Help! Name that condition...

Hey there! I am hoping someone that will read this can help. My husband has been suffering for a while now and we really dont know what it is or how to treat. He has been to pdoc and tdoc....its still unclear. I am not asking medical advice but if anyone reads this and says hey...that sounds like me... that could be helpful. Thanks!!

Phsyically and emotionally abused as a child
Mother doesn't show love but is shallow, judgmental, and buys things to show love
Has mood type changes.... every so often he changes.....gets angry, mean, selfish, etc. Everything about him changes.
When in these moods he is vindictive, retaliates, etc
He often feels everyone is out to get him or get one over on him
Sense of guilt
Occasionally he gets suicidal feelings

Somethings like guilt, thinking peiple are.chesting him, etc come and go often. The other bigger things which are more like an epidose last a.few weeks to a few months.

He is taking 150mg lamictal and his therapist sai he suffers depression but his pdoc feels.its more mood.

Thoughts?

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I could guess away, but I worry that would do more harm than good.

Do yourself a favor, write down a mood log of your hubby's moods. Times, when he eats, when he takes his meds too. When he has his mood issues. If his current meds aren't working his p doc may be able to look at it. If your hubby allows that is.
Is it possible he has a diagnosis you aren't privy to just yet?

Whatever happens please as a person who's been there please don't inadvertently sabotage your husbands recovery by asking absolute strangers for his diagnosis. This is your husbands medical issue.

If I sound harsh I really don't mean to sound it, but I have had family members talk to coworkers about my mental health issues, asking them their advice, and it's backfired on both them and me.

Hopefully if the lamactil isn't quite doing the trick, the p doc might consider something else.

Hi, Yeah...I understand how desperate you are to find some answers, but your husband's doctors really need to be the people you turn to for diagnosis. I will say that whatever is going on, it sounds like talk therapy would be of great help.

You said that he had been abused during childhood. That probably has a lot to do with the struggles that he has now, whether the connection is clear or not. Some of the disorders that arise from trauma like that include PTSD, or complex PTSD (which is not officially in the DSM but you can find information about it - the emphasis is on a history of ongoing abuse or trauma rather than on one or a few incidents that are easier to identify); also any of the Dissociative disorders may result from a history of trauma or abuse; and the Personality Disorders are based on longstanding patterns learned during childhood. Any of these disorders (PTSD, Dissociative Disorders, and Personality Disorders) can include symptoms like you are describing: anger, difficulty with relationships, depression, sensitivity and sudden changes in mood or temperament. These diagnoses can be pretty complicated to diagnose and might become clear to his therapist over time in working with him. They are also reasonable reactions to the things that happened to him in the past, even though not appropriate or effective in current situations.

Medication can help to take the edge off of the symptoms, but won't teach him skills to manage triggers and moods. Therapy can give him a chance to learn those skills and process what happened to him and change the way that he thinks about it so that he can have more control in his life. If the therapist that he went to didn't help much, try another one or just give it more time. It took your husband's whole life for him to become who he is. Change is going to take time also. Get support for yourself if you are struggling with his symptoms, because it will affect you too.

If you want to understand what is going on, you might look up the categories of disorders that I mentioned and see if anything stands out to you. Include your husband in that search for information. It will go over much better if you are working together rather than if he feels like you are trying to diagnose him or talk about him behind his back. There are a lot of books that have good insights in them and can be helpful. One that I really like is called "Reinventing Your Life." It has some screeners that help to identify "schemas" or "lifetraps" which are ways of thinking that were learned early in life that affect the way that we think and feel and act now, which may be based on distortions and result in patterns of behavior that don't work out too well for us. Everybody has some schemas, and schemas are not a diagnosis, but the book will help with understanding what your schemas are, where you learned them, and how they affect you and people around you. It also tells you how to change these patterns. You and your husband could both use the book and work together, and you can also take it to the therapist and ask for more help or if it is something that the therapist thinks could help.

Rap

I am bpd with bp. Im not going behind gis back and trying to diagnose him with friends or coworkers. We have worked together for a few years trying to figure this out. While I appreciate your "care and concern" you really dont have any idea what you are saying. I simply knew that a few years ago when I struggled these forums were helpful because of the vast differences everyone had and thought perhaps someone has experienced something similar. Its clearly not an out of the box mood disorder off pd.

Thanks for some thoughts rap.

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Hi hunny. I agree with what everyone has said about self diagnosing. The only light I can shine upon this subject is that I'm a diagnosed BPD of 30 plus years. I have serious mood swings, sometimes for no apparent reason. I spend months in depression, to the degree of feeling suicidal and planning it. I can be aggressive but I try to keep it in by self harming. I had no physical at all in my entire life (I'm now 55). BPD can have a great deal of symproms, over spending, poly substance abuse, extreme low and high moods. I'm in DBT therapy, both group and one to one. Meds are helping hugely. I so hope you and your partner seek help, it's very important hunny.

with in me these same symptoms you posted about were called many different things depending upon other accompanying symptoms most of which only a treatment provider knew of....

