Misdiagnosis before ASD

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1968 - Hyperactive
1977 - Anxiety and Depression (ongoing)
1983 - Borderline Personality Disorder
1999 - ASD

From 1965 onwards variously "over-sensitive", "anxious", "behavioural problems", "drug problems", "dangerous", "lazy" (a lot!), "stupid", "immature", "out of touch" etc etc...

I went to the doctors for over 25 years with anxiety, nothing. There nearest I got was a doctor in Ireland who suggested there are lots of "different peronality types" (Well done Sherlock) I diagnosed myself and then went and got it confirmed.

I also take lithium.

To answer one of your questions, a psychologist is a person who gives you therapy in the form of talking and there are many types of therapy. A psychologist can't prescribe you medication.

A psychiatrist is also interested in your mental health and they prescribe you medication for negative symptoms you may have.

‘We’re not believed,’ says mum who suffers with rare disease and autism.

I respectfully disagree. If a person has depression because of too little serotonin, then an SSRI is literally just what the doctor ordered (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor). I've read that it's trial-and-error because everyone's biochemistry processes it a little differently. Wellbutrin is a little different. But even if it's trying one SSRI and then another, the second might work when the first did not. And plus, the cautionary note about phasing down, and not quitting cold turkey.

I do agree that there are battles to be fought and won against Big Pharma, which is one reason why I think it's so important for a person to trust their own reaction to the medication.

And, I have not had great experiences with psychologists, or with the one psychiatrist I saw. My criticism generally comes down to that they're one-trick-ponies. That have one approach and one theoretical orientation. And that's it, that's all they have. I think a person would generally be better off talking with a hair stylist or physical trainer or shiatsu practitioner, as long as they have some street smarts and are willing to listen and maybe pitch a few ideas without judgment. The difference is, they're not ideologues.

My personal plan if things get rough again is to see an internist and ask him or her for a prescription for an antidepressant. And people should know that a quote 'regular' doctor can just as well prescribe an antidepressant as a psychiatrist.

I guess all of us try to find Katmandu in our own way, or at least I can have largely my own life path with some of my own interesting mistakes.

Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 08 Sep 2017, 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I was diagnosed with OCD, Social Phobia, Depression, Depressive Personality Disorder and Schizophrenia before AS. OCