[falsememory7]

I'm just curious to see if anybody's been misdiagnosed before. My therapist knew right away that I have DID, but my Pdoc is convinced I have Bipolar II disorder. It's frustrating because the meds they put me on for Bipolar have worsened my depression... Has anyone else been misdiagnosed before?

[yagr]

All the time.

I was told for twenty years I was depressed. Even when the meds made me worse, and I told the Doctors I knew absolutely I was not depressed, they continued. Im reasonably confident my therapist saw I was DID on day 1. I think he probably knew on the phone call to make the first appointment.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by falsememory7

I'm just curious to see if anybody's been misdiagnosed before. My therapist knew right away that I have DID, but my Pdoc is convinced I have Bipolar II disorder. It's frustrating because the meds they put me on for Bipolar have worsened my depression... Has anyone else been misdiagnosed before?

right now many peoples treatment providers are diagnosing them different than previously thought. its not a misdiagnosis per se. its that here in america we changed over to a new standard of what is and is not a mental disorder and what mental disorders there are the diagnostics have been changed. many mental disorders now take into consideration dissociation symptoms and carry the diagnostic that the problems and symptoms can not be better explained by another mental disorder, so many people who have previously been diagnosed DID are being re diagnosed as other mental disorders due to the new criteria and that their problem is better explained by the new diagnosis of bipolar or depression or PTSD and others. this is paving the way for america to move away from the multi axial (in other words having many diagnosis's) diagnosis process.

example i used to have a list of 8 diagnosis's now those 8 have been converted over to the new standards where one was chopped out at a diagnosis for me, and the other seven were converted into 1 diagnosis. the result instead of being diagnosed with 8 mental disorders I am not only diagnosed with 2.

it is a bit strange and confusing but after I got used to the new way of doing things I really like only having two mental disorder labels that cover all my problems rather than 8.

[marmaduke]

Cassy0
You were not depressed?
I assumed people with DID were.
I'm wrong then?

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by marmaduke

Cassy0
You were not depressed?
I assumed people with DID were.
I'm wrong then?

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

Sure sometimes I get depressed, but not all the time, and when I am, its not all of me.

[kecanoe]

Originally Posted by falsememory7

I'm just curious to see if anybody's been misdiagnosed before. My therapist knew right away that I have DID, but my Pdoc is convinced I have Bipolar II disorder. It's frustrating because the meds they put me on for Bipolar have worsened my depression... Has anyone else been misdiagnosed before?

My first diagnosis was BP II. Then not BP II just MDD. Then DID added (which I agree with because some parts have been so depressed).

and with the new diagnostic criteria in DSM V, it seems to me that as one increases in co-consciousness, the diagnosis changes. I wonder how they know when the diagnosis changes? I'm a whole lot more co-conscious than I have ever been.

Originally Posted by falsememory7

I'm just curious to see if anybody's been misdiagnosed before. My therapist knew right away that I have DID, but my Pdoc is convinced I have Bipolar II disorder. It's frustrating because the meds they put me on for Bipolar have worsened my depression... Has anyone else been misdiagnosed before?

No not yet really here on the misdiagnosis thing. We started with depression that ended up being bipoar which explain the oppressive mood swings and visuals, then ultimately we came out.

DID can mimic ultra-rapid cycles in BD or BPD because of all the switching between moody others... which is common with DID.

In our case, the meds work. The stabilizer (Lamictal) flat lined us in depression, so we added Prozac to bring us up to baseline which helped us to feel "normal".

The moods of the other's still happen because drugs are not going to affect normal moods as far as I can tell. If a depressed other presents, that other is going to be depressed no matter what because you can't chemically change a depressing p.o.v., IMHO. I charted my moods and saw a wave pattern, so that helped.

If you just started taking bipolar meds, it's going to take it awhile for them to start working, and then even longer to dial them in to doses that will work for you because too much is too much, even though some pdocs philosophy is to bury a person in pills to beat it in one felled swoop, smh.

Hang in there and be proactive in your recovery treatment with your treatment team, and I hope that you get to feeling better!

[falsememory7]

Thanks everyone. I just wonder how to tell my Psychiatrist what I believe my true diagnosis is - or what my therapist says it is. I've researched Bipolar II a bit, and the description just doesn't sound like me at all... Good thing I see him next week. Maybe I'll be put on new meds that'll actually help my symptoms.

[Atypical_Disaster]

I've been misdiagnosed with a slew of disorders, it's not fun. I get it.

I have been misdiagnosed for years. Finally my psychologist saw signs and arranged to have me see a specialist. The funny (NOT so funny) thing is, I took the dissociative scale test and all I could focus on was the doctor telling me I needed to do it as fast as possible. Turned out this "doctor" read the results and told my psychologist I must have been faking because the score was high. If my psychologist hadn't actually seen changes in me/us I would never have believed it.

