What do you do when your mis-diagnosed with a mental illness?

I know a little of how you feel. When my brother passed away and I completed the very rigorous freshman pre-med year at NYU, I found myself lost and a little depressed/finally coping w/brother’s death – I saw a commercial on TV for Paxil, went to my PCP and ‘asked for it by name’ – without diagnosing me properly (because I had no mental illness), he put me on 10mg of that stuff and subsequently, life has never been the same. It fucked with my neurochemistry and led to suicidal thoughts and horrible panic attacks (when I randomly decided to quit it cold turkey) and years of trying to heal my body through a different (and a much lower dosage) anti-depressant…so much so that now I don’t forsee myself ever getting off the very low dose that I am on because, as my psychiatrist keeps telling me, I can go back into ‘the darkness’ again if I have a physical event (like labor or the postpartum period) or a really traumatic event that sends my chemistry out of whack again and he wants me to be steady. I am sorry this happened to you, we live in an age where pharma rules and doctors/healthcare workers who aren’t qualified make the wrong decisions. So often there are solutions that are non-medical to our problems.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir thanks… At least I’m not alone…the sad part is I was training to be a psychologist…and I knew what was happening to me was wrong.

@talljasperman Well, that’s great – you will always be a better practitioner for the experiences you’ve faced. And a more careful clinician, at that.

it seems you are not in the US with how you worded the paragraph, so I don’t know if the system is different where you are. Can you see a differnt doctor? That is if your doctor is not willing to try a different med for you. None, of this will matter years from now if you turn things around. It will have just been a difficult time, especially since it all happened when you were young. I think having an atitude that you want to be better and more productive and that you get bad side effects from the meds is reason enough to try something else. You have to be willing to work if you get better, become a fuunctioning part of society. You can’t have it both ways. I vote for health both mentally and physically, over getting disability.

Does your family actually say they need your SS benefit? They would not prefer you get well? Or, you put that burden on yourself?

@JLeslie I was told that they can’t survive without my income…or me around and I can’t afford the rent of havinf a place on my own…some of my family thinks I’m well and doesn’t need any help… the rest are not in my life any more…

You can switch medications, volunteer to feel productive. Is your SSI permanent or will you be re-evaluated sometime in the future?

Talk to your SSI contact and let them know you want to try to work- there are certain restrictions but you are allowed to work a few hours a week. They will know the specifics.

@talljasperman Well, that is awful. This is your parents who said that? If you are working you will be making money also. @gemiwing had a good recommendation I think, maybe you can start by working for a few hours and not lose benefits and work on getting a better medication for yourself. What is your diagnosis?

@gemiwing My Social security is permanent as long as I continue to take medication and earn less than $400 a month. with the economy nobody in my town will hire me part time… I am looking into volunteering… I help out at a store for kicks

@talljasperman I hear you about the job thing. I volunteer online, in my own little way. It’s easier than getting out of the house, for me. Perhaps you could find a message board about a subject you know enough about and then spend a few hours a week answering questions and helping people.

@JLeslie Paranoid Schizophrenic… But My real condition is nothing like the textbooks I’m reading on the subject…I’m not Schizophrenic…

@gemiwing I fluther for the social contact and the feeling of purpose if brings… Lurve helps too

I see. Were you hallucinating either visually or auditory at the time of the diagnosis? Were you paranoid?

I’m not judging in anyway. Just curious if possibly you did have some of the symptoms.

I am paranoid/schizo and bi-polar – @talljasperman is just a lurve whore.

How did your family survive before you were on disability? Why are you on disability?

go to your doctor, be nice. really nice, not sarcastic. and show him this discussion.

@JLeslie I was angry and timid and I was full of regrets about the past

@perspicacious on day old food from stores and by living low in small cheap apartments…. I can’t afford my medications without disability…and If I stop taking them the gov can commit me without my consent

@talljasperman
So why do you think you were misdiagnosed?

@zenele lol

@perspicacious because I don’t have Hallucinations, or hear voices or many of the things I’ve studied in university taking psychology…I was just fed up with being bullied

Your thinking is the cause of much of your suffering, I see a victim attitude & lack of personal responsability.

I don’t believe that most people need medication for emotional and or mental problems, what they need is a new way of thinking and a rigorous discliplinary system to follow that holds one accountable for themselves.

Failing at university and refusing to pay your student loans, along with not working to avoid that obligation, well…I don’t think you are mentally ill, just immature and irresponsible.

Sorry to sound so harsh, but….just what I see.

YOU SET THINGS UP THIS WAY, and now you are playing the poor me card and wallowing in depression not because you are mentally ill but because you are reacting to lifes challenges like a 4 yr. old and refusing to own your own failures and make good on your debt.

Deciding you don’t want to pay your debts and falling into a mental health crisis…how convieniant to avoid taking action and cleaning up the mess you made all by yourself.

@Coloma It’s more complicated that that, but I understand what your saying…but you should know that Since I was a chlid I wanted my freedom…and I’m not finished with it yet….but mostltly I’m a Lurve addict

@talljasperman

It’s only as complicated as you want to make it.

