by professional doctors that did tests on me etc...

There is no part schizophrenia and part MPD/DID. At least that is what I was taught by the 5 treatment facilities and therapists I have seen and a doctor I see now.

So my answer is NO....

However I don't know you so I can't say nor am I a doctor or your therapist.

to you though.
Does the meds help the voices?

Be Safe, Crew

[Singularis]

Originally Posted by VenusHalley

what you describe sounds like a (hypo)manic episode. More confident.... does not necesarilly mean you are DID.

I tend to put on accents when manicky. (I am not DID).

feeling not yourself is "normal" with several other issues.


btw,.... do you have any blackouts or are you losing time?

Sorry its been a while everyone, I lost track of time, and realized I should have subscribed to this posting. I guess unfortunately that answers the question. I am now realizing out of snapping out and coming down from the past 2 weeks of mostly "manic" behavior I probably do not have DID. I'm mainly pretty paranoid and scared now. When I'm in a manic its the opposite and I think alcohol might be a manic trigger sometimes, and when I'm depressed ill just get tired. I have blacked out once though, I really don't remember what happened, and I'm afraid to find out, even though something probably didn't happen, I'm not the violent type. Thanks for your insight VenusHalley, I really appreciate it.

-Singularis

[Singularis]

Originally Posted by Lexi232

Can I say something?
From knowing you?
From my experience with you I believe you do have DID... That's just from my experience... and my outward estimates and observations.
Maybe they can co exist? I do not know. But perhaps that pdoc is seeing something making them think diffrently?
do the meds for it help? I dont really know what that diagnoses is that you mention them changing you to.
And because of that, I can't really tell you rather you do or dont have that diagnose from my "observation" of you. weird word to use, i'm sorry, I can't think of the right word to use that means watching. but less in the studying type.
But i dont know. I know is shouldn't contradict any pdocs or anything, but i realy do feel like you have DID. just... over somethings i experienced... and also how we wrote to eachother.. dont worry i wont go into anymore detail, i just wanted to let you know why i think what i do.
And i know you like studying and reasearching, so do all you can on it mkay?

~Mary+Abbi+Hope

Hey Lexi232, I'm sorry but I don't remember talking or writing to you. How did you know I like researching? lol, I'm so confused, thanks for your insight though I appreciate it.

-Singularis

[Singularis]

Originally Posted by Crew

From what I understand about having MPD/D.I.D. is that schizoaffective disorder is a fine line between the two.

yet they are so opposite.

I was diagnosed schizoaffective disorder then was diagnosed MPD at the time.

It turned out I was MPD by professional doctors that did tests on me etc...

There is no part schizophrenia and part MPD/DID. At least that is what I was taught by the 5 treatment facilities and therapists I have seen and a doctor I see now.

So my answer is NO....

However I don't know you so I can't say nor am I a doctor or your therapist.

to you though.
Does the meds help the voices?

Be Safe, Crew

I haven't been hearing voices lately which is good but I've been having very paranoid delusions and Flashbacks of random and old bad memories, because of the ptsd. I'm not on medication and haven't been on any for a year now. Apparently There's is a 2 year medical insurance assistance waiting period for people on Social Security Disability. (it doesn't make sense to me either) Because of that I haven't even seen a therapist forabout a year too. Recently It took me a lot of courage to go try to get help from social services (welfare) and I'm not sure if they can even help out yet... My situations a mess, so this site is my escape from it. I'm trying to manage this illness on my own, but its very, very, hard. Ill stay strong though, thank you.

-Singularis

I think schizoaffective always gets confused with DID. Because different alters have different moods and hearing voices and having protectors (that seem paranoid) makes it seem as if you're psychotic. If a doctor doesn't believe in DID that I see, he'll end up diagnosing me schizoaffective.

[Singularis]

Originally Posted by LydiaB

I think schizoaffective always gets confused with DID. Because different alters have different moods and hearing voices and having protectors (that seem paranoid) makes it seem as if you're psychotic. If a doctor doesn't believe in DID that I see, he'll end up diagnosing me schizoaffective.

Hmm, I really hope I can get sometype of medical help to figure this out. I never looked at it that way. The thing is that I remember the times I feel like a different person like manic, paranoid, or very psychotic. Can somone remember their different alters?

-Singularis

The thing is that I remember the times I feel like a different person like manic, paranoid, or very psychotic. Can somone remember their different alters?

