What is my "real" diagnosis?

My problems all started when I was in my teens. My original diagnosis was BPD. I have been hospitalized so many times that I have lost count. It seems that each time I have been hospitalized I was discharged with a different diagnosis. My diagnosis have been BPD, rapid cycling bipolar with psychotic features, schizoaffective dissorder, and now OCD. I can understand why different docs come up with different diagnosis. When I take the quizzes on this site to try to find out what might be wrong I fit the criteria for most disorders. I have many mood swings some lasting hours to days, In the past I used to self-injure, I hear voices that no one else can hear, I am paranoid about all kinds of stuff all the time, everything must be organized in specific ways or I go looney. Maybe the diagnosis does not matter really that much. Maybe the correct treatment is more important. Current meds are Lithium, Lamictal, Effexor, Strattera.

I am so sorry that you have not been able to locate a doctor that can really help you.... Hang in there and do not give up for there is someone out there that knows exactly what you need in order to heal.

Please know that many people with mental illness can and often do have more than just one issue / diagnosis.

LoVe,
Rhapsody - ((( hugs )))

Hey. I remember dx confusion. I've been diagnosed with: brief adjustment disorder, depressive episode, major depressive episode, borderline personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, schizoaffective disorder, brief psychotic episode, dissociative identity disorder, and a variety of different substance abuses...

Sheesh. will the real dx please stand up??????

The interesting thing about diagnostic categories is that... More people meet criteria for 'not otherwise specified' diagnoses than the criteria for particular kinds of disorder. I also think that if you take the class of people who meet criteria for one diagnosis... The majority of people in that class will meet criteria (and have concurrent diagnoses) for about... 4 or 5 conditions.

Sometimes this happens because there is an overlap of symptoms in different disorders.

- Psychotic features (during time of stress) is a symptom of borderline personality disorder, for example. (incl hearing voices)
- Intense moods (lasting from several hours to a couple of days) is also a symptom of borderline personality disorder.
- Self injury is a hallmark of BPD.

So the psychotic and mood symptoms can be explained most economically via borderline personality disorder.

OCD is a fairly common concurrent dx with BPD.

Regarding treatment... Medications tend to work on symptoms rather than diagnoses (diagnoses are best thought of as clusters of symptoms). It doesn't matter so much what your dx is so long as they have a view of the symptoms they are attempting to treat. Also... Different people (with the same symptoms) tend to respond differently to the same medication so to a very large extent medication is a trial and error process...

Are you in therapy at all? That could help with managing stress (to help with the psychotic symptoms) managing OCD symptoms, gaining more control over intensity of mood, tolerating distress etc.

i'm fairly confident that my primary dx is bipolar disorder but i've also been queried as schizoaffective, and my Tdoc thinks there are OCD traits too. also, both my pdoc and tdoc (and me) think i have elements of my personality that are disordered but no one's sure whether it's enough to warrant a dx - i've started going to a local scheme which is a support group for PD patients, and so far it's very helpful.

i'm sorry you're having so much hassle

wow. i have had alot of dx too. May be you have all of the dx. My new thearpist dx me with DID/ PTSD depression and anorexia. My other dx have been Bipolar, borderline, anorexia, bulimia, ptsd, major depression, depressive disorder nos, .
I also have a learning disability which everyone agrees on. I really like my new thearpist and I think she knows alot but she is pushing the DID and trying to make me accept it. i have had therapist make fun of me and stuff in the past and say that i am not DID but i have moodswings. so it is hard for me to accept. I think the best thing for someone to do who has had a long history of mental illnesses is to find a good thearpist and find one that fits. I hope i have finally find mine, because therapy is stressful with in it self i dont need all the other c*ap that they put in with it when trying to figure out what is wrong.

Just a little information that might help you all feel a little better about your doctor's and the dx's... research is showing some things about bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and all. It seems there is some type of crossover or misdiagnosis in general happening...so many the pdocs are just waiting to find out if there's something more definitive in diagnosing these particular disorders, before they label anyone permanently?

It doesn't matter what dx you have, because you are still you! A rose by any other name...

"What is my "real" diagnosis?"

I don't know and being that I am not a psychiatrist on this site practicing diagnosing people I can't answer that question, but I can say that the way I got my diagnosis was by taking a comprehensive Psychological Evaluation with suplimental tests for Dissociative Identity Disorder with a state licensed psychiatrist and though I went through years of denying that diagnosis that I recieved knowing what I had helped my therapist treat me with the correct treatment plans that was needed for my disorder and problems.. Diagnosis doesn't always matter but it sure does help with speeding up the healing process when therapy professionals don't have to play guessing games about what is wrong with me and how to help me.

Hang in there.

Symptoms can be assessed independently of Dx.

Dx doesn't matter...

Symptoms matter.

That was all I meant.

It's hard for doctors to treat if they don't know what they're treating. However, as with any medical treatment, one should evaluate treatment for one's self. If your meds don't work, they're not the right treatment!

Do you have a therapist? Having someone to discuss what's going on in your life, your medical treatment and how you're getting on with others can be very helpful to one's treatment. When I was ill for a year, non-mental illness, I was really grateful I had my therapist to sort things out with. It's stressful being ill, not matter what one's illness is. Having someone to talk to and help get one's head clear about the illness and life in general was very helpful for me.

> It's hard for doctors to treat if they don't know what they're treating.

I think it is important to distinguish between:
1) The symptoms you experience and
2) The diagnostic category you meet.

Why?

- Because there can be more variation in symptoms between people of the same diagnostic category than between people of differen diagnostic categories.

- Because medication seems to help / not help according to symptoms rather than diagnoses

- Because more people meet 'not otherwise specified' than meet any one category.

- Because the average number of 'different' categories a person with a mental illness meets is around... 5.

- Because the diagnostic categories don't capture natural kinds and they are constantly under revision to better carve nature at its joints

- Because the diagnostic categories might be ditched in the near future anyway because they aren't a helpful unit for research (symptoms are much better)

Very well put. I could have saved myself alot of T-time had I taken this point of view from the start, rather than get myself all twisted up over the different diagnoses assigned to me.

Thanks, special k

AS

I been in the same kinda situation I was dx with bpd when I was in My teens in NYC it is a second dx after Depression
then Anxeiey, and PTSD then a leval of stress you going thru at that time and prognosis. mostly it a label for the insuranance companies(that's what my tharapist told Me)
BPD got drop from dx about 7 years ago cause I no longer fit the critera from dsm-4 and 3 my therapist had been thru hell with me I had developed evan O.C.D. for whole real bad.why do You want to know Your DX.it dont mater a whole lot.
please PM me
talk to ya later g'nite Crista