[OutofTune]

So... for the past two years I've been stuck with the diagnosis "psychosis NOS" as a result of "possible complex PTSD". I've disagreed since the very beginning and have always believed my hallucinations, paranoia, and fear to be the result of schizophrenia. It's TWO YEARS into this charade and my doctors still give me the "you're too high-functioning/well-organized to be schizophrenic" excuse. But I'm not traumatized either! The only things traumatizing me right now are the voices and the doctors. I try to tell them this and they say I'm in denial, need to talk more about the past. However I'm ready to move on and all I want is this annoyance (voices) to cease.

They've also tried to convince me the voices are MY OWN, and that they are MEMORIES. They've even gone as far as to suggest it's not psychosis at all. Yes, you heard it - when the coffee pot starts yelling at me about the CIA, it's a memory, not a hallucination! *insert biggest eyeroll the universe will allow* I've told these doctors what my voices say and why all this nonsense is not plausible. I've explained that while yes, I recognize these voices are a manifestation of my brain, they do appear to be coming from outside of me. I've got inanimate objects talking to me for heaven's sake! They simply do not care.

I don't know what else to do. They've had me on and off different meds that have done nothing for my condition, whatever it might be. I feel as though until I have a proper diagnosis, I'll never receive proper treatment. TWO YEARS and not a single solitary moment of silence.

Any advice on how to get a real diagnosis? I'm not doomed to be an -NOS enigma forever, am I?

[Sometimes psychotic]

We'll they may be reluctant because impaired social and occupational functioning is a requirement for a sz diagnosis....you can have all the other symtoms but if you're not functionally impaired you don't have sz.

Plan b of course is to get another doctor and frankly I would make sure to rule out medical causes it sounds like a very unusual case that you recognize the voices as not real and aren't getting caught up in anything delusional. I'm having something similarly unusual and want to rule out temporal lobe epilepsy and like you initially my voices did not stop talking ever it really impaired my sleep but then I went into remission and now I have relapsed but I'm only getting sounds it's very odd. It's three years out for me and my intial episode was characertized as brief psychotic disorder by one doc and simply psychosis by another.

I'm wondering though why you want the sz diagnosis? If you've been on antipsychotics that's really the best they can do and about a third of people are treatment resistant. They don't treat psychosis and sz any differently.....

[OutofTune]

I don't work and have a hard time socializing. So I kind of fit that part of the criteria. The only thing is I've stopped most delusional thinking (I think at least) since starting anti-psychotics. Not all but I catch myself sometimes and am usually able to immediately ground myself. I guess they work well enough for some symptoms, just not the hallucinations. The reason the doctors call me high-functioning is because of how I speak. They don't care that I can't hold a job or that I've got school coming up and no idea how I'm going to handle it.

I've had an EEG and an MRI to rule out seizures and brain damage (I've had many concussions). I don't really want the sz diagnosis. I just want to know what's happening to me rather than being left in the dark and forgotten about, which is how I'm feeling right now. The idea of finding new doctors terrifies me because I don't know how they'll treat my other conditions. I have so many problems and I haven't slept in a while so I might not be making much sense. Apologies.

[The_little_didgee]

PTSD can definitely cause psychotic symptoms. It can appear similar to schizophrenia but without the cognitive impairment and disorganized thinking/speech. Has complex PTSD been explained to you? Some clinicians consider cPTSD to be BPD. In these individuals psychotic symptoms emerge during periods of stress and is connected to feelings of abandonment. It is a part of the splitting defense. These psychotic reactions develop abruptly and are brief. Their delusions can easily be corrected when someone points out the irrational thoughts which makes them very different from a schizophrenic delusion. These are firmly held beliefs that usually develop gradually and cannot be changed with suggestion and contradictory evidence.

Usually when a person becomes psychotic they question what is happening to them until they reach full psychotic insight. The prodromal period is confusing, because the person is struggling to determine what is real or not. Some people can stay in this period of years and may not even develop psychosis.

It is very possible to have hallucinations without delusions.

Have you had your iron and B12 levels checked?

[Sometimes psychotic]

Originally Posted by OutofTune

I don't work and have a hard time socializing. So I kind of fit that part of the criteria. The only thing is I've stopped most delusional thinking (I think at least) since starting anti-psychotics. Not all but I catch myself sometimes and am usually able to immediately ground myself. I guess they work well enough for some symptoms, just not the hallucinations. The reason the doctors call me high-functioning is because of how I speak. They don't care that I can't hold a job or that I've got school coming up and no idea how I'm going to handle it.

I've had an EEG and an MRI to rule out seizures and brain damage (I've had many concussions). I don't really want the sz diagnosis. I just want to know what's happening to me rather than being left in the dark and forgotten about, which is how I'm feeling right now. The idea of finding new doctors terrifies me because I don't know how they'll treat my other conditions. I have so many problems and I haven't slept in a while so I might not be making much sense. Apologies.

Ok so how old are you...the other reason they don't give it is some sort of non-objectivity toward people typically under 18 where the mind is still changing and they are hoping you'll grow out of it.

Other than that I'm not sure why....