Originally Posted by Calista+12

I have been misdiagnosed for years. Finally my psychologist saw signs and arranged to have me see a specialist. The funny (NOT so funny) thing is, I took the dissociative scale test and all I could focus on was the doctor telling me I needed to do it as fast as possible. Turned out this "doctor" read the results and told my psychologist I must have been faking because the score was high. If my psychologist hadn't actually seen changes in me/us I would never have believed it.

Oh nooo, that had to be frustratingly awful. I hate to imagine how many other patients that he's hurt or damaged in some way. Since when does a high score mean faking it? I've never seen that on a score card before. You have normal, then some, then faking it! Wtf!?!! Lol

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Calista+12

I have been misdiagnosed for years. Finally my psychologist saw signs and arranged to have me see a specialist. The funny (NOT so funny) thing is, I took the dissociative scale test and all I could focus on was the doctor telling me I needed to do it as fast as possible. Turned out this "doctor" read the results and told my psychologist I must have been faking because the score was high. If my psychologist hadn't actually seen changes in me/us I would never have believed it.

Im taking a guess here that maybe the person administering the test was going on the testing system that even dissociatives have their good days so not every answer is going to be to the extremely dissociative side of things. here in my location we go by this testing system that no one is always dissociated and no one is never dissociated. other wise there would not be that middle ground called normal dissociation.

example using the old outdated and no longer used DES test ...

some people have the experience of driving a car and suddenly realizing they dont remember what has happened during part or all of the trip. select a number that shows what percentage of time this happens to you...

selecting 100 percent means every single time you get in a car you have no knowledge of what happened during part or all of the trip you cant verbally or written explain details about driving over.

but during the interview stage the test administrator asks how was the ride over did you have any trouble finding the address, the office where the test is being given, how was traffic, and other important questions about your day and why you are there and about driving over. you dont realize you are being tested at this moment, it just seems like having a normal conversation with a psychiatrist. if the person being tested can describe their day and driving over, with details then that points to possible deception on the DES question.

the next question on the outdated and no longer used because america is now on a different version of the DES....

some people find their self dressed in clothes they dont remember putting on, select the number that shows the percentage of time this happens to you...

Again selecting 100 percent that says every time you get dressed you do not remember selecting your clothes and putting them on...

during the interview part of the test where it just seems like you are just having a talk with the psychiatrist and they are commenting on your clothing and how nice you look,... they are gathering information to compare to the written test answers. if you cant remember 100 percent of the time putting on the clothes then the person being tested is not able to give details on their morning grooming\getting dressed routine.

my point its these little things like this that can make some treatment providers question whether the person being tested is being completely honest. also someone who is so out of touch with reality that they are not aware 100 percent of the time for every question, that usually points to something like severe autism, Alzheimer and other brain trauma issues.

short version my location goes on the belief that just like any other mental and physical health problem people with DID have their good days and their bad so nothing is going to be at 100% on the tests and nothing is going to be 0% on the tests because there is normal dissociation factored in.

Im not trying to make excuses for the treatment provider who said you were faking, just giving some incite on how it ....may .... have been possible for treatment providers in general to fall into this faking trap many of us have encountered over the years.

only that treatment provider can say for sure why he felt you were faking based on high scores. who knows maybe he was using the wrong scoring chart or something.

[Shaly78]

It is my understanding, that administering a test like this is a file filler just a step closer for further confirmation on both you guys part. I would say, maybe your are right, just accept being called a fake depend on what type of character/person is strongest it might cause you to change therapist or go off I'm not sure. In 2012 that would have been over the head statement tolerance based on the tolerance I have now 2016 it is remarklyd different. The game is so, thick where I live now, including mental health I usually play it by ear on how I want to either bash, let them doubt my reality, or go with the flow. Hey, I will stay on SSA for the duration of my life my children are taken of also as a result, we doing well. I tried lawyers, cops it is what is meant to be....If I can work very part time to supplement my income that is probably enough cause the utter confusion is directly correlated to dissociative identity disorder and not worth my show of anger or correction it won't kill me.

I think therapist do things just to anger, when we are last people that need to be a therapist's whipping boy. If they are going to call you fake take offense I guess would be the healthiest thing to do , I would want an explanation as to why it was necessary. At the same, time though if your new let it go over your head a lot of times you probing them tells them too much about you that your not necessarily ready for. Is there an insurance problem? There are free services that know what they are doing be prepared to pay for it you need a diagnoses

[Susan27]

Originally Posted by Atypical_Disaster

I've been misdiagnosed with a slew of disorders, it's not fun. I get it.

