I was recently discharged from the home treatment and on my discharge paper said paranoid schizophrenic. Im not sure whether i actually havd it or not. Im afraid to ask.
Has anyone been diagnosed on paper but not been told?
They labeled me with a bunch of stuff at first and didnât tell me about it.
The moment my doctor decided to give me the dx he let me know.
No Doctor ever told me I was schizophrenic. I read it on an insurance form I had to complete for my employer.
I had pretty much never been told anything other then I had negative symptoms of schizophrenia. About 2011 I asked my doctor her reply âYou really have to many diagnosis, each time we see you you show different symptoms and Iâm unsure that your even Schizophrenic today"
Feb 2012 I was hospitalized. Later sent to my GP to cover repeat scripts. First thing he did was print out a GP medical plan the diagnose on it was Schizophrenia.
Just over a year later. Hospitalized again. Back to the GP. I was trying to get a Medicare referral to see a new therapist. So he printed out the letter from my pdoc from the last hospitalisation The diagnosis on that was schizoaffective disorder with narcissism traits.
Sometimes our dx are just like a box chocolates. You just never know what your gonna get. Sometimes we are better off not knowing. We do all have other symptoms at different times so makes it hard to get a correct dx. I guises there is also some rationalizing to get us help and support also.
The main thing that is the doctors main concern is that the meds are helping. Also all you really need to worry about from your pdoc.
They brought me in a big room to tell me and had my wife come in. There were three psychiatrists in there and one physician asst. I was in the hospital. They made a big deal of it and I think they were expecting backlash. But I didnât know what sz was so I didnât really know what to think. Later my main doctor let me read his DSM manual. That was my intro to a sz diagnosis.
My very first psychiatrist diagnosed me on paper (for Insurance purposes) with Anxiety NOS - But later told my Mom that I had Schizophrenia - this was my first DX.
Psychiatrists have their reasons for not telling us the whole picture, they sometimes feel that its not in our best interest to know the entire truth - sometimes they are confused or hesitant themselves.
Hiding certain diagnoses like borderline and schizophrenia is actually pretty common among certain psychiatrists and therapists.
It is our right to know what the pdoc is thinking - even when he or she is confused or uncertain about a dx - we have the right to know their feelings on it.
My current psychiatrist admittedly told me that my diagnosis was not a clear cut simple one - for now she mentioned that I have a lot of OCD mixed in with my bipolar, and this seems to be complicating the picture significantly.
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Yes when i was first discharged from hospital, my sickline read something about mental illness. But after a while and my second trip to hospital it read multiple schizophrenic disordersâŚI still donât know the specifics as Iâve never wanted to askâŚFeels kinda disrespectful on behalf of our psych/doctors in my opinion 
Thatâs exactly what happened to me, discharged, never told, then found out when I went to my âregularâ doctor to get my prescription.
You know I think my diagnosis on paper to the insurance companies is Schizoaffective but she tells me that I have Bipolar - Something very Fishy is going on
I was told face to face , without my parents , etc.
I get care at the VA. I ordered my last 2 months of medical records and the words: âschizophrenia, depression, and anxietyâ were written on almost every page. But, when I confronted my pdoc on the subject of my diagnosis, he said that I was âschizoaffectiveâ. So, what to believe? I just call myself sza because that has been my diagnosis for the last 21 years, so, why change it now?
I was hospitalized at 20, but it took me another 18 years to get a diagnosis to my face. Even then, my DX has changed three times from doctor to doctor.
Drâs told everybody but me. The first time I saw it on paper it was from âmyâ lawyer and sz was the reason I had to drop my lawsuit against my former employer (for stress and harassment) The lawsuit was his idea to start with. I canât stop wondering- why didnât he just tell me to start with " I didnât have a case " instead of dragging it out for 5 years telling me I did. The Facts of the case did not change and will never change and they are easily verified.
when i was first sick i was going to a clinic, they never specifically told me my diagnosis. It wasnât until i told my case manager that i didnât know my diagnosis that she typed some stuff into a computer then showed me my diagnosis. âBorderline personality disorder with psychotic NOSâ itâs changed since then but thatâs okay.
Thank you for your responses.
I find it shocking that doctors donât tell you your diagnosis, and so leave you out in the cold without even any reading material to orient you on your condition. You should be given a leaflet, especially about such a complex life changing condition as sz. It was no different for me though, I read my diagnosis off my doctors notes which were lying on his desk.
You need to insist that the pdoc notify you about things like that. That dx could have repercussions if youâre ever hospitalized again. It has legal repercussions, like if the police pick you up for a minor offense like jay walking they might decide to take you to the hospital.
I was told flat-out face to face by my evaluating psychiatrist and it definitely gave me the feeling that at least someone knew what was going on.