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SIXLUCY
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 14, 2008
Age: 31
Posts: 895
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 Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:31 am Post subject: I |
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Ive had the schitzo labels put on me and I hate them
One thing I have been told though is that if you are on the autism spectrum you are much more likely to develop a mental illness like schizophrenia
My sister has serious type 1 Bipolar Disorder
My newphew has Bipolar Disorder
My Dad (now deceased) as a result of drug overdose had Bipolar disorder and had grandiose delusions and shock treatment.
My parental uncle shot himself in the head with paranoid schizophrenia and the list goes on further down the family tree
Thats why I dont smoke pot..
It makes you think in this completely different world and psychic powers hit and all time SIX and I think I'm a Witch (though I dont want to be) It is scary  |
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SIXLUCY
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 14, 2008
Age: 31
Posts: 895
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:38 am Post subject: I |
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I tell ya..
i dont know about residual type schizophrenia but you would know if you had chronic schizophrenia or Professionals would, there would be no argument (for sure) |
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MariaRenee
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Mar 14, 2008
Posts: 49
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| Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:29 am Post subject: |
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A couple posts back- You're confusing schizoid personality disorder and schizophrenia. They are different. There are three personality disorders with some similarities to schizophrenia- schizoid, schizotypal, and paranoid.
Autism is often mis-diagnosed as schizophrenia because schizphrenia has both negative and positive symptoms, and there are many sub-types of schizophrenia. It is the negative symptoms that are difficult to differentiate from autism.
Negative symptoms are primarily avolition, (a lack of any meaningful self-motivation), flat affect (litte expressed emotion), and complete social withdrawal. Schizophrenics can also become completely catatonic- which can manifest as either increased motor activity or decreased motor activity and posturing.
So, that's the reason why it's sometimes difficult for doctors to tell them apart, but it is very true that because autism is a developmental disorder a competent doctor shoud ask questions about social and language development as a child. |
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catspurr
Phoenix
Joined: Jan 16, 2008
Posts: 781
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:38 am Post subject: |
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I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia when I was 12 and that same year when sent back they seemed confused and said "maybe it's early stages of bi-polar"
Later on was diagnosed with aspergers by both psychiatrist and psychologist although the psychiatrist just said autism and the psychologist said aspergers. |
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kitty2
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jul 22, 2008
Posts: 151
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| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:45 am Post subject: |
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I am quite amazed by people getting misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. I never paid any attention to this in context of Asperger.
My dad was paranoid schizophrenic and also had some sort of multiple personality disorder too. That resulted in a very scary child life. I developed amazing 'survival' strategies and just saw my dad as a (dangerous) strategy game.
I was put in a psychiatric ward for some time. This was early 80s.
I was scared being diagnosed with schyzophrenia but I haven't, after lots of tests I had in hospital. I mentioned the results of the tests in the getting to know each other bit. The results of the tests were generally/roughly: extremely stubborn, very ego centric, lacking social abilities (socially clumsy) and an IQ of 134.... I don't think I was really labelled with anything. I just always was/felt different than other people. For years I was scared to become schizophrenic. I avoided psychiatrist/psychologist/doctors because of my bad experience in hospital. I still don't like doctors. And I don't do drugs.
Not long ago my mum found out she is an Aspie. We never really talked about stuff till recently. I am in my late 30s now... and I am quite sure that I am an aspie too and seriously thinking of getting diagnosed, but with all this misdiagnosis I am not so sure anymore... It seems very bad and stressful to be misdiagnosed.
Is there any way to prevent taking the risk of getting misdiagnosed? |
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nominalist
This WP Supporter climbed the pecking order ;-)
Joined: Jun 29, 2007
Age: 52
Posts: 1691
Location: The Kansas suburbs of Kansas City (originally from NYC)
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| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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| kitty2 wrote: | | Is there any way to prevent taking the risk of getting misdiagnosed? |
Even in the best of possible worlds, there is no way to prevent it, since psychiatric and psychological diagnoses are highly subjective procedures. A way to perhaps minimize it is by making sure that the therapist is specifically qualified in "pervasive developmental disorders."
_________________
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The League to Fight Neurelitism: http://neurelitism.com
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Portal to my 24 domains & 21 sites: http://markfoster.net |
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dktekno
Snowy Owl
Joined: Dec 04, 2006
Posts: 132
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| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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You can have Aspergers Syndrom and then develop Schizophrenia later in life.
You can also have Aspergers Syndrom with symptoms that make you mentally unstable, which in turn can give you delusions and psychosis similar to Schizophrenia, but without the schizophrenia gene.
