My pdoc struck a nerve with me yesterday. Doctors and therapists that know me well say I have schizophrenia. Pdocs who don’t know me so well say I am schizoaffective. I know a label shouldn’t bother me but it does. My psychosis has been traumatic. I feel like when doctors label me as sza it discounts what I’ve been through saying it’s not as bad as it would be if I were sz. Well I asked my pdoc yesterday what he thought my diagnosis was. He said I’m sza because I’m too high functioning to be sz. I said I don’t have the mood component though and he said well you are on Cymbalta, which is for my anxiety. Since getting sick at 26 my functioning has gone down the tubes. I live with my mom and depend on her for everything, I can’t go in stores by myself, it is a struggle to do simple chores, it is a struggle to do simple ADL’s, and I need my boyfriend to go with me to doctor’s appointments. In my early twenties I lived with roommates and went to the super market, cooked, cleaned, worked, and went to school. If I were to even do a tenth of that now my mom would have a stroke from shock. He doesn’t know me and I know I come off as being together, but it was an insult. This was maybe my fifth time seeing him and I only see him for ten minutes at a time so I know he doesn’t really know me, but no matter how much I rationalize it it still affects me. Yesterday was my birthday and I let his comment affect me most of the day. I guess what bothers me too is that I met someone a few years back with sza. His main hallucination was that he heard noises. I’m not putting down what he experienced, which I’m sure was distressing, but if my psychosis were that mild I wouldn’t need to go to ECT and I probably wouldn’t take meds. If my psychosis isn’t treated the right way I become a real danger to other people, my animals, and myself. My mom did point out that when I talk to him I’m not distracted and I have a lot of knowledge about mental illness and what terms are.
I did end up having a nice birthday though. I came to the conclusion that I really don’t care what he thinks as long as he keeps prescribing the meds I need.
That was my vent for the day. 
Might be worth a second opinion to set your mind straight.
Happy belated birthday btw! I hope you celebrate it all week.
Thanks dreamscape!! Four doctors and therapists have told me it’s sz so I just have to trust that. This doctor has seen me maybe an hour total since I’ve started seeing him so I know I can’t put too much weight on what he says. Thank you for the birthday wishes, I plan to really celebrate Saturday after my mom gets paid because right now we are broke. It was really nice yesterday as Jason and I spent the whole day together. I hope all is well with you.
Hi @SunGirl - I am constantly questioning my diagnosis.
Right now with my current doctor and therapist it’s bipolar, but my psychiatrist is not ruling out schizoaffective - I think that she is confused.
I am noticing some Autistic (Aspergers) Characteristics in me, so I do think that I have a bunch of different traits, and I always seem to perplex and confuse doctors.
I am a true mongrel when it comes to my dx - I do wish you all the best, and sometimes schizoaffective can be more challenging than SZ, but not usually
Thanks @Wave !! I guess what bothers me is it is a pet peeve for me for things to be accurate. Through my school’s library I have access to the DSM V. I relate soooo much more to schizophrenia than schizoaffective. I think I confuse my doctors as well. Why else would they assign a mood disorder to someone who hasn’t had mood components in five years?
I wish you the best as well. That’s true that sza can be more challenging. I guess too I just want all of my doctors to be on the same page. I hope you are well. Hang in there you’ll find a doctor who can diagnose you correctly and explain why they think that so you feel satisfied.
I’ve been diagnosed as Paranoid Schizophrenic since I was 12. It has never changed. I don’t have any mood issues.
Had some time to put some thought into it. I had to get my file out to find out what my diagnosis is a few years ago. Jumps around from sz to sza a lot. Aspergers is mentioned once. As are a few others. I did have about a ten year break from most symptoms till a few years ago when we were reducing my meds.
After my last hospital stay (July 2013) At last call it was SZA (NOS) with narcissistic personality disorder traits. The narcissism comment cut me like a knife real bad for about a week. All my friends think the pdoc was on something to come to that conclusion… Sometimes diagnosis are like a box of chocolates…You never know what you are gonna get.
