Do you agree with your diagnoses?

Bipolar, borderline, ptsd, gad, mental issues, Retreat

24 Followers · 24 Items

Holly J

Saved 10/25/07 to Bipolar, borderline, ptsd, gad, mental issues, Retreat

Do you agree with your diagnoses?

Ok everyone.
We have all gone to doctors who told us we had certain mental health issues,disorders,whatever. If your like me, you have been diagnosed with a bunch of crap. Do you tend to believe the doctors diagnoses or only some of them. I had a few doctors tell me I was bi-polar (complete bull), I had one said I was fine (uh..doc, when you smash your own hand at 12 just to get out of piano class, your mos def not normal in the head), and I had one doctor tell me they thought I was borderline, which after much research, I agree with.

How about you guys???
Share your stories
wish these meds were available

Saved to

Bipolar, borderline, ptsd, gad, mental issues, Retreat

MISSREZNOR2U 5 years 26 weeks

I agree with my doc. I was diagnosed with GAD/Panic Disorder. I have been this way for YEARS. My mother passed when I was 9 so I have had lots of anxiety about lots of crap since I was around 10. Just recently got put on Lexapro(which is great), Xanax( which is GREATER) and Klonopin(which is OK). peace. Mindy

notoriuskitty 5 years 27 weeks

I was diagnosed with IBS and that's the only thing I have been diagnosed with that I believe. All the doctors want to do is diagnose you and give you medication so they can make more money. well... that's what i believe. I was also told i had anxiety and they gave me depression pills saying to take them for three months but then said, ya know you should just take them through winter. what?! i hate doctors AND insurance!

hihowareya 5 years 28 weeks

It's tough with the 'self-research' thing that Holly mentioned in a response. It's certainly necessary for many, who are capable of doing such research (sometimes, a patient might be so far removed from reality, for example, that this would prove futile). But with the information that is accessible to patients, it can be sometimes difficult to fully understand and there's always incorrect or mis-reported information that's the most easiest to get right on the Internet. It's a mixed bag with what's out there on the web, but also of course it is actually nice to be able to hear 'real-life' documentations of people's experiences with certain medications or conditions or whatever. But I, too, come from a psych education background, but more the neruopsych part since I hate theory, and I really wish more people could be informed and try to best understand what exactly the doctor(s) think is the problem and what drug(s) are being prescribed and how they are thought to act. Psychiatric conditions, like other diseases, are like puzzles, and it doesn't just have the be the doctor's job of trying to solve it, and it helps immensely if the patient can understand a lot of what the doctor's puzzle pieces mean in order to solve ones broken brain.

hkmarks 5 years 29 weeks

(Note: I'm a psychology major.) Psychological diagnosis is a tricky discipline and family doctors aren't all experts in it. If your doctor diagnoses you with any disorder, it helps to read up on it and figure out if it really describes you -- especially before taking any medication! Some of that stuff is nasty! If you read about a disorder that seems like it describes you, talk to a psychologist about it. Some psychological disorder descriptions are a bit like horoscopes -- aspects seem to fit with almost everyone. For example, one symptom of depression is losing interest in something you used to like -- but you might not be depressed, you might just be tired of it. A psychologist can suss out whether you really have it, or maybe suggest an alternate diagnosis. Depending on the diagnosis, they can recommend treatment (though they may not be able to prescribe drugs). If you go to a therapist, go to one who takes a cognitive-behavioural or skills training approach rather than psychoanalytic. C/B has a lot of evidence backing it up, but Freud's famous couch-talk style is a waste of time for almost everyone. In the past I've been diagnosed with depression, social phobia, ADD, and a couple of different learning disabilities... but I think the one that fits me best is avoidant personality disorder -- which I've never been formally diagnosed with. Doctors can only diagnose you based on what they learn in the hour or so they spend with you. You know yourself better than they ever will.

Holly J 5 years 29 weeks

Whoa! Thats awful!!! I hear what everyone is saying. I am a firm believer in self research, before you go buying everyting the doctors try to sell you about yourself. I meet people all the time who soposedly have some "mental problem" and as a person who has been diagnosed with a few probs of their own, let me just say it that I am beginning to think that many of us just feel like shit because we aren't trully happy with our lives, but don't know how to fix it. Society trains us to fake smile our way through life and suck it up, and maybe sad people are just more honest because they refuse to live a lie. I don't know. I mean, I think there are lots of reasons why people feel like shit (childhood trauma, ect) and all thay shit certainly plays a factor in who you grow up to be, but I notice for the most part, doctors don't care about your backgrounf. They jsut ask you about your history to make sure your not allergic to the meds they want to proscribe you. Thank goodness for the self help section, right!?!?! PS..Try nurse practicioners every now and again. I had a very good one, and she was like a shrink and she really helped me.

charleney_2k 5 years 30 weeks

ohh yeah...i learned the hard way not to just go along with what the doc says-- most recently my psychiatrist. i told him repeatedly--- every six weeks!-- that my meds were not helping me, with some debilitating side-effects. yet every time he just added ANOTHER pill, until i was on FOUR at ONCE... until finally my counselor got him to send me for a sleep study, which came back "highly abnormal." my psychiatrist just wanted to medicate me to death and never tried to ask: what else could be the problem? all i ever talked about was sleep problems and being exhausted all the time, but so many doctors just label that "depression" and throw a pill at you (this has ben going on for YEARS with me, incl when i lived in VA). my counselor thinks the sleep disorder they now think i have prob CAUSED the depression (makes sense since sleeping your life away does not inspire happiness...) but the psychiatrist AND counselor actually admitted to me that psych conditions (the causes, why drugs work exactly) are still basically a mystery to doctors and that the whole thing is pretty much a huge experiment with the patient as the guinea pig! not something they advertise on tv, eh? there's no specific physical test they can give you to say whether you are bipolar, depressed, schizophrenic, etc...it's all based on what the doctor "judges" you to be. better HOPE he or she is intelligent, and that you're not just another patient the doctor wants to cram in today (and not really LISTEN to) just to rake in more insurance money! (and i am actually somewhat of an optimist! but some things you have to learn the hard way :( )

7kimba7 5 years 30 weeks

It's almost frightening how different doctors can give you such different diagnoses. Doesn't give me too much faith in their diagnostic criteria!

aimeeb 5 years 30 weeks

I have seen doctors before and left feeling like "wtf" just happened. When I've had to see an on call because my regular one was booked, it's an experience. I had sun posioning once and left with nothing, no fix. Then I had to go to the ER it was so bad and they were shocked at the treatment I was given before. As far as mental diagnosis I'm not sure. I had to delve into that last yr, but it was pretty much a case of depression. Although I do have to say the focus (or so she thought) that it was caused by was soooo off base and almost comical.