I see my psychatrist tomorrow

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I see my psychiatrist tomorrow... my doc and my caseworker suggested DBT therapy and now I have to tell them the therapists decided not to do it because they are now treating me for Asperger's. The doc doesn't know about the Asperger's, well probably they do though, because the last doc I had who works in the same building told me they didn't diagnose it because it wouldn't change my treatment plan. Also the therapist disagrees with the doc's schizoaffective label and thinks I just have bipolar.

I'm guessing I'm going to have to get these two people to talk to each other? How should I bring this up?

Also, me and my husband want kids and my lithium is very inappropriate and I want to get rid of it and replace it with Lamictal because that drug worked for me before and it happens to be much safer. But how likely would it be for them to do that if the therapist even says I'm Bipolar and on top of that would they say someone with Asperger's wouldn't make a good parent? They already told me with my husband's chronic illnesses he's likely to die when the kid is young

I'm not very good in talking with psychiatrists and many autistic ppl have that problem. Can't you take your husband with you? Maybe he can support you and help you what to say. I'm not very sure if it's that important if your label is schizoaffective or bipolar since it's a spectrum, but when you've no schizophrenic symptoms at all, the bipolar dx would be the correct one.

I would ask your psychiatrist if there is the possibility that he talks to the other one who has another diagnostic opinion about you and tell him it's because of the different opinion and together they could figure it out more easily witch dx label suits you best. It's also important to know that there is no real objectivity in psychiatry and of course clear miss-dx exist, but very often it's just a matter of interpretation. I for example am somewhere in between autism and schizotypal. My old psychiatrist thought that I'm HFA with paranoid thought patterns and my new one thinks that I'm schizotypal with autistic thought patterns. I guess the difference is not that big, it just depents where to put the main focus on. It is more important to have a well working treatment plan.

What kind of illness does your husband has?
With the lithium...
Here it would reay make sence to have your husband with you if there is a possibility. I woe just
tell him that you are thinking about children. Maybe there is a possibility of switching to another medication. I don't know how severe your bipolar symptoms are. But I'm sure there is a possibility to deal with them effectifly during pregnancy.

Last edited by Raziel on 03 Jun 2014, 1:55 am, edited 2 times in total.

First of all my husband is coming with me to this session. Also he has chronic pancreatitis, diabetes, and kidney damage.

Doctors have limited attention spans. I would not mention diagnosis at all. I would say lamictal worked well if it did, smile at my honey and announce we were planning to have a baby soon. And worried about lithium in pregnancy. Then look calm and happy and let doctor do the worrying.

I'm sorry to hear that, but on the other hand I've to say that even physicians are bad in guessing how long a person will live. My grandpa for example had a bad health, was overweight, drank his bear every day. Had problems with his lungs because he had worked with a lot of dust and so had an oxygentank for the night. He was also against his will during the war for seven years in a Russian camp. The doctors told him he wouldn't get old. When I was a little kid, I was told every time I saw him, that this could be the last time and that he'll die soon. But in fact he got 94 years old. What I wanna say with that is, you never know. Some ppl die suddenly and some get older than everyone thought and not even doctors can tell you that for sure.

I've to agree with Waterfalls that the most important point is to talk about your medication. I'm not all that sure if the dx label is even that important. Important is that the medication works and you find something that works for you and you can take even when you're pregnant. You could also talk to him this time about the medication and wait until next session to talk to him about the diagnostic situation. Then it could take a while, but you would have the main focus now on the medication what's the most important thing. The diagnosis are just labels who are written down in your files, nothing more. It's more important to have a well working treatment plan in my opinion. But still I would talk to him about the diagnostic situation some day, but this doesn't hurry.

Well, I went to the appointment... and they told me it was rescheduled for another day, nobody told me this!! !

Me and my husband decided not to ask for a med change, I'm doing extremely well, probably better than I have been for years, and a med change could mess that up. I've decided to try to get a part-time job and voc. rehab said they would help me with that, voc. rehab just happened to call today out of nowhere.

I'm sorry to hear. That's not really thoughtful of them.



And what's with the plan, having children one day?
I mean do you just wanna wait or did you decide differently?

Kids are a personal choice no one can make for you. If you have kids with Aspergers are they worth less to you? If your husband dies young, can you raise them? I wish the best for you and hope you can get what you want.