[OutofTune]

Originally Posted by The_little_didgee

PTSD can definitely cause psychotic symptoms. It can appear similar to schizophrenia but without the cognitive impairment and disorganized thinking/speech. Has complex PTSD been explained to you? Some clinicians consider cPTSD to be BPD. In these individuals psychotic symptoms emerge during periods of stress and is connected to feelings of abandonment. It is a part of the splitting defense. These psychotic reactions develop abruptly and are brief. Their delusions can easily be corrected when someone points out the irrational thoughts which makes them very different from a schizophrenic delusion. These are firmly held beliefs that usually develop gradually and cannot be changed with suggestion and contradictory evidence.

Usually when a person becomes psychotic they question what is happening to them until they reach full psychotic insight. The prodromal period is confusing, because the person is struggling to determine what is real or not. Some people can stay in this period of years and may not even develop psychosis.

It is very possible to have hallucinations without delusions.

Have you had your iron and B12 levels checked?

Complex PTSD has never really been explained to me in these terms with relation to psychosis/hallucinations. I honestly had no idea there was a link between BPD and PTSD. I have borderline, so this makes a lot of sense.

The thing that still puzzles me is why the hallucinations have nothing to do with my supposed trauma (still figuring out exactly what that is) and why I was full on psychotic (throwing away computers and electronics, knocking on neighbors doors asking if they were spying on me, looking for spy cameras everywhere, driving out of state in hopes of escaping electronic weapons reach, etc.) when it first started. It still freaks me out because I'm afraid it will happen again. That's another reason I wanted a 'proper diagnosis'... ya know, in case things go south again.

I found the first thread I made here from late 2012 that might put things into perspective.

http://forums.psychcentral.com/schiz...less-life.html

I got talked down quite easily. Is that a good sign?

Sorry for posting in this forum if I don't actually have sz or psychosis. I just don't know where else anyone will understand constant hallucinations and fear.

Thank you (and Sometimes_psychotic) for helping.

[The_little_didgee]

Originally Posted by OutofTune

Complex PTSD has never really been explained to me in these terms with relation to psychosis/hallucinations. I honestly had no idea there was a link between BPD and PTSD. I have borderline, so this makes a lot of sense.

Complex PTSD is trauma that occurred early in life and has affected development. Early traumatic experiences are known to cause perceptual experiences later on.

Originally Posted by OutofTune

The thing that still puzzles me is why the hallucinations have nothing to do with my supposed trauma (still figuring out exactly what that is) and why I was full on psychotic (throwing away computers and electronics, knocking on neighbors doors asking if they were spying on me, looking for spy cameras everywhere, driving out of state in hopes of escaping electronic weapons reach, etc.) when it first started. It still freaks me out because I'm afraid it will happen again. That's another reason I wanted a 'proper diagnosis'... ya know, in case things go south again.

Sometimes when people get a BPD diagnosis (even if it is wrong) a clinician will assume the person has experienced abuse early in life. They will then dig around for "memories" and blame the client's psychotic symptoms on dissociation or malingering.

The psychosis seen in BPD is usually broad and nonspecific. For example one may hear voices that are vague and not part of a delusion. The voices are generally heard internally and are usually someone familiar to them such as a family member.

People with BPD can definitely have a separate illness that causes psychotic symptoms. In most cases it is either due to an affective disorder or substance abuse.

Originally Posted by OutofTune

I got talked down quite easily. Is that a good sign?

This is a good indicator your symptoms are not due to schizophrenia. This does not mean your psychotic symptoms are not due to another psychotic illness though.

Originally Posted by OutofTune

Sorry for posting in this forum if I don't actually have sz or psychosis. I just don't know where else anyone will understand constant hallucinations and fear.

You can post here even if you don't have psychosis or schizophrenia.

[Crescent Moon]

Originally Posted by OutofTune

I don't work and have a hard time socializing. So I kind of fit that part of the criteria. The only thing is I've stopped most delusional thinking (I think at least) since starting anti-psychotics. Not all but I catch myself sometimes and am usually able to immediately ground myself. I guess they work well enough for some symptoms, just not the hallucinations. The reason the doctors call me high-functioning is because of how I speak. They don't care that I can't hold a job or that I've got school coming up and no idea how I'm going to handle it.

I've had an EEG and an MRI to rule out seizures and brain damage (I've had many concussions). I don't really want the sz diagnosis. I just want to know what's happening to me rather than being left in the dark and forgotten about, which is how I'm feeling right now. The idea of finding new doctors terrifies me because I don't know how they'll treat my other conditions. I have so many problems and I haven't slept in a while so I might not be making much sense. Apologies.

Have they considered bipolar with psychosis?

And just so you know, an EEG does NOT rule out seizures, except in the case of people having episodes that involve body movement that takes place while the EEG is running. (That is effective at diagnosing what we call non-epileptic seizures - formerly called pseudo-seizures). But for genuine seizures that are sensory in nature, a normal scalp EEG does not definitively rule out seizure, even if they occur while the EEG is running. It's because those types of seizures often come from deeper in the brain and unless they propagate, they may not show up on t he cortical surface.