As we go through life other symptoms are triggered. So it’s hard to come up with a straight answer sometimes. I’m finding more and more SZ are being diagnosed with SZA for that reason but many are getting a full SZ diagnosis latter on ie Paranoid SZ rather then just SZ (NOS)
Most of the Bipolar meds are used for SZ anyway. So chances your meds won’t change. Mine haven’t over a period of about 12 years. Despite the diagnosis constantly changing.
I have no care or interest in my diagnosis. As far as I’m concerned, a diagnosis is for a filing cabinet or an insurance company. I concentrate on my symptoms and leave the rest to others.
I guess I have trouble with the mindset that sza is better or easier then sz. If sza is schizophrenia + bipolar how can it be better then just one of the components. sza is not better or easier then bipolar. Not questioning this post but how doctors are coming to a conclusion that just doesn’t make sense to me 
Where I am a lot of people have had their diagnoses changed from sz to sza. I think I have. It makes no difference in what kind of treatment you get. I choose not to worry about it.
Yes it bothers me. I feel I am not on adequate treatment.
I’d say schizoaffective was worse than paranoid schizophrenia, that’s schizophrenia and bipolar together sounds much worse when trying to go without meds. I had a psychiatrist try to suggest schizoaffective recently because I said I was depressed when on medication, I’ve never had mood problems when ill in my life, i’ve seen people with mood disorders and i’m not like that + my moods just don’t to go up and down, stay up or down.
i am diagnosed with ptsd with chronic auditory hallucinations. i don’t mind the dx at all. i do have ptsd and i do have auditory hallucinations.
No, I don’t let a diagnoses bother me, but what does bother me are 2 things…when they lie in the evaluation report, read into things that aren’t even true, or when other people knowing your diagnoses will say 'they are delusional and paranoid all the time." That is pure nonsense.
I’ve been diagnosed as both sz and sza. The sza dx came partially because my brother was diagnosed as bp, and they seemed to think it impossible that sz and bp could be Dx-Ed in the same family.
There was great debate in the DSM V draft whether they were going to get rid the sza dx altogether. I also hear some folks say it’s a spectrum like autism and lump sz bp and sz altogether.
In the end I think they grasp at a dx most of the time as if they were playing you like a hole in a golf course and they choose meds like golf clubs. It’s an inexact game not a science. It’s a shame when these duffers hook and slice and completely whiff the ball sometimes people suffer.
I used to self diagnose myself as sza, but now I just think that my depression was situational, so I consider myself just sz. I have recently doubled my dose of prolixin (fluphenazine) and I think much better. I would hate to have sza.
I used to let my diagnosis bother me,but recently not anymore,just the symptoms bother me at times…which I cannot do much but wait it out…
most of the time I’m not bothered by my diagnosis. It is what it is…
Plus… undifferentiated Sz… (so not all paranoid… not all disorganized)
But the doc I have now… he’s been with me a long time… he’s been saying that I seem to be swinging into SZA. His pen is getting closer and closer to the paper… itching to write that new word on my paper label.
Sometimes when I ponder it… I do get a bit irritated. I do have a few feelings on the issue… but I’m not up for posting my long rant.
For the most part… the meds work… the therapy has given me ways to get through my day… and so I don’t sweat it.
Good luck
By the Way… 
Happy birthday. I hope you got to spend it with people who make you happy.
No. I think about it now and then, but it doesn’t bother me.
Yes it does bother me when they want to change the diagnosis all the time, but I usually go with the majority opinion. I was diagnosed first with bipolar then sza then sz ( the latter by several doctors in two hospital stays), and then I had a remission. After my relapse, I was diagnosed again with bipolar then went into hospital where my psychiatric history was examined and I was diagnosed with sz again. So the majority of the doctors say sz, and the one who diagnosed me is an expert on bipolar and still didn’t see bipolar in me. Some doctors wanted to add borderline personality into the mix but the expert pdoc said just paranoid sz. That’s what i’m stuck with and I don’t mind the label, as long as people don’t judge me by it.
oh yes, and Happy birthday for yesterday!