Diagnosis bingo

I was originally diagnosed with sz . Then I thought it was officially switched to sz-a although bipolar was mentioned. However just found form in my psych notes for an EEG from 2001 where I am described as having bipolar affective disorder . By early 2005 I’m listed as having schizoaffective mixed type. By the end of 2005 personality disorder NOS. Sometime after 2007/8 paranoid PD.
The only real thing that has changed over the course of 44 years is that I have gone at some point from acutely to chronically ill . Some symptoms have lessened while others have been more constant.

I think cases like mine, and others, show that diagnosis is a very inexact and subjective thing.
Some of us don’t fit neatly into any diagnostic label, couple that with pdocs with differing opinions as to what are ,or are not, your symptoms and it’s a recipe for playing diagnosis bingo.

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Three pdocs sat across from me arguing in front of me about what they figured could best explain me.
3 pdocs + 3 different Dx’s= a lot of head scratching and shoulder shrugging.
To top it off, the only thing they could agree on, was that it was past lunchtime, and they were hungry.
Cut to me sucking up spaghetti noodles with meatless sauce on at the same table as the 3 pdocs, who couldn’t agree on whether or not the spaghetti was just ok, or garbage.
Pretty typical in the my life.

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The most consistent issue stretching back way before I came under psychiatric services is social interaction difficulties. Less than a handful of friends over 60 years should’ve raised a red flag,if they were on the ball.

I think that is funny but its not. Just having professional argue on what you might have and then just agreeing it’s lunch time. Im sorry that happened to you. I get moments in my Life like that too alot

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i am lucky that i have only ever had 1 pdoc from the start and still have him today, Now his dx changed from bipolar, to bipolar with psychotic features, to a psychotic disorder to paranoid sz, to now sza bipolar type, But i think my illness was manifesting during that time and gradually getting worse,

i thought i kind of leveled off a year ago and got my meds right, but after a bit more stress my illness seems to be manifesting and changing over time. I have my paranoia under control though and thats the biggest thing for me besides the delusions which are a daily battle to stay grounded, Im happy to have a pdoc I trust and put all my faith in to help me and listen to his instructions and diagnosis implicitly. He has really brought me quite a long way in just a few short years after being completely unhinged for a few years without medication or a doctor, He commends me every visit for how far i have come in only 3 1/2 years.

I get discouraged with my back steps but he seems confident that i can still have a much better quality of life that i do now and he takes his treatment very seriously, If i do not obey his wishes or what he tells me to do, or even miss a visit without a very quick reschedule he will refuse to treat me, I stopped my meds a few years ago and stopped going to see him until dragged in by my wife when i was really psychotic and he threatened me and told me he can help me but i have to obey every command, which i now do, and he has really helped a lot., I have much more to go before i can even call myself stabel at this point but i feel like im on the right track, He has even called my probation officer and my ex’s lawyer yelling at them for setting back his progress with me when they were stressing me out. Its nice to have someone on my side who truly does care about his patients, I feel blessed to find him when first getting treatment and he has been right on every step of the way, I have his cell phone number and he always calls back and will talk to my wife for upto an hour in the evenings if im not doing well, and since my insurance doesnt cover two of my meds he gives me enough samples to live off of without any charge. He is a wonderful doctor but he says he treats me different because i dont lie to him and am completely truthful with everything, he actually talks to my wife more than me because i dont always see myself in my true form and can be quite delusional at times, so he uses her to get a good judgement on how im doing which has been a great benefit and most likely sped up my road to my recovery

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Why did they suddenly changed your diagnosis to a personality disorder?

Possible reasons/combination of reasons.

1)The new pdoc I had was big on PDs

  1. I was seen as an awkward patient for seeking more help and pdocs can be prone to rediagnosing such patients as PD.

  2. I said the meds only partially worked.

I don’t dispute that a PD dx might apply to some extent ie I’m quite avoidant but not as a stand alone dx.
The paranoid PD is a crock of shite . I’m prone to paranoia- yes- but I’m a fearful/avoidant paranoiac not the aggressive/confrontational type described for paranoid PD.

A problem arises when professionals are lazy and can’t be bothered to get to know you and go off half cocked when diagnosing you.

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that sounds terrible… but at the same time I love the story… couldn’t agree on a dx because they cant even agree on ■■■■■■■ spaghetti…

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One or more of them would probably have diagnosed the spaghetti as chicken chow mein.

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you made me choke on my vape smoke… that was hilarious… back on subject… my dx time has been rather short because of the stigma around psyche wards especially where I currently live… but mine doesn’t seem like bingo it seems like im trying to walk out of a store and the salesman is really good and keeps adding things to my bag…initially they sold me on sz… then added ptsd…then added d.i.d …then sold me the very vague upgrade to my sz to sz other…and before I got the hell outa there they added psychotic features of an unknown nature… so my bill of health…lol… comes out to be sz-other, ptsd, d.i.d, psychotic features of an unknown nature oh and severe anxiety which was free with my large purchase…

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Interesting, but I still don’t understand how could a PD substitute bipolar/sza.
Anyways I’ll be probably similarly trashed as a hopeless schizoid/depressed by the ‘insane’ psychiatrist of my psych ward, and yes it is very sad to be condamned to be a hobo.

I’ll not be a passive hobo, I’ll throw some strong firecracker outside of his house at night.

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Don’t get me started.
Every psychiatrist I have ever seen has been confused on diagnosing me.
It’s always a toss up between Schizoaffective and Bipolar, and now my current Psychiatrist feels that OCD symptoms are so prominent that it could be my primary diagnosis!

These doctors have no clue because the diagnostic system is flawed.

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A lot of people don’t fit neatly into the simplistic boxes pdocs construct for them.

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Wave we have the same problem!
My therapist told me the other day that she thinks that my OCD is so bad that I actually think I’ve had psychotic episodes when it’s really just OCD.
Of course that was false but OCD can be really serious. It’s the most disabling part of my illness.

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But if you thought you were psychotic but weren’t reckoned to be wouldn’t that prove you were delusional and hence psychotic?

i’ve had 8 different pdocs over the last 7 years. three within one year. and only the last three have agreed on a diagnosis. i’ve seen so many because i have been unhappy with the care of my doctors or i have moved. once a pdoc’s nurse told me they were canceling all my appointments because they said i was too difficult to manage.

Often means too intelligent and able to challenge pdoc/other mental health professionals positions. They don’t like that,

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i just asked a lot of questions, i didn’t agree with her lowering my latuda so quickly and taking me off amitriptyline

I have done some training in psychiatry and know quite a lot of trainee psychiatrists socially. A lot of them think if you don’t respond to meds I must be PD. That is a dangerous assumption to make in my opinion. Like you say it is lazy.

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Yea I didn’t do that justice as far as an explanation goes. It was all second hand psychobabble but the point was that OCD can mimic psychosis.