In the latter case, psychiatrists talk about Aspergers Syndrom turning into Schizophrenia, but infact it has nothing to do with actual schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is caused by a specific gene that is inherited from the patient's parents or grand parents.
Mental instabilitity can cause schizophrenia-like symptoms too. Many people with Aspergers Syndrom are more volnurable to become mentally unstable, thus causing "schizophrenia".
Though it really doesn't matter what cause the Schizophrenia-like symptoms, as the only treatment available is anti-psychotic drug treatment, wether or not the schizophrenia-symptoms are caused by Aspergers-related mental instability or the gene responsible for "real" Schizophrenia. |
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MariaRenee
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Mar 14, 2008
Posts: 49
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| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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There is no "schizophrenia gene". There are some single-gene disorders, but schizophrenia is not one of them. There are twin and family studies that suggest a genetic link to schizophrenia, but that does not mean that a single gene has been identified. I am not sure that any genes have been identified at all at this point. It also does not mean that schizophrenia is soley a genetic disorder; monozygotic twin studies suggest environmental triggers which are thought to probably be prenatal.
"Mentally unstable" is not a clinical term, so it is difficult to know what that is supposed to mean.
While it is certainly possible for people to be diagnosed with both autism and schizophrenia, recent studies have not demonstrated a higher prevalence rate of schizophrenia in autistic patients. There was a recent study that demonstrated higher rates of schizophrenia in first degree relatives of people with autism, though, which is interesting. |
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elizabethhensley
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Sep 25, 2007
Posts: 34
Location: Williston, Florida
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| Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:29 pm Post subject: Re: Asperger's Syndrome or Schizophrenia? |
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Yes and it was horrible because it went in my medical records and I could not get health care. I have sleep apnea. I figured it out in Jr. High but was 32 before I could get it diagnosed and treated. Thank God a clinic lost my child hood medical records.
I told an internist that my breathing was stopping on me while I slept. H e made some comment about the cross I had around my neck. I told him that, "yes I am a Christian."
He asked me if I would be willing to see a psychiatrist. I naively and cheerfully said yes because I thought they were good judges of moral character. The shrink asked me what was bothering me, "I said my breathing is stopping on me while I sleep."
He said that was impossible!
I said, "NO it is not. It is called sleep apnea and I have it."
But he had never heard of it despite it being described in a book out to the general public!
He also thought it strange that I believed in God and was writing a book about Heaven. Its a good book. You can read it here. http://www.gigglesfromheaven.org I found out later the internist who referred me to him was an Atheist and he committed suicide. Why? I don't even have enough gas to get into town and its only the 8th of the month. I've been in severe pain much of my life and have the usual Aspergian isolation. But I'm still here. My faith has kept me alive. He was a doctor, had lots of money, no doubt had good social skills, and bumped himself off.
The shrink put me on an antipsychotic called mellaril which I took voluntarily for two years until I found out about tryptophan because it at least knocked me out and gave me the illusion of sleep. I found out later it could have killed me. It can be death for someone with untreated sleep apnea to take a sedative.
Ironically an antidepressant called Surmontil which does not lower REM sleep would have helped me. But because of that and one other traumatic experience where the doctor informed my parents that my allergies were psychosomatic and could not possibly be making sleep apnea worse, I did not go to a psychiatrist again until I was 32 and could go on my own so I didn't risk being committed. Being in a mental hospital would have killed me. They allowed patients to chain smoke back then. I would have been locked up with wall to wall chain smokers with no way to get away from them and all it takes is one whiff of tobacco smoke to stop up my sinuses and make my sleep apnea much worse and I have migraines when I don't get enough sleep! And of course because of my "weirdness" they would not have let me out! When I did go to a shrink, I went knowing I had depression. I continued seeing shrinks for antidepressant medication for decades because it does help, but no one figured out I was was an Aspergian until I was 49 years old and I figured it out for myself.
| 4Five9 wrote: | Hi,
I'll try to keep this succinct as possible. For many years I struggled with social interactions and what seemed to be a lack of emotion. I'm incredibly introverted and hate attention in any way. From the age of 4 I've struggled with ever increasing depression and anxiety and have suffered total breakdowns. I was always an incredibly bright child, intense and had a brilliant agile mind. I was also a maths prodigy.
The first major breakdown after years of holding it off was at the age of 17. I went through a great deal of psychiatric treatments and my diagnosis ranged from Dysthemia to Paranoid Schizophrenia to eventually 'a personality disorder susceptible to mental illness'. I was put on a huge variety of medications and none of them had even the slightest effect on my problems other than sedating me.
