7Sep/10Off
How often are people diagnosed bipolar1 and find out later they are actually schizophrenic?
Im diagnosed bipolar 1 with psychotic features or possibly schizoaffective disorder. Im wondering how often people are wrongly diagnosed bipolar when in fact they find out later they are schizophrenic? Personal experiences and insight appreciated,thanks.
September 7th, 2010 - 20:17
Actually–You would BE SURPRISED and UPSET! Both are very well treatable , or regulated I should say with medications. However–since the human brain is the final frontier–many folks are walking around suffering from both neurotic and psychotic disorders and the great portion of them ARE misdiagnosed. 1. Most doctors and psychiatrists are just in a hurry to shut their patients up so they diagnose anything and hand out pills (mostly in VA hospitals) OR 2. They really DO look down at patients who they deem as "beneath them" since they come from the world of academia.
EITHER WAY–WHEN you are treated correctly–PLEASE stay on the meds IF they work.
September 7th, 2010 - 20:17
I read before that the first psych diagnosis is correct only 1/3 of the time. So there is a good chance the diagnosis is incorrect.
If you only had mania when you were on antidepressants or stimulants like ritalin, or meth, then there is a good chance you don’t have bipolar. Antidepressants and stimulants are KNOWN to cause mania.
You are going to hear a lot of stuff about how you have to take your meds, you SHOULD take meds etc etc – I dunno anymore if that is true. the meds do not work nearly as well as you are told, not nearly as well – I check out the national institute of mental health studies. It’s so bad, i wonder, why bother? and the side effects are truly horrendous – antipsychotics have such severe physical side effects, they are estimated to shave about 10 years off your life. read "anatomy of an epidemic" by robert whitaker ( his website is madinamerica.com) for more info. Your library probably has this book. You will get plenty of pro-drug info from the doc and from the major media, but in the long term, it turns out the treatments are worse than the disease, and in fact, appear to be actually making these mental diseases worse, sorta like street drugs will mess up your brain. Read all you can and try to make your best informed choice on what to do to take care of yourself.
all the best.