Did anyone else find that being diagnosed with schizophrenia made it easier to be taken seriously about other mental health issues?
I had tried many times to be treated for anxiety prior to my diagnosis of schizophrenia but was only given antidepressants. As soon as I was diagnosed with schizophrenia though I was given benzos when I said I also had anxiety.
Did anyone else get treated better once they got diagnosed? I may have lucked out and found a doctor who was good but I had bad ones when I was younger who didn’t listen much or take me seriously.
I kind of found the opposite. I turned up to a hospital once psychotic and suicidal and was just turned away basically. They didn’t believe me as I was able to hold a conversation. Incredible but true.
First Pdoc barely took my Sza symptoms seriously, basically put me on the lowest possible dose of the first med and told me to deal with it. Found one that is caring, has worked with my meds, and genuinely cares about my symptoms such as anxiety and depression.
It becomes easier when I found a Doc that clicked with me
I find I’m not taken seriously when I’m in crisis because I have flat affect. Appearing calm and unemotional doesn’t equate in their mind as being in crisis. It’s like yea I know I look fine but trust me if you saw inside my head right now you would be totally freaking out.
That is what surprised me so much. I was floridly psychotic in the doctor’s office and was not the best at talking and was taken seriously, I do forget though that the doctors probably have access to my medical history and could probably see that I had been on meds for anxiety in the past.
Panic attacks, I almost quit my job due to anxiety 2 years ago before I got it under control. I know benzos get a bad reputation but I have had my anxiety under control while on them and that is pretty hard to imagine other wise. Antidepressants well SSRIs specifically reacted really badly with me.
If your panic attacks are predictable and infrequent, it is not a bad treatment assuming you also only use the benzos irregularly.
If your anxiety is unpredictable, frequent or you use the benzos every day, it is really just a drug addiction with zero net anxiety treatment effect. The tolerance to benzos is complete with regular use and results in just as much increased anxiety as decreased anxiety (ignoring any placebo effects).
That’s terrible. With me I left the ae as I’d changed my mind so an ambulance actually appeared at my house cos I had already signed up at ae but not waited in the queue.
I didnt notice a change. The mental health workers in my old city are very very good. I was taken seriously the same now as i did when the doctors thought it was just depression.