Misdiagnosis: Eight People Tell Their Stories

Two days ago, as a Question of the Week, I asked:

Were you misdiagnosed with depression or something else? How long did it take before you finally received the correct diagnosis?

The eight responses I received so far are extremely illuminating, and serve as excellent case studies for what our population has to go through. Let’s go down the list, one by one:

Kad writes: “In the past I had been sort of diagnosed with depression by various doctors,” who gave her SSRIs, which never worked for her. Four years ago, a doctor diagnosed her with bipolar, but the meds made her feel worse. Another doc diagnosed her with a personality disorder, before yet another doc “officially” reinstated her as bipolar. She reports doing a 180 since being on lithium and three other meds. “I love having no money,” she concludes, “and my pills being so GD expensive ... too rich to get benefits, too poor to afford anything.”

Tabby rattles off a whole diagnostic cornucopia over 30 years since age 10: Recurring major depression, psychosis NOS, GAD, and PTSD. She was treated with the full range of psychiatric meds, of which none worked or that she developed severe reactions to, including antidepressants that “sent me soaring.”

In 2006, during the most recent of her five hospitalizations, she was diagnosed with bipolar II. According to Tabby: “When I was diagnosed, I did not doubt it. In fact, something within me deep down just clicked. I knew what I knew is what I knew to be true. First time in my life that this had happened. I knew what I knew to be true and accurate...”

Angieflowers reports how her diagnosis of chronic depression was difficult to accept, and when bipolar was mentioned, “I stayed in denial successfully with alcohol and pills.” Finally, during her third hospitalization, “I finally opened up a pamphlet on bipolar.” She took her meds as directed, and “I was able to see reason. ... I’ve been struggling with this disease for over 25 years since I had turned 16 years old and I was 40 when I excepted it as something I would have to live with and take care of for the remainder of my life. Life is good now.”

Princessjodi was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and then told she had no problems and “to just get over my fear.” She was finally diagnosed in 1999, but it took her nearly eight years to find the right meds cocktail. She has had no problems since.

Cretin experienced mostly depressions (the hypomanias were brief and didn’t seem to be a problem), and she was put on numerous antidepressants, “but all they did was make me cycle faster, so I was in effect more depressed than before the ADs.” After Remeron sent her into orbit, her doctor tried her on various mood stabilizers. Finally, her doc recognized psychotic symptoms and tried her on an antipsychotic, which “finally stopped the recurring depressions and quelled the psychosis and a very noisy mind. I am living better through appropriate chemistry.”