Any others diagnosed schizoaffective?

DX'd - Other
1

I finally asked my dr which diagnosis I officially have and he said schizoaffective disorder. So is it still ok for me to post here?

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Welcome to the forum @dusk

There are various dx-ed with sza that I’ve seen here. I’ve been diagnosed as both sz and sza, but I relate more with sz.

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Are many of us diagnosed with SZA here. Myself included. Not much difference between sz and sza anyway.But seems the forums open to any that have gone through psychosis So are a variety of diagnosis here.

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I might be wrong about this, but doesn’t schizoaffective just mean you have schizophrenia along with another mental illness?

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Thanks everyone. I don’t really know what it means other than having a bipolar component to it. Pdoc said something today about my “presentation” being more schizoaffective. Who knows.

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I asked by present p-doc for reasons why I might have been given for a SZA diagnosis vs SZ.

He said not as flat an affect, higher functioning, one depressive episode (when going on risperdal), brother diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and trouble sleeping.

He said it was a fine line, because many SZ people get depressed. He also agreed with me that SZA was kind of a “garbage-bag DX”. No disrespect intended, it’s just it’s a DX given sometimes when they aren’t sure what to make of you.

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Some docs say sza some say sz for me. My tdoc gave good reasoning as to why she thinks I’m sz. In sza a mood component is much more present and they usually have more delusions than hallucinations. Although my pdoc said I’m too high functioning to be sz and when I said I haven’t been depressed in five years he just felt that I was sza. Apparently sza isn’t as bad as sz which is hard to imagine because it’s both a thought disorder and mood disorder, but I think the psychosis isn’t as bad in sza. It’s still a devastating illness though. :sun_with_face:

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I just got diagnosed with schizoaffective yesterday after 21 years of paranoid schizophrenia. Not sure what to make of it, but I don’t care. I take Lithium for my mood component, and Stelazine for the psychosis. I’d been on the Stelazine, so no change there. It works great if you can tolerate it.

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Schizo-affective disorder. comes in two varieties - depression or bipolar.

Basically it’s just schizophrenia with mood swings.

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I’m diagnosed with schizoaffective. I tend to concentrate on my symptoms more than the diagnosis.

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I’ve never been formally diagnosed and they haven’t ran me off yet.

Maybe that’s because I’m obviously more off balance than the whole lot of them.

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I’ve gotten Dx’d Sz, Sz-a, DID, and plenty of other stuff.
Depends on the Dr., Pdoc., what kind of a day they are having,blah,blah,blah…

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I get a lot of hypomania/mania , minimal depressions , some psychosis and the flat affect

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Thanks so much for all the responses.

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diagnosed sza-depressive type here.
if you want more info i suggest this:
http://www.rethink.org/resources/s/schizoaffective-disorder-factsheet

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Labels identify us but to not become that IP we think oneself as a person first who is living with MI. Generalizations like psychotic, is stated that everyone fits somewhere on a sliding scale as either a neurotic or a psychotic.

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I am diagnosed schizoaffective depressive type. Although I have been treated for seven years I only found out two years ago what my diagnosis is. According to my pdoc the diagnosis is just an insurance label and he is working with me and my therapist to reduce stress and get me into a place of wellness.

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I have schizoaffective as well, depressive type not bipolar. It basically means you have schizophrenia with a mood disorder as well.

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I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder before.

I tend to agree, sometimes schizoaffective is given when doctors are not sure of your diagnosis

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First off… Welcome and I hope you get ideas… and find answers. This is a very tolerant forum.

I was diagnosed as Undifferentiated Sz at 17 as I’ve grown older and changed and life has moved on… my doc is itching… just itching to change my Dx to schizoaffective.

He says it’s because I’ve been showing more mood swings then I have in the past.