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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by SpacedOutKid on September 18, 2005, at 18:54:48
Hey all. This is my first post on this board. Ive been seeing a psychatrist for several years now and been on many medications.
I am confused as to what my diagnosis is.
I hear voices and halcuinate, am paranoid and so on. I have been diagnosed with Unipolar Depression and OCD but he says I have "psychotic features" and believes I have a psychotic disorder.
Im curious as to what that might be as I have looked up schizophrenia and I do not seem to fit under that label. Is there any other psychotic disorder I might fit under?
I also have delusions that people are doing things that are not true.
Thanks
Posted by xjs7 on September 18, 2005, at 19:07:50
In reply to My Diagnosis, posted by SpacedOutKid on September 18, 2005, at 18:54:48
Do you take antipsychotics and do they help with the voices/paranoia? That's all that really matters unless there is an underlying medical cause. Have you had a brain scan (MRI)?
Posted by ICanFlyButterfly on September 18, 2005, at 20:45:33
In reply to Re: My Diagnosis, posted by xjs7 on September 18, 2005, at 19:07:50
This is my first response to someone on babble. I hope that I can help ease some of your concerns. I too have recently heard voices and hallucinations - came on suddenly, doc's believe it may be post traumatic stress disorder...anyways, he put me on 2 mg of risperdone 3 x a day without any luck...then changed me to 15 mgs of zyprexa zydis. i believe this is working.... i too looked up all definitions and googled sczysophrenia (i can't even spell it)i found that i didn't quite fit the definition. best of luck and i hope you feel well soon!
Posted by SpacedOutKid on September 18, 2005, at 21:31:06
In reply to Re: My Diagnosis, posted by xjs7 on September 18, 2005, at 19:07:50
No i havent had an MRI/CT scan or anything like that.
I take a lot of medication, including abilify which was added recently. It has stopped the voices and the visual halucinations but i am still very paranoid. I still hear the voices a bit with regard to the paranoia.
Im so confused.Thanks and take care
> Do you take antipsychotics and do they help with the voices/paranoia? That's all that really matters unless there is an underlying medical cause. Have you had a brain scan (MRI)?
Posted by SpacedOutKid on September 18, 2005, at 21:31:58
In reply to Re: My Diagnosis, posted by ICanFlyButterfly on September 18, 2005, at 20:45:33
Thanks. I am taking Abilify. It seems to helping somewhat. Im just so confused with it all.
> This is my first response to someone on babble. I hope that I can help ease some of your concerns. I too have recently heard voices and hallucinations - came on suddenly, doc's believe it may be post traumatic stress disorder...anyways, he put me on 2 mg of risperdone 3 x a day without any luck...then changed me to 15 mgs of zyprexa zydis. i believe this is working.... i too looked up all definitions and googled sczysophrenia (i can't even spell it)i found that i didn't quite fit the definition. best of luck and i hope you feel well soon!
Posted by alexandra_k on September 18, 2005, at 23:23:46
In reply to My Diagnosis, posted by SpacedOutKid on September 18, 2005, at 18:54:48
> I hear voices and halcuinate, am paranoid and so on. I have been diagnosed with Unipolar Depression and OCD but he says I have "psychotic features" and believes I have a psychotic disorder.
Hearing voices, hallucinations, paranoia are typical psychotic symptoms.
There are a variety of psychotic disorders...
If the paranoia and hallucinations etc only occur with episodes in a mood disorder then you can get a dx of one or another mood disorder with psychotic features...
If the symptoms occur beyond the context of an episode in a mood disorder then there are a variety of dx's...
'Brief psychotic episode' if you have had those symptoms for a relatively short period of time, 'psychotic disorder' if the symptoms go beyond 'brief', 'psychotic disorder not otherwise specified' for people who have psychotic symptoms that don't fit into a more particular psychotic disorder category (such as schizophrenia) etc etc.
Which category you meet criteria for depends on a number of things... One of which is how you progress over time... Whether the anti-p's kick in and whether you are left with negative symptoms, or whatever...
I guess they are waiting to see how you respond to anti-psychotics.
Posted by DanielJ on September 19, 2005, at 10:18:19
In reply to Re: My Diagnosis, posted by SpacedOutKid on September 18, 2005, at 21:31:58
My son's psychiatrist diagnosed him as ADHD and Social Anxiety Disorder over 2 years ago. On the next visit he upped him to Acute Paranoia - psychosis. Abilify didn't work out for us but Zyprexa got rid of halluciations and most paranoia. Zoloft got rid of obsessions & fixations and some social anxiety. These medications are great once they are adjusted, but a little too much or not enough and results won't be good. It took about 3-4 months to get allthe medications to take effect and to figure out correct dosage. They call this process stabilization.
The Dr told us he uses the medications to treat the symptoms until they are controlled. Exact diagnosis is not as critical as with a physical illness since many MI symptoms are present in several different Mental conditions. Get an EEG which is a brain scan. My son got one to eliminate the chance he had a brain abnormality like a tumor. He was negative so we continued his meds and now 2 years later he is a High School Senior with a High GP average.
If your EEG is negative then you probably had an "episode". It might take you a few months to fully recover but the medications should begin to help more and more with time. Good Luck!
Posted by spriggy on September 19, 2005, at 12:50:11
In reply to Re: My Diagnosis, posted by DanielJ on September 19, 2005, at 10:18:19
How long have you had hallucinations and heard voices?
Have you had any recent stressful/tramatic events?
I have hallicuniated before but only when I was on SSRI's ( and once as a kid with a high fever).
Just wondering if some sort of medication could be making it worse..
I'msorry you are struggling, I know it must be tough. I hope you find relief from this soon and feel like a new person.
(((hugs)))
Posted by ClearSkies on September 20, 2005, at 6:36:46
In reply to My Diagnosis, posted by SpacedOutKid on September 18, 2005, at 18:54:48
BTW welcome to babble - I hope that you find this place a good source of support. There's a collective boat load of experience here!!
ClearSkies
Posted by Declan on September 20, 2005, at 19:35:54
In reply to Re: My Diagnosis, posted by DanielJ on September 19, 2005, at 10:18:19
In the 70s lots of people who would now be diagnosed as bipolar were dxd as schizophrenic. I knew two who died. They probably had suboptimal treatment, although the proper treatment didn't seem crash hot either. I wouldn't worry about diagnosis as much as symptom relief. Diagnoses come and go.
Declan
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