Umm I don't know. I do, but I journal CONSTANTLY. Maybe I don't remember every detail about it, but I remember it happening. Probably moreso like I'm standing behind a foggy curtain watching it and the fog gets more thick at certain times and I can't see at all. Or watching as if it happened to someone else. Like last time I was psychotic, over the summer I remember talking, like I felt my mouth moving, but I have no idea what I was saying, like the words weren't connected to my brain. The only thing I remember is how the nurses looked at each other. It was one of those "this girl is really not okay" looks. The big eyes at each other. I remember thinking to myself "I don't understand, I don't understand why they're looking at each other like that.

I think of my system as like an electrical circuit, firing information from one part to the other, but some parts don't always get the information. They're a burnt out bulb. They don't fire out information themselves. The electricity has to go a certain way, through certain parts to be labeled as "safe". I call them protectors. There are more then I am aware of.

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

I don't know how far you have come with all of this but I can tell you my experience. I was diagnosed with all 3 of the terms you are saying. But I was diagnosed bipolar 1, schizophrenic and DID. It's extremely difficult to distinguish between the three which are causing the symptoms. What basically happens with me though is I go through phases. I have weeks to months where I am full of energy very motivated and I have to move. I feel like if I don't move forward I will explode. Then it crashes and I'm pure lazy. Don't want to get out of bed, slow moving, just don't want to do anything at all but sleep. This would be the bipolar from what the docs have told me. I really think it's just my mind gets overloaded with all of the constant going that it needs a break so I crash for a bit. Whatever word you wanna call it, that's what the "bipolar" does to me for the most part. It also causes mild hallucinations and such but I'm just now learning more about that part.

As far as the schizophrenic part goes, it comes in phases. For most of my child hood I remember the paranoia and the hallucinations all the time. Eventually it passed and things got normal for a bit. Then it started to come in phases. Shortly after I start stressing over one thing or another it triggers the schizophrenia and I become dilusional I hallucinate in every way imaginable it seems and get very paranoid.

With the DID though, the phases are much different. The don't effect me during every moment of my life during that phase. I go through dissociative phases as well when stressors get to be more than I can handle. I start to feel like I'm not connected to my body multiple times throughout the day. Like I'm there looking at me, but I can't control what I'm looking at. Basically as if my mind and my body are two different unconnected things. This happens and often it progresses from this stage to feeling like I'm being pulled away. It's always hard to explain but imagine this. You're wearing ear muffs and you're sitting in a chair with wheels on it. Someone behind you grabs the chair and pulls you really fast backward. Everything in front of you, the room you were in is getting further and further away. Everything around you sounds muffled and you can't understand it. This is another thing I experience, only I don't move like the chair being pulled backward. My body is still there but it feels like I'm a mile away. Then it can progress even further. That's when everything goes black for me. I don't even realize time has passed until I realize I'm in a completely different place doing something I normally wouldn't be doing.

Then another phase, as I described about with feeling like you are not connected to your body... I've also experienced watching my body do and say things I didn't want or plan to say. I also experience depersonalization where I will be sitting in a room watching myself interact with other people from the other side of the room. That was nuts. But that is not technically a DID only thing.

But I also have many phases where I look in the mirror and don't recognize myself. I have times where I feel like I can do anything and everything, I'm spontaneous courageous and outgoing. Then I have times where I'm really shy reserved and a control freak. This is most likely the bipolar issue.

With feeling like you're not yourself, I have that as well but I do think in my case it's due to the DID. But in your case it could be any number of things really. As a child I used to talk with an english accent (I'm from the US) and I did it unthinkingly but I more so did it because I wasn't happy with my own life at the time. I was I guess in my mind trying to change who I was so I didn't have to face my real life. I escaped into my own fantasy of being from another country with a wonderful family being here only for a short while on vacation. I did this when I was alone. I wouldn't even realize I was doing it sometimes.

Telling your doctor of these things wont make them send you to the hospital. It will help them look at things differently and sometimes that's what you need. It's when you become dilusional or a threat to yourself or society that they consider hospitalizing someone.

Your treatment providers would be better than anyone to help you determine what is going on. They know the minor differences between the disorders and they would be the best at determining what you have. I wouldn't say that you do have DID, but really I wouldn't say that you don't because I too often feel like someone else, feel as if I never lived the life this body lived, and that is a result of my DID. BUT that could be a symptom any number of things. Like with hallucinations. Bipolar and schizophrenia can have hallucinations. They can vary for both. But a key in schizophrenia is dillusions and a key in bipolar is mania. So treatment providers can determine differences such as these and others if you can be honest and open with them in what you are experiencing.

I was afraid to tell other doctors and t's of my DID dx but nothing bad EVER came from it other than the doctors who didn't believe it and just made my acceptance of it that much harder. They wont institutionalize you because you think you may have it, and they shouldn't. Unless you are afraid for yourself or others from your actions, you really don't need to be in the hospital. Perhaps increase your visits with your therapist if you have one?

