[KnightHawk88]

Hi I’m Nick and I have Mental Illness troubles. So my story is pretty typical, moved around a lot as kid, bullied in school, had a hard time making friends. I was kind of shy and terrible at social skills growing up. I’m now thinking it’s possible that I have high functioning Asperger’s or Non-Verbal Learning disability, I have many of the symptoms of both and I think that that is what lead to my eventual Anxiety disorder and Major depression I had in college. This is going to sound really weird but until college I had never once thought about my, or anyone else’s posture or body language and could never read peoples facial expressions and was super sensitive and took things personal easily. So when I was 17 my mom took me to a shrink he put on Effexor and was doing okay. Not to too my own horn but I was a smart kid, I had cumulative 3.98 GPA in HS and was 13th out of 220 with the first seven all having 4.0s so I was almost valedictorian and was had a job since I was 15 and was doing great at all the jobs I had. In college I got into partying and smoking marijuana, at the time I was taking Lexapro(they took me off Effexor because I had super bad brain zaps when I forgot to take it and didn’t like it, looking back I wish I would have stayed on it. So then I had a total major depressive breakdown in college living in the dorm and hardly ever left my dorm room and hated too. I didn’t want to do anything I was super super depressed and paranoid and thought everyone thought I was a druggie because I was high a lot and my back started to hurt really bad and I knew something was wrong so I called my Pdoc and he upped the Lexapro and tried adding ablilify, which I quickly found out that I’m allergic too. So barely made it through that semester and then was okay for a while then the next semester in college is when it all fell apart and s*** got really bad. I started experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs like DMT and tried acid once, which I think really lead to some of my paranoid and anxiety symptoms. So long story short spent I have spent the last 5 years trying to get out of this depression have been to 3 different psychiatrists and 5 different therapists. My depression was so bad that I had to be sent to the psych ward twice in one month and that was when my psychiatrist told me I had to get on disability and have been for 5 years. Drugs I’ve tried Zoloft, Geodon, remeron, amitriptyline, Ativan, lorazepam, busipirone, Selegeline, Latuda, invega, and others I can’t remember.

Now, I’m currently taking
Nardil (been on Nardil for 8 months) 60 mg a day
Valium 5 mg three times a day
Lamotrigine not sure dosage just started
DHA twice a day
Niacin
Multivitamin

I also just had a SPECT scan done and my Psychiatrist (if any of you just so happen around Springfield, MO Psychiatrists name is Dr. Insaf)
I have the “ring of fire pattern” of activity and an overactive anterior cingulate gyrus and problems in the temporal lobes (I will explain more on that when I know more)

Now here’s the interesting part, I was diagnosed with Anxiety and depression in 2010, in 2014 Dr. Insaf diagnosed me with Atypical depression because I’m so sensitive and Anxiety. So I asked him if the Nardil is supposed to help my anxiety, which it really wasn’t that much, why is my brain still so overactive. Do you know what he says to me, he says “Oh the Nardil is just for depression” I’m like WTF?????? Seriously? So after the scan he put me on the Valium. Now the report from said that I has increase of perfusion throughout the Cerebral Hemispheres and that the pattern of diffuse peripheral cortical increase (ring of fire pattern) associated with both schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. And here’s the kicker it said and I quote “there was no evidence of a primary anxiety disorder”.

So what do you guys think?

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by KnightHawk88

Hi I’m Nick and I have Mental Illness troubles. So my story is pretty typical, moved around a lot as kid, bullied in school, had a hard time making friends. I was kind of shy and terrible at social skills growing up. I’m now thinking it’s possible that I have high functioning Asperger’s or Non-Verbal Learning disability, I have many of the symptoms of both and I think that that is what lead to my eventual Anxiety disorder and Major depression I had in college. This is going to sound really weird but until college I had never once thought about my, or anyone else’s posture or body language and could never read peoples facial expressions and was super sensitive and took things personal easily. So when I was 17 my mom took me to a shrink he put on Effexor and was doing okay. Not to too my own horn but I was a smart kid, I had cumulative 3.98 GPA in HS and was 13th out of 220 with the first seven all having 4.0s so I was almost valedictorian and was had a job since I was 15 and was doing great at all the jobs I had. In college I got into partying and smoking marijuana, at the time I was taking Lexapro(they took me off Effexor because I had super bad brain zaps when I forgot to take it and didn’t like it, looking back I wish I would have stayed on it. So then I had a total major depressive breakdown in college living in the dorm and hardly ever left my dorm room and hated too. I didn’t want to do anything I was super super depressed and paranoid and thought everyone thought I was a druggie because I was high a lot and my back started to hurt really bad and I knew something was wrong so I called my Pdoc and he upped the Lexapro and tried adding ablilify, which I quickly found out that I’m allergic too. So barely made it through that semester and then was okay for a while then the next semester in college is when it all fell apart and s*** got really bad. I started experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs like DMT and tried acid once, which I think really lead to some of my paranoid and anxiety symptoms. So long story short spent I have spent the last 5 years trying to get out of this depression have been to 3 different psychiatrists and 5 different therapists. My depression was so bad that I had to be sent to the psych ward twice in one month and that was when my psychiatrist told me I had to get on disability and have been for 5 years. Drugs I’ve tried Zoloft, Geodon, remeron, amitriptyline, Ativan, lorazepam, busipirone, Selegeline, Latuda, invega, and others I can’t remember.

