Need To Understand

Hi,

I have some questions about a psych diagnosis. Some years ago two Dr.s diagnosed me as having bipolar disorder, the first one was a psychiatrist for SSI (a very mean individual by the way), and the other a private psychiatrist ( permitted the latter one to treat me for a full year, after which I demanded to be re-evatuated). Well that new evaluation said that I did not have bipolar at all!!! So I was misdiagnosed!!! And I was given a very wide range of medications, non of which helped me at all! The new evaluation said that I was Schizoid, had Major Depression, General Anxiety Disorder and PTSD. So, I quit that DR. and all of her medications.

OK, so I have done my own research and come up with what I believe to be MY REAL PROBLEM. Aspergers! Now why could these so called professionals NOT SEE this, how could they miss it!? ( I was in my 50's at the time and a woman, is that why)?

Well, what has been bugging me is this, how can a person differentiate between the two different yet very simular disorders? And if a person were bipolar, how can they recognize those traits in themselves? I have puzzled over this long enough, now I need clarification; just in case I am in denial.

Diagnoses are for the doctors so they can figure out how best they can treat you. The only reason I would care/want to diagnose myself is if I had a plan on how I wanted to proceed/what I wanted to do to try to help myself.

There isn't a single treatment for any of the possible diagnoses you have been given; and you would have to discuss the goals of treatment with a doctor to know if particular meds were helpful for a condition. I was taking antibiotics for a bacterial infection but the ones I was taking were ineffective but I would not know that, the doctor's had to test for that, etc. Medicines do not cure anything and often cannot help; at their best just help cope with symptoms better until, hopefully, the body can fix things or be more comfortable so it can do its other work better.

So, are you going to go to a doctor and ask to be evaluated for Aspergers? What are you going to do with what information you feel you have discovered about yourself? You'd have to ask a doctor why they came to a diagnosis of bipolar, what their criteria were and look and see if you agree with that. You need actual indications of what you say/do and the degree, etc. it is very complicated and usually not something one can see/do for one's self.

you said during the times you were diagnosed bipolar you had treatment, that can cause a persons diagnosis to change.

example if I go to a treatment provider and im having symptoms of bipolar i get diagnosed with that and given treatment options.

the next time i go in, Ive had some therapy so learned how to handle my problems and have been on medication for bipolar (sometimes people do not notice if their meds are correcting the chemical problems that cause bipolar disorder in the brain some people just think my meds are not working, nothings helping....Im one of those people that cant depend on feeling whether my meds are working or not. I keep a Journal of my activities and thoughts....which tells my treatment providers and I whether my meds are working)

my point is the next time I go in for diagnostics I may come out of it with out being bipolar because I am not at that moment showing any symptoms.

thats how diagnostics work. no one is the same every day. heck even a persons handwriting changes in subtle ways every time they write something.

line in the sand is every human beings body thoughts behaviors change moment to moment day by day ....year by year including how their brain functions.

a treatment provider cant diagnose something if you are not showing the symptoms of that .....at that moment of being diagnosed.

I cant count how many times my diagnosis's have changed over the years since childhood. one time i have this next time I have that next time this get ruled back in...

it's not a situation of being misdiagnosed its a situation of my having or not having the symptoms .......at that moment .....of being diagnosed.

also many peoples diagnosis's are changing simply because in 2013 America went to a new standard of what is and inst each of the mental disorders, including symptomatology and diagnosis process.

my suggestion is talk with your treatment providers. they will explain how and why you are diagnosed the way you are with what ever diagnosis's you have.

Misdiagnosis happens. And there usually seems to be fad "go to" diagnosis, that seems to be given to people who display ambiguous symptoms. Bipolar seems to be that at the moment.

Diagnosis should also happen on long term profile not how you feel at the moment of appointment. And.... it shouldn't be made in one app either :/

One thing that I learned is this, if a person has trouble understanding questions, what a question is looking for, then it is very easy to be misdiagnosed; which was my situation. It was that simple.