I certainly am not privey to you and your dynamic but…part of what I am saying is absolutely true.

@Coloma I’m just trying to win the game of life… I don’t like losing….I’ll pay the student loans when I’m alowed back in university…you can’t pay squat when your doing dishes for a living….I’m so scared of losing everything…that I forgot to love what I do have… like the freedom to nap whenever I choose…

@JLeslie I was just pineing over my lost girlfriend and my failed attempt at university… I wasn’t going ape wild or anything that would indicate a mental illness beyond grief

@Coloma I feel that’s a bit harsh, to be honest. We don’t know @talljasperman ‘s symptoms or medical history. People who suffer from mental illnesses are not acting like children- they are ill. A new way of thinking won’t cure psychosis, for example.

@talljasperman Have you talked to your psychiatrist/therapist about how you feel you have been mis-diagnosed? I would recommend putting together documents, proof if you will, and present it to him/her. Show your mood journal, research you’ve done – complete with citations and tell them what you’re thinking. Diagnoses can indeed change over time.

@gemiwing thank-you I’ll try that… my mother wrote my psychiatrist to say that my diagniosis shouldn’t be changed every so often for it was messing me up… She belives I’m faking to write a thesis on mental illness….She’s studied psychology too…the university belives I’m suffering from Learned Helplessness.

@talljasperman I’ve always found the treatment more important than the diagnosis, for me. A diagnosis is just a word, most likely of Latin roots. Treatment is doing something about it. I try to not let the dx influence how I live. I hate being a label.

@gemiwing I feel strong enough to fight back… But the temptaition of not having to work for a living is well tempting me…I now understand what Glenn Beck meant when free money distroys a person…I like the freedom that comes with being labed… I can sleep all I want and eat what and when I please…no resposibilites… its what people hope to win the lottery to do…But I miss learnig new things and being useful…And I would like to have a family one day and a house, telescope, and my dignaty back.

@talljasperman I see. I think you should see another doctor for a second opinion. I went throguh a devastating time when I broke up with a longtime boyfriend. I couldn’t function well at all for several months.

I don’t know the complete answer to your question, but I can tell you this for sure: if your meds are making you vomit, then you’re on the wrong meds. Do everything to can to get a new doctor.

Support groups are very good—well, can be very good—at helping you work to get better, and finding better or different psychiatrists, and at offering suggestions about things that can help.

Drs are constantly changing diagnoses. Mental health diagnosis is as much art as science. The descriptions of the disorders leave plenty to be desired in terms of interpretation. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is whether your meds help you, and your therapy and other efforts are helping you.

As to money—well, I don’t understand your family situation—but I can see you don’t want to remain on disability for the rest of your life. I don’t think you really enjoy a life of sleeping late, doing little and feeling depressed.

If you work to get better, get an education and get work you love, your life is going to be so much better. It might be painful for a while, but I’ll bet you think it will be worth it.

I hate to be stating the obvious here, and I’m not trying to be hyper-critical. But, you mentioned that “the university” believes you are suffering from Learned Helplessness.

Obviously, a university can’t do anything but I’d be curious to know which PERSON at said university made that observation. What is their job title ? But that’s just a minor quibble. The phrase has resonance with the statements you make.

The main reason I ask is because that phrase “Learned Helplessness” sounds remarkably like the very point Coloma was making, just in a more abbreviated way. How is it any different from the essence of what she said ?

You also state that you are undecided about giving up the conveniences which your diagnosis affords you.

That’s really the first step here, isn’t it? You know in your heart that this diagnosis is wrong. and was at the time, but you’ve grown accustomed to the convenience which it affords you.

When you make up your mind, you’ll be surprised how that will clarify things. As long as you’re sitting on the fence as you are now, it doesn’t much matter what anybody suggests.

If I have misinterpreted what you have written about yourself, then let me know. But I think your first step out of this situation is for you to make a firm decision within yourself that you want to change the status quo.

Once you decide that, nothing can hold you back. Not parents, not a wrong diagnosis. Nothing. But you’re the only one who can make that decision. The govt. can’t force you to take medications. How would they know? If you gradually weaned yourself off of them, they don’t have spies sitting in your house. You have the right to decide what does or doesn’t go into your own body.

But, all that advice is useless at this point until you yourself decide that your freedom is worth more to you than the convenience to which you’ve become accustomed.

The ball is in your court, so to speak.

“What do you do when your mis-diagnosed with a mental illness?”

I go crazy on their ass.

BTW

I’m presuming that you are an adult. What’s the deal with your mother trying to tell your Psychiatrist what he should do about your diagnosis ?

WTF ? That is seriously messed up. Whatever happened to Dr. And patient confidentiality ?

If it were me, I’d find a different Psychiatrist fast. And I’d make certain that he had no contact with my mother and vice versa cuz she wouldn’t even know his name.

And just for curiosity, did you find out about this letter from him or from her ? And what was his response to her request ?

That is just so bizarre I don’t even know how to process that.

@Buttonstc

Well said.