Eventually I pretended to be better, stopped all medication and got on with my life as best as I could. Now at the age of 31 I felt it all getting to breaking point again and went to see my doctor. They asked if I'd heard of Asperger's Syndrome, which I had since I'm actually a secondary school teacher who has a lot of dealings with SEN kids. She basically went into details over the disease and I went into a state of shock for a couple of weeks. Finally it started to all make sense, all of the problems I've had throughout my life fell into place. A psychologist confirmed a lot of my problems are due to Asperger's but also looked at temporal lobe development inbalances stating that also might be a cause (underdeveloped left temporal lobe to a supercharged right side lobe).
I've been referred onto a first port of call psychiatric clinic due to the fact I haven't been able to take this very easily. Immediately they started talking in terms of schizophrenia again which made me quite mad, I can't take the continual changes in diagnosis. I explained how I feel it's Asperger's and gave assurances of my rationality, they've since backtracked and are helping me with social interactions (having me learn jokes and go to the public library).
I guess my questions are, has anyone else had a similar experience with being misdiagnosed schizophrenic?
Addendum: Don't laugh at my choice of being a teacher, it was done to try to force myself to get over my social deficiencies! |
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tahloola
Velociraptor
Joined: Jul 02, 2008
Age: 52
Posts: 441
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| Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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I'm gonna go out on a "limb" here.....
it sounds to me that you are totally "knowledgeable" about who you are and "what" you are going through...
I don't think you require "quasi-experts" to fill you in.....it sounds to me that you can do that for yourself...
I mean....what it really boils down to is:
we can.........all read psch manuals....till our eyeballs drop out....and some of us may or may not have degrees....but - "so what!"
Eight years ago....I took a dear friend of mine to the hospital because he was complaining of severe pain in his back by the shoulder blades.....
he was on on his knees and crying.....
after waiting hours in the emergency waiting area....
he finally saw a doctor.
The doctor examined him and told him that he had a strained muscle and prescribed pain killers....
and then I drove him home.
He dutifully took the medication....and layed down in bed....
.....meanwhile....
I was frantic....."feeling in my gut" that something was very wrong....
so I called the pharmacy....and spoke to the pharmasist".....trying to get re-assurance....
and they fu**ing re-assured me....
so....
I told my friend I loved him....and said "good-night"...
and the next day...
he was not here anymore.....
look...
you've gotta trust yourself....you're own gut...
screw....the idiots who read books...and get degrees....and think they know all that....
maybe they know a "little"....
but when it comes down to it...
it's your life - not theirs - and they don't give a sh**t!!
trust yourself!!!
we're all a little fu**ing nuts anyway.....just give yourself hugs...love...and trust...
and the "so-called" professionals" can go and take a sh**t in their hats!!!  |
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Zonder
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 23, 2008
Age: 44
Posts: 794
Location: Great Lakes
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 6:35 am Post subject: |
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4five9
I can relate to much of what you said - except I've never had anyone even hint that I'm schizophrenic. Just anxious and depressed. Was particularly interested that you said you became a teacher to force yourself to be more comfortable with socializing. I've often forced myself into situations to try to improve deficits. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
You might want to read up on Alexithymia - or a deficit in emotional understanding. I recently Googled *Alexithymia - Asperger* and found several sites that somewhat explain how they are related. Alexithymia has has a lot of overlap with Asperger's, and having difficulty understanding your own or others' emotions is very difficult. The underlying uncertainty can lead to anxiety and depression. In me it has led to clinical social anxiety disorder.
Because you are intellectually gifted, a good book to read is "Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger's Depression, and Other Disorders." At some points to book seems to doublespeak that intellectual giftedness is not Asperger's or Pervasive Developmental Disorder when, in practical terms, they have much the same appearance, but it is a really good book to begin to understand how giftedness and developmental disorders often go hand-in-hand.
Z |
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pandd
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 16, 2006
Posts: 620
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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| n4mwd wrote: | | Eye contact: Aspies have poor eye contact unless they have been trained to maintain it as part of a social training program. Schizos have NO eye contact problem and at times will have a freaky piercing eye contact. |
Untrue.
Evidently, one of the manifestations of poor eye contact in persons with AS is a fixed gaze that others find piercing and discomforting.
| Quote: | | On paper, schizoid personality disorder sounds a lot like aspergers, but the two are radically different in practice. I'm really surprised your doctors are having trouble with it. This is basic stuff I had to learn in nursing school. |
The OP does not specifically refer to schizoid personality disorder.  |
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