[BrazenOcean]

I am glad to have a place to talk with other schizoaffective people. This is a new diagnosis for me... I look forward to this forum!

welcome to psychcentral. and welcome to the shizoaffective forum. there are lots of people here with insightful information to guide you on your journey. ahahah.

[Blue_Bird]

Welcome BrazenOcean!

[jaynedough]

Hi BrazenOcean. Welcome to the sza forum!

[BrazenOcean]

Just hoping this helps somebody!


Gratitude for a person who I may likely never see again.

It took me to this day to say goodbye to someone and not feel deeply conflicted. My doctor, I’ll call her Dr Arc, was a person I only probably spent 2 or 3 hours with in my entire life. I got to a level of communication with her I had never known was possible with a doctor. I had a terrible girl crush every moment with Dr Arc. Sitting in a room with her was like being in a loud river, so much what peace really is. I loved her way of asking me questions, working with me in decision making, putting my health in my hands. I sure didn’t expect to see a doctor like her in my home town, after all of the disappointing ones. She is moving to Chattanooga and I am letting her go, as if I had any way to have her stay. But emotionally, I am at this new point of being able to release her to never see her again.
It makes me think about life and our longevity, how the scarceness of time makes us value the time we have. I want to approach all of my people, to turn it into my own life.
The reason I saw Dr Arc was for mental illness. I have had a long list of symptoms in my life and have been on medicine for ages. I have thought of myself as “bipolar” for a long time. Dr Arc changed the diagnosis to schizoaffective last time. Then, this time, she turned my world on it’s head, taking an extra ten minutes of her time to counsel me out of thinking of myself as the illness.
“People tell me that all the time, but mental illness and disability has been a huge part of my life for a long time. In many ways it made me who I am. I don’t see how I can take diagnosis out of my identity or why I would want to do that!”
Then in her usual confident nurturing way, Dr Arc explained how to take diagnosis out of my identity. She said I have had symptoms and I am on medicine to make my symptoms better. She affirmed my belief that having a particular diagnosis is mostly just for the doctors to cue to them what medicines will work best for me. It doesn’t mean I am in a category of people who are all or at all like me. I am as different as the next person for so many reasons.

Welcome to our little slice of the pie ^_^

I'm so sorry that you're losing a doctor that you found to be so helpful. However, I'm glad that you were able to meet someone who could impact your life so deeply in a positive way.

[spincera]

Welcome to the forum BrazenOcean.