The reason why Im asking is because my psychiatrist, although still unsure whether I sufffer from Schizoaffective or Bipolar, is now leaning towards Schizoaffective - My official Insurance Diagnosis is Schizoaffective.
The thing is that I have not had Any Delusions or Hallucinations in over 10 years or so - I am on an Antipsychotic, Risperdal and this could be the reason why I am not currently Hallucinating or being Delusional.
I can however get real paranoid, and it is usually connected to my Anxiety.
Any one here diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder or Schizophrenia and Not suffer from a drop of Hallucinations or Delusions - I mean None.
I know that I should not be focusing on my Diagnosis, but its still up in the air a bit - and this is so frustrating to me.
I think paranoia and delusions are related. I find that my paranoia consists of delusions. I have never hallucinated. I currently have one delusion and that being I have memories of past lives. Other than that I have derealization, which is my worst symptom.
I was recently diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. I used to hallucinate a lot when I was younger, but haven’t for a few years. I still experience very intense paranoia, dissociation, and derealization. I do have a lot of invasive delusional thoughts, but I can generally recognize that they are delusional.
I often times question whether or not I am just bipolar and misdiagnosed, but I think that may be the delusion and/or paranoia talking. I’ve found that I definitely have SZA, but it was hard to arrive at that conclusion.
What helped me a lot was reading other people’s experiences with SZA. This three part article helped me a lot: part 1, part 2, and part 3. I kind of used it as a compare and contrast, looking at what I experienced differently and what I experienced similarly, going so far as to write it down.
If you still feel uncertain, then you could try getting a second opinion. I actually ended up going to a resource/research center for a psych eval that lasted the whole day before I felt confident in my diagnosis.
Wow, thank you for your post @uncripted - very informative.
The thing is that I have a lot of different kinds of symptoms, this is why my psychiatrist is having such a difficult time with a definitive diagnosis.
With that said, I personally feel that SZA and bipolar both fit - Getting the diagnosis just right might be almost impossible for the time being.
I also suffer from significant lack of motivation when not depressed, and this is closer to Schizoaffective than it is to bipolar.
Like i said before, she is leaning towards Schizoaffective a bit more - and this is fine with me - lots of Grey Area when it comes to my diagnosis - I am seeking perfection - dont thik that I am going to get it.
My aunt and cousin are both diagnosed with schizophrenia. They seldom hallucinate if at all. My cousin had autism too so that made her schizophrenia diagnosis hard to come by but she couldn’t deal with her illness and ended her life. My aunt is mostly just paranoid, and has very high anxiety. She refers to it as nervous energy. She has been off her meds for years but that makes her excluded from her kids.