Me too. It's lousy

[Fuzzybear]

[Plum90]

I wasn't properly diagnosed until a professional caught on to the missing time/memories issue, and even then at that point, it wasn't uncommon for alters to seek help on their own and get other diagnoses in the process. A lot of this is stuff that I realized and remembered in retrospect at a later time. Plus because my integration is still a work in process and sometimes backslides, it's not unusual even to this day to backslide for a time and lose that connection/fusion with an alter, and have it run amok in pursuit of other solutions and answers, and I wind up very disoriented.

When I was 15, for example, an alter that was severely distraught emerged. I didn't have any memory of this for a long time, and even now that I do, it feels a bit like a film. As a result of this happening, I was taken to mental health facility, where a different alter fronted for the duration of my stay there, about a week. The staff who worked there had no way of knowing that this is what was happening, so they thought it was a combination of anxiety and depression. Now that I have all of these memories, it's interesting since I can remember for example the confusion of one alter at the actions of another, but it's all my memory now. The alter fronting in the facility was unaware that the previous alter had self-harmed, and explained to a staff member that they don't self-harm. The staff member pointed out the self-harm on my arm, and that alter was genuinely surprised and at a loss for words. The way I remember that now is that I was confused and at a loss for words, but I can see it both ways.

The staff though could only go by what the details they had. A 15 year old who had a bout of screaming and crying, now seems numb and confused, and has a self-harming habit but is in denial about it. That is probably how they perceived it. I probably would have been diagnosed with BPD had I been older.

I really think professionals need to include memory / lost time in their assessments as a standard practice, the same way they almost always want to assess family history and other things. Cases of DID would likely be caught much early in sometimes.

[1976kitchenfloor]

Originally Posted by falsememory7

I'm just curious to see if anybody's been misdiagnosed before. My therapist knew right away that I have DID, but my Pdoc is convinced I have Bipolar II disorder. It's frustrating because the meds they put me on for Bipolar have worsened my depression... Has anyone else been misdiagnosed before?

Hello.

From what I read psychiatric misdiagnosis is very common. Ive read that most people are misdiagnosed a couple of times before they are accurately diagnosed. Keep this in mind. also, keep in mind that ONLY YOU KNOW HOW YOU FEEL WHEN TAKNG YOUR MEDS.

While an outside observer/doctor or prescriber can see things that the individual patient doesnt see objectively, the fact that you feel more depressed tells me you need to speak up about your treatment. If youve been on these drugs long enough for them to have a level in your bloodstream and you still dont feel better when you take the meds for bi polar --then it suggests to me that you dont need those drugs, or that the dosage or medicine itself should be changed. THAT IS MY PERSONAL TAKE. I am no doc, but, yes, I have been misdiagnosed myself and I know what Im talking about to some degree.

When I was fourteen I was taken to a pschiatrist you disgnosed me with schizophrenia and put me on antipsychotic drugs. From that time forward, fo the next fifteen years I was given every antipsychotic developed.

The drugs always made me feel terrible: heavy and lethargic and slow moving on the outside and nervous and shaky and anxious on the inside. I felt terrible and that my life was over, but was always told it was me and my illness.

Then when I was thirty years old I took myself off these drugs. It was only then it was discovered I was not schizophrenic and never had been. So, I was medicated for fifteen years for an illness I never had and for those fifteen years never was off medication. Because these drugs did not help me I was also repeatedly hospitalized because I was so depressed and desperate because I couldnt stand living the way I was living.

It has taken me years to get myself and my life back, but now I have. I think it is very important for anyone to sepak up when they dont think their drugs are helping. YOU MUST BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE.

Keep in mind that diagnosis can be a very subjective thing and from what I read, even where you live -what part of the world you are in- influences what a psychiatrist diagnoses you with. Not the best scenario for feeling secure as a patient.

Insist that you doc hears you out and considers what you are telling him. Speak up and advocate for yourself. The treatment team/equation only works when it includes BOTH you and your doc. This is so important ebcause this is YOUR life.

Take care, kiddo. Be strong in yourself and your rights to understand your diagnosis and treatment plan and to ahve an active voice in it.

[flockpride]

Originally Posted by falsememory7

I'm just curious to see if anybody's been misdiagnosed before. My therapist knew right away that I have DID, but my Pdoc is convinced I have Bipolar II disorder. It's frustrating because the meds they put me on for Bipolar have worsened my depression... Has anyone else been misdiagnosed before?

Diagnosis can be a process over time, especially for complicated situations. And as you are experiencing with your therapist and Pdoc, there can be differences of opinion. If you disagree with a diagnosis, you can get another opinion. And you don't have to take meds that make you feel sicker. You have rights, it's your health and your life.