@gemiwing

I agree it did sound rather harsh, but, I did point out that while not privy to all the conditions of the situation I would only stand by the half that is also, what I see, another huge component to the mental diagnosis dilemma.

I also mentioned that I understood and am respectful of actual brain chemistry issues, if that is, infact, the case for this person.

Though there is much truth IMO, that far too many ‘mental health’ issues are really just manifestations of emotional and spiritual immaturity.

However…I offer my apologies if my no-nonsense approach seemed too razor edge.

@talljasperman look at the history you described in your question above. There is something not working right with you. You seem to respond very self-destructively to situations.
1. you had a little hiccup at school and ‘gave up on the system’ [instead of trying to fix it you started lying and became depressed]

2. you flunked out and took it badly and wouldn’t pay your loans [instead of negotiating with them to lessen or delay payments due to poverty and because you had no work]

3. you found work but wouldn’t continue because your wages were garnished [cutting off your nose to spite your face as you needed the pay you did receive and did owe the money]

4.You went to a social worker and presented such dire distress and rage that she may have feared for your or others’ safety [if you present that you might harm someone or yourself, a doctor and maybe a social worker, is legally required to send you to a hospital—this would be the first step in an involuntary commitment if you don’t go voluntarily]

5. the only choice of action you have come up with is to run away [rather than see your doctor about different meds and start working on getting a job again]

Note: if you run away from your mother’s home regardless of her financial circumstances, it is very likely you could become homeless, driving you further along a mental illness path
————————————
So frequently you talk on here about wanting to get ahead but you do nothing constructive. Are you just looking for sympathy? Yes, your life is tough, but you keep making it worse.

You sound unstable to me. Maybe you are not hallucinating because you are on the meds. The worst thing someone with chemical imbalances can do is to assume they no longer need meds when they begin to feel better.

You need a new doctor. That is really your best and only option at this point. Do not let armchair psychologists and psychiatrists give you a diagnosis.

@talljasperman you have brought this same material up on a thread about getting a financial advisor and on a thread about entering politics. It seems facing your situation realistically is too painful, but somehow you, with a good doctor and therapist, must do it.

@all I have a Dr. appointment on July 12 I’ll update then…feel free to give me Lurve and answers in the mean-time. I’ll be poking around until then

I’ll jump on the “blame yourself” bandwagon. @talljasperman try blaming yourself for everything for a day or two. see what life is like when you do that. and by “blame yourself” what I mean is, see your anger, your pride, your greed, your laziness, your lying, your vices as the problem preventing you from moving forward.

Yours is a classic sort of story I’ve personally been looking for: A clear cut example of someone who lived their life so wrongly that they caused their own depression. And I’d like to see you be the other example I’m looking for: A clear cut example of someone who cures their depression simply by changing the way they react to stimuli.

Your life is the product of the way you live it. Think about that. Your life, in the present, is the result of having lived your life, as laid out in your story, in the past. This means you’re not a victim, it means you’re the director. What you have to do is quit living your life your current way. Live it a different way. You have to admit that this ship you’re on isn’t being manned by a captain who knows wtf he’s doing.

Quit trusting your own ideas. They suck. Start listening to the advice of those who know how to live the kind of life you admire.

@ninjacolin

ZING!

@ninjacolin So you want me to become Catholic Again?...I know plently about blame. I’d rather be free from it…But good point, my little hiccup happened when I stopped being religious and became an atheist; At least I got a good laugh from your answer.

I want you to choose a list of people whose lives you admire and can learn more about.

And since you mentioned it.. sure, if you want you can even include Jesus as one of those people. I mean he was a good character. regardless of whether he was real or not. There’s lots of people we can (and probably should) learn from. Some are celebrities, some are in our friends and family, some are from history and some are fictional. Pick up some books, take someone for a beer, take an interest in a diversity of admirable people, listen to their ideas, try their advice; Form a new way of life from what you learn about how others live life well.

@ninjacolin I’m leaning towards Scott Adams

Weird, I just learned a whole bunch more about that dude than I ever needed to know. Sounds like a good start. Me and his comic never got along too well. I loved it but somehow I always expected it not to be good. Often pleasantly surprised I guess. I like his rapsheet on wikipedia.

Take some time off the adrenaline and just cruise for a bit learning and observing how learning affects your thoughts and behavior. Grow a new you. Keep your sources diverse. Give it a year or so. Stay open with your doctors and reason with them calmly. Demonstrate that you respect them and they’ll respect you back. That’s the way life works, gotta give first before you get. And for the love of god, learn how to be and then be pleasant (but not intrusive) with everyone you meet. It makes a noticeable difference.

I have a referal…. so I go to the next step…

@talljasperman Scott Adams invests in BP and other hated companies.
His money-making approach here.
Maybe another role model?

I’ve requested info on a Cartooning course…I’ll save up for it…. it my B-day on the 28th

I moved to a new community… In real life and Fluther is where I would like to be in cyberspace.

I never took the cartooning course, but I have a warm bed and I m grateful.

This was a long time ago. What do you think of all this stuff today, talljasperman?

It’s all drama I find it hard to read (i’m rambling ). I would rather just eaten a big mac and taken a warm shower.