Misdiagnosis: Eight People Tell Their Stories

And then there are those like me, the 30 percent "untreatables" for whom no psychmeds work.  I was correctly diagnosed immediately as bipolar by a very perceptive pscychiatrist, but at the time, they gave out SSRIs to bipolars.  These did nothing, made me sick, or hypomanic for a time and then dumped back into depression.  Finally the pscychiatrist told me he couldn't help me.  I tried homeopathy for a year, which was a failure (although a very interesting one.  One remedy worked wonders and then fizzled out; then we tried about ten more, all of which made me sick in different and weird ways).  Then I was talked into a new psychiatrist, who gave me a huge amount of Prozac, which catapulted me into a three month high manic--a real disaster.  I went to my psychiatric appointment in the midst of it and the psychiatrist said I was fine and made no change in the meds.  No mood stabilizer, no suggestion I be hospitalized, nothing, although I was very honest about not sleeping and magical thoughts and how I really liked being like this, having left my husband, etc., etc.  Then after the nosedive down I went to another psychiatrist who put me on a slew of meds that did nothing, and which I threw out after a couple of years. 

The interesting thing here is that noone during this time tried lithium.  Everything I was given was always on-patent. 

A few years later I was manic, and back to a new psychiatrist, who continued to give me everything on-patent till none of those worked, then finally told me how wonderful lithium is.  It worked but blew out my thyroid.  Then we were onto atypicals and really bad side effects.  On Geodon I got lost in my own neighborhood and sudden intense sedation would come on suddenly at unexpected times, like when I was driving.  No discernable rhythm to this effect.  Then the other atypicals, which made me muddy and sleepy and did nothing for my depression, until my psychiatrist told me there was no help for me. 

What's the point of this story?  The point is that I wasted many years trying to get help where there was none, and I'm not an aberration.  The 30 percent untreatables aren't helped by a proper diagnosis.  I finally weaned myself off my meds and switched to lithium orotate, which can be taken in much lower doses and does not affect my thyroid, and St. John's Wort.  I'm better now than I have been in many, many years. 

We all know the score about the hope for new meds.  Not good.  But there are other sources of help from agents other than pharma's meds, and if we are going to disregard them because they aren't FDA approved or used by our psychiatrists, we have to wonder if most of Europe, as well as India, Japan, China--indeed most of the world--is merely deluded in thinking that there are options to help us outside of pharma's offerings. 

I hesitate to say this because I don't want to suggest that pharma's pscychmeds should be avoided.  They  help millions.  But I do mean to suggest that if they aren't helping you, and you've looked at all the psychmed options and your options and they've pretty much run out of possibilities, there's nothing to stop you from trying over the counter herbs and supplements, as long as you research them, know their risks, and research the brands--just as you should with the pharma meds.  It's your body, your mind, and your choice.  I would like to see our psychiatrists tell pharma that they'd like to date other people, to look at more options, and to start their treatments with the least risky options in terms of our overall health before they jump on the atypical bandwagon, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. 

I finally found some help, and hope it holds.  But I'm not saying alternatives are necessarily better than psychmeds, not for everybody.  I tried homeopathy and Chinese herbology and acupuncture, and they did not work for me.  Some people can't tolerate St. John's wort and for some it doesn't work, much like the psychmeds.  I would like to see more studies about lithium orotate, but from what I've been able to find out it's safe and it works for me. 

Getting better isn't about allegiance to one camp or another.  This is not a religion.  I am not antipsychiatrist, merely pragmatist. 

mostly all dr.'s say that i am bipolar, but some people seem to think that the dr. is wrong.  some uneducated members of society want me to think  that i am schizophrenic.  i am being treated in that fashion.  now i could deal better with my bipolar if that was how i was being treated, or better yet, like i is normal.  the therapies and meds are the same, so why does that make a difference to society?  i act like i am bipolar and i do, unfortunately, also have a psychosis--severely.  so what can i say?

darkangel 

I m 46 yrs old physician. I developed depressive symptoms at the age of 10, but did not get any medical help until I got worse and developed paranoid ideation and ideas of reference. I was diagnosed with MDD and statrted on tricyclics. with in 2 weeks I had a coplete recovery only to get a relapse with in 2-3 weeks. Then I developed hypocondriasis and would think that I have all the diseases that I would read in the book.I would go to Doctors after Doctors mainly for ressurence . I was a bright student but most of my time would be spent on doing blood tests and Doctors visits. I did Psychoanalitic therapy for 2 years and had some recovery. After that I was in dysthymic mood for about 4 years and then decided to move to US. I got a residency job but developed this extream fear that I wount be able to do it as my health is weak and the job is very tough. I had to come back and went in to the worst depresson of my life. I was started by another tricyclic and had a slow recovery. I came back to US due to the strong motivation of my family. I was in dysthymia again for one year and some how managed to go on. In 1994 I  was put on prozac with the diagnosis of MDD and to my surprize, everything changed for the better, I saw light for the first time and i thought I am a new person. i was full of energy and had super confidence in my abilities.One day there was a mishap with a patient and then there was prozac poop out. i went to depression again and stopped prozac.

After my residency when I statrted a new job, same thing happened,the feelings of incompetency and went to depression again. I was diagnosed with MDD again and restarted on prozac again. Got better with in about 6 weeks or so. During this time I made lots od irrational decisions as well. I left that job and went for a fellowship thinking that I can master it as the scope will not be broader. I had several bouts of depression during this time and used all SSRI's and SNRI's but nothing helped. Finally I was diagnosed with Bipolar by 2 different psychiatirst and used all the mood stabilizers but alas nothing helped. I finally decided to move back to my country of birth as stress will be less but the disease is not leaving me.

Now i am thinking to move back to US, may be there is some thing there. I have not used lithium, atypicals or MAo's. Can anyone help.

I was initially diagnosed as having major depression and anxiety. However, effexor and then zoloft  made the depression much worse, with suicidal thoughts. Seroquel just made me feel out of it all the time, even on very, very low doasage. Depacote seemed to help, but the depression was still there to the point that I had to go on medical leave. After leaving the dr who felt that depacote was the drug I needed, I saw another dr who put me on Lamictyl (which is what I wanted the previous dr to try me on) without even suggesting it. What a difference! A year on Lamictyl / Depacote combo, I still get somewhat anxious at times (at appropriate times though probably more than I need to) but the anxiety is manageable and the depression and sense of doom is pretty much gone. I took a new job several months ago, managing the stress of the newness, but happy in the new environment and in a new outlook on life.

Nothing gets the point across like true stories. Good job!