Now, I’m currently taking
Nardil (been on Nardil for 8 months) 60 mg a day
Valium 5 mg three times a day
Lamotrigine not sure dosage just started
DHA twice a day
Niacin
Multivitamin

I also just had a SPECT scan done and my Psychiatrist (if any of you just so happen around Springfield, MO Psychiatrists name is Dr. Insaf)
I have the “ring of fire pattern” of activity and an overactive anterior cingulate gyrus and problems in the temporal lobes (I will explain more on that when I know more)

Now here’s the interesting part, I was diagnosed with Anxiety and depression in 2010, in 2014 Dr. Insaf diagnosed me with Atypical depression because I’m so sensitive and Anxiety. So I asked him if the Nardil is supposed to help my anxiety, which it really wasn’t that much, why is my brain still so overactive. Do you know what he says to me, he says “Oh the Nardil is just for depression” I’m like WTF?????? Seriously? So after the scan he put me on the Valium. Now the report from said that I has increase of perfusion throughout the Cerebral Hemispheres and that the pattern of diffuse peripheral cortical increase (ring of fire pattern) associated with both schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. And here’s the kicker it said and I quote “there was no evidence of a primary anxiety disorder”.

So what do you guys think?

spect scans dont tell whether a person has a mental disorder or not. its used to rule in or out physical health problems...example it can tell whether someone is having seizures\epilepsy, blood flow problems, ulcers, cancer... all those things that you would go to a medical doctor for ...basically it takes a picture of your internal organs and how those organs are working.

Anxiety disorders are diagnosed through conversations with the psychiatrist and doing psychiatric tests....example if a psychiatrist asks you if you are afraid in small or enclosed places and you say no then the psychiatrist knows you do not have the primary anxiety disorder called claustrophobia. if a psychiatrist asks you if you have a fear of going outside and lists situations...to go shopping, get the mail get into your vehicle, any panic attacks the moment you start to walk out the door. if the answer is no then the psychiatrist knows you dont have the primary anxiety disorder called agoraphobia.

based on what ever you .....tell... a psychiatrist, they ask you more questions and eventually narrow down whether you have any anxiety disorders and if so which ones you have. the term primary just notes whether that anxiety disorder is one of many and the most incapacitating one for you. like when a medical doctor asks you which of your health problems affect you the most they are trying to find out which is the more primary (most important and severe to you) health problem. Im guessing you did not have any panic attacks during going through the spect scan and because they did not see you going through any anxiety/panic associated with anxiety disorders during the testing process they could could only state there was no signs of any primary anxiety disorders.

[*Laurie*]

Hi Hawk, I wish I knew more about SPECT scans. I've never heard of it before reading your thread. It sounds like you don't think the scan is reliable?

[eskielover]

I've never heard of a SPECT scan either. Honestly, I think that it would be needed to be coordinated with all the other tests & with an analysis of your personality issues & the IRL ways you have of dealing with your life to get a REAL determination. I honestly would never trust one test without all the other testing abilities being coordinated together for a diagnosis.

This might be an interesting article for you to read regarding SPECT scans:
The Neurocritic: The Dark Side of Diagnosis by Brain Scan

[KnightHawk88]

Hey poppy. Yeah I'm definitely on the fence about it. Eskielover that article you posted I have read and is why I'm questioning it. I really like the psychiatrist I go to right now He is really nice guy and seems genuine, and He isn't just basing my diagnosis off of thisone test. He even told me that it's also about the symptoms too, but I feel in my gut thT they still aren't 100% sure exactly and not only do I want to know what is going on in my own body, it's my responsibility to take care of myself and I can't do that properly without the proper diagnoses.

[*Laurie*]

Found this concise definition: A SPECT scan is a type of nuclear imaging test, which means it uses a radioactive substance and a special camera to create 3-D pictures. While imaging tests like X-rays can show what the structures inside your body look like, a SPECT scan produces images that show how your organs work.

Sounds to me like the scan, as amandalouise posted, is generally used to check for any structural abnormalities (a mass, or tumor, for example).

However, from the tiny bit I've looked at online certain brain activities can be determined by the scan (seizure activity, perhaps) and that type of neurological activity can cause some psychiatric symptoms. I mean...no...mental illness can't exactly be diagnosed with a scan but certain symptoms of what appears to be mental illness can show up as abnormal brain structure or activity.

This type of thing is something that only a medical professional can really interpret. It sounds to me like your psychiatrist is covering all the bases, which I think is a good thing. My current p-doc sent me for a brain scan right after our first appointment and I was impressed. I thought...yeah...it's about time one of these doctors took a look at my brain and made sure there's no abnormality within my brain structure itself.