example did you know that just skipping a meal or not eating the right diet for ones body can cause a person to have every single one of the symptoms you posted. so can something as simple as not getting enough sleep, taking over the counter medications, prescription meds not the right ones or incorrect dosages /inconsistancy in when taking the meds....all of which I had the same symptoms as you posted and turned out to be the causes after much struggle with trying to diagnose these things...

other things in me this turned out to be depending upon other accompanying symptoms was....

bipolar disorder, PTSd, eating disorder, anxiety/panic disorder, psychosis, delusional, mood disorder, schizophrenia, depression, postpartum depression, Multiple Sclerosis, unintentional substance abuse (was in the room when others were smoking cigarettes, was in the room when others were smoking weed) chemical poisoning (when the painting crew were painting the next door neighbors home and the fumes were following the wind to my place and other air polutions) work stress, dissociative problems, breast cancer (yes men can get it too)....gosh I could go on and on about what these same symptoms were with in me over the years.....

the line in the sand only your husbands treatment providers can say for sure what this problem is with in your husband. the problem can be any or all or none of what any of us tell you it was with in ourselves, every day new diagnosis's/illnesses/treatments are being discovered. my suggestion is your husband keeps working with his treatment providers. they are the ones that know your husbands body, life history, body make up (genetics, chemicals, mes you name it) therefore they truly are the best ones to be consulting in situations like this.

This sounds a lot like ptsd flashbacks (as a ptsd sufferer myself). I agree with the previous posters that u should be asking ur husbands drs for advice...abuse in your husband's past could cause ptsd and could also explain these symptoms so talk to him and his docs.

The obvious answer is talk to the docs. Which we have done and are still doing. Again, just wanted to see if anyone had similat experiences and issues.

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This is a weird thread. BusyMomma2, it sounds like you are offended by something, but I don;t know what it is.

BusyMomma2, I think every one here is giving you a number of different reasons for your husbands behavior. It seems as though you're just not happy unless someone can give you the answer you want?
In my opinion, I have experienced many of the symptoms you described. Honestly, they don't sound all that bizarre or completely out of the box as you stated. The symptoms you described remind me of my personality disorder, but since you said it's not that I hope you can find what you're looking for.
We are all just trying to help, you know.

Okay then yes I have had similar experiences but I didn't wanna outright say that in my previous post as I am not a dr and I have not seen your husband in a clinical setting. I have ptsd and I also have abuse issues. Refer to earlier post.

If it helps, your description of him set off a light bulb, it described me, to some extent.

I don't know my diagnosis or all of it. I do have complex PTSD and OCD, but am uncertain if it bipolar 1 or 2 or something else. Doctors struggled for decades. I'm recently on Abilify with a beta blocker to boost anti anxiety (my blood pressure was 137/90). It has helped tremendously.

I and my mother have these symptoms sometimes, they go hand in hand with ptsd sufferers..
Personally, when I've recently had flashbacks I get emotionally reactive to others, I get angry easier, and selfish in the way I respond to people (as in I respond without thinking of how what I say will effect them).

Being abused and somewhat neglected as a child can stick with you. Granted, I'm only 19, but what I experienced still sticks with me every day of my life. I know that it can take years or even a lifetime to learn to cope with the after effects, the feelings you never got to address, coming to terms with it, etc. You can be 70 and still have a hard time because of childhood abuse, so age really does not matter here.

Your husband could be suffering from ptsd, or he could be suffering form something else. I know that with my other illnesses, I can be effected somehow and react emotionally, get angry, etc without having a flashback. I would probably start your research with ptsd, though, as childhood abuse was involved, and that is one of the main illnesses that occurs after someone experiences that. I also know that it can take a while to become noticeable, for example it could be "dormant" in him from a young age and something happening recently can trigger ptsd to display itself (it can also happen like that [/i]without[/i] a triggering event- it can happen gradually).

I want to address some goings on in the thread- Aside from other people assuming you're offended or only looking for one type of answer, it's alright to self diagnose. Trust me, I know all about it and I can explain more in a PM if anyone has questions. I don't necessarily think it's okay to diagnose other people- which is what I think others are assuming you're out to do. Sometimes doctors don't understand, or don't get it right, and that's where this site comes in handy. You can be a member of this site for others and post about other people who are suffering if you need help, and that's what you did. I have to commend you for it because you're trying hard to help your husband. I hope both you and him start getting some answers soon, and I hope that he starts feeling better soon and you get some relief.

Yeah, I thought that.

i feel for you, i have several different diagnosises, it took years for the right doc and t to help me get on the right meds, and finally have the diagnosises right. i am on several meds and have good days and bad days, but do feel alot better since i was hospitalized for a month a few years ago to adjust and change my meds. i am doing alot better now but still have few bad days but it is getting better. i hope you can get help for yourself too.

From what you have written.....abuse causes all kinds of emotions...anger, frustration, depression, etc., etc.....that is a natural response. As for the feeling of people out to get him; sounds like paranoia.......therapy would be a good beginning.

As for the suicidal feelings (he could speak to the National Suicide hotline), again this would be something for a psychotherapist to hel with.

Not depression but "mood"???

Depression is what you should go by, imo. Cognitive distortions. (Such as because he felt his mother doesn't love him, he is unlovable?)

Psychotherapy.