My mom discovered that our National Health Service website has the ability, with those readers for ID cards, to know our diagnoses. So we bought a reader, and to my surprise my official diagnosis is Paranoid Schizophrenia, I guess either my pdoc never changed it to Schizoaffective, or they don’t think that I am.
Maybe that’s why he so blantantly refuses to give me a mood stabilizer.
I’m more in peace with it now, I’m not suffering from great mood swings aside from a little depression, but nothing major.
Yeah, right now me too. When they said I had sza and didn’t prescribe me a mood stabilizer with my moods all over the place I was worried. Right now I’m not
Weird. My pdoc prescribed me a mood stabilizer in the beginning, even though my affect was totally flat. Guess these doctors like to take swings in the dark.
I was on mood stabilizers long ago. They didn’t help, but Seroquel did. My dx as far as I know is still undifferentiated schizophrenia, but I think I actually have a mix of bipolar II and schizophrenia.
I think it very much depends on how you present at the time and how the pdoc you are seeing places weight on the different symptoms you present with.
In my case after first hospitalisation I was diagnosed with sz and put on quite heavy doses of antipsychotic with an occasional antidepressant . That went on for for nearly 8 years when a change of ward and a new pdoc saw me taken off antipsychotics and put on lithium. The diagnosis over the next few years was variously debated as bipolar/schizoaffective. For the next nearly 16 years I was on lithium alone. Then it was lithium plus an atypical plus occasionally an antipsychotic. The diagnosis was settled as schizoaffective mixed type.
Then 11 years ago yet another change of pdoc saw my diagnosis change from schizoaffective mixed to personality disorder NOS. I was taken off mood stabilisers and indeed all psych meds for just over a year.
When I went back on meds it was on olanzapine,an atypical, as an antidepressant was rejected because of the possible effect on my moods!
Have been on a stand alone atypical ever since with a move to depot since 2009.
Sometime between 2007-2013 my diagnosis changed again to paranoid PD. What can be said is my illness at some point has, according to records, included anxiety,depression, mood swings,paranoid thinking,delusions, and what is loosely called ‘psychotic symptoms’.
All of which currently gets lumped,rather insufficiently in my opinion, currently under paranoid PD.
We should try to treat illness not its title…and sz is always sz…ha…my final diagnose is still to come…
gathering money for pdoc meet…see u guys soon…keep talking and keep writing …thxs…!!!
My GP keeps mine at schizophrenia. my Pdoc keeps saying it’s SZA for me. Getting to point I’m beyond caring on the diagnosis anymore. Although it’s hard to explain to others what’s going on.
Damn expensive one in OZ I’m telling you. I’m spending like $500.00 a month on it. My meds cost me like $7 a month each.
I’m looking into it atm. I’m in Western Australia. The law here is it’s illegal to sell but not buy. So finding a local source to get started is the problem. Did get one place that sounds like the place to start. I also have been given a good internet site to buy from. I guess the main problem is ordering it and wonder if I’m just going to lo hate it after spending tons of money on it. Ordering it in every month seems an issue also. But as I said I’m looking into it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I still have schizophrenia in my label even though I’m told I have bipolar 1. I don’t see a main difference other than less stigma attached to the new label and I don’t have hallucinations but more-so mania and depression as an adult.
