I have bipolar and SCHIZOPHRENIA.
My current psychiatrist and therapist have it all wrong.
People with bipolar disorder function.
I am not functioning!
The schizoaffective diagnosis that my last psychiatrist and therapist gave me was correct.
Even the psych hospital got it right!
Both schizophrenia and bipolar can function if they want. We can see such people who function like normal people. With few exceptions like hospitalized cases majority of mental disease individuals have the potential to lead a normal life and it all depends on the individuals attitude on how they see the disease. They have a choice either to give their best try to function or consider the mental disease as an excuse for every problem in their lives.
Yeah I’m sorry wave. I have found these people to be idiots and not really know what they are talking about. Psychiatry is a frowned upon medical field. The best and brightest people that want to study medicine study a different field. They won’t even consider this field.
Exactly if consider the PG entrance rank list psychiatry is the least preferred one and usually taken by ones who got last ranks. But few ones also there who choose because of interest in the field and if your doctor is one among it you are lucky.
Negative symptoms is what making it difficult to function. Positive symptoms can be managed by anti psychotic medications. Needless type or increase in dose of these medications can result in negative and cognitive symptoms as dopamine is needed in required amounts and only excess need to be reduced with APs.
Need to make sure that your AP is not contributing your negative symptoms. Ask doctor to try other APs. Certain APs not cause much negative symptoms but its dopamine blocking ability might be less in lower doses. One such is aripiprazole (abilify).
Oh, one doc thought the schizoaffective disorder for me too… But i have paranoia and negatives too… Some say mania is not always fun. You could be aggressive in mania, or irritable if i am not wrong… i dont function a lot either…
I remained ill for very long, it sucks… One doc told me right away that its not depression what i have. I am still freaked out by the more serious diagnosis…
Well, abilify didnt succeed to me either. It made me more agitated and anxious… I keep my zyprexa too and i push myself for the negatives… But i was so low, that i still dont feel how to arrange well my meds…
sorry if i enter in this thread now… I am strange tonight. Hugs wave