I wish you the best, I know how confusing everything can be, please take care of yourself and be as honest as you can be with your therapists. You pay them to help you. That's what they should be doing but they have to know how to help you first. Take care! Sorry I wrote so long, I do that... Sorry

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

Also as an add on, everyone experiences DID differently. What I described above is just somewhat what DID patients experience, it can vary in levels of intensity and some things can happen to me but not to others and vice versa. It really all depends on how our minds are wired and what we needed from the split when our minds split off.

There are a few things that are absolute MUSTS in the DID field. One is trauma (I believe the age varies depending on who you as but mostly it is before the age of 6) or extreme childhood neglect. The person must also have shown I believe it's two different personalities that are very different (in the way they act talk dress etc) but even given this case it is also common for alters to pretend to be the host to hide the DID. But typically with DID, the "host" is not as aware of the situation as you would be when you "feel like another person" they are in a much more clouded spot if there at all. But then again when people have co consciousness (which typically but not always takes years of work in therapy) they can have the feeling of being two different people as you have explained. Watching and seeing and having some part of a say in things. But typically those untreated for DID have no control over the alters or the dissociation or when they come or go.

It's all really confusing, it's something that no one should say you do or do not have unless they are trained professionals.

[Singularis]

Thanks LydiaB, I like your circut board example. Its helps especially because Im very familiar with electronics. Thank you

[Singularis]

Originally Posted by PurpleFlyingMonkeys

I don't know how far you have come with all of this..

I have weeks to months where I am full of energy very motivated and I have to move. I feel like if I don't move forward I will explode. Then it crashes and I'm pure lazy. Don't want to get out of bed, slow moving, just don't want to do anything at all but sleep.

As far as the schizophrenic part goes, it comes in phases. For most of my child hood I remember the paranoia and the hallucinations all the time. Eventually it passed and things got normal for a bit. Then it started to come in phases.

I go through dissociative phases as well when stressors get to be more than I can handle. I start to feel like I'm not connected to my body multiple times throughout the day. Like I'm there looking at me, but I can't control what I'm looking at.

I also experience depersonalization where I will be sitting in a room watching myself interact with other people from the other side of the room.

But I also have many phases where I look in the mirror and don't recognize myself. I have times where I feel like I can do anything and everything, I'm spontaneous courageous and outgoing. Then I have times where I'm really shy reserved and a control freak.

Thanks for your response, its ok that your response is long I dont mind. It really helped me out. All of the parts I've Highlighted I can relate to. I go through phases where Im very energetic adn motivated. Its more of a manic behavior.. its pretty crazy. I noticed During that time I get over confident and don't write in my journal, which I have to work on. And after about a week or two at the most Ill wake up and realize I don't want too. I just want to lay in bed all day, sad and depressed. This is usually when I remember to write in my journal and log my moods and thoughts..(I use an app called "Ijournal" for android.. it's pretty neat"

When it comes to Schizophrenia related symptoms theyre bad and really get to me but they arent extremely severe.. Besides When I have auditory Hallucinations. Its more of a paranoia and cinstantly checking out my windows to see whos spying on me (which I did several times yesterday) And today I've been checking my house for "bugs" planted in the walls with an "emf" (electromagnetic field) detector application i also have on my phone. I snap out of it at times but the idea that someone is constantly monitoring me is always in the back of my head, besides when I'm manic.(I also remember Thinking I have special powers and trying to think I was some unknown super human as a teen ) -sometimes I still do but not to the same extent..

When it comes to dissociative phases I can only remember a few times where I actually had that "sitting in a room watching myself interact with other people from the other side of the room" moment.. and Its was when I was 5 years old. Its amazing that I remember, I have an amazing memory about certain things. The only downside is those memories seem to "haunt" me. I am diagnosed with PTSD, so it makes sense. Wow, i went off subject.,, ok where was I? Oh, Dissociative episodes.. another one I remember is, damn i cant remember I'm starting to feel pretty upset just thinking of all this stuff so I have a mental block right now.

About the medication and therapy: I really wish I was on medication and in treatment But I have no health insurance because **There's a two year waiting period for me. **Please check out this link:

http://www.christopherreeve.org/site...ing_Period.htm

Although I really want to, and need to, I haven't received any type of treatment for about a year now and if I were a doctor I'd say I'm in a pretty fragile mental state. I'm sober and not on drugs and legally disabled. I know no one on here can do anything about that situation, but because of this community I have a relief source. Thank you for all of your concern It really makes a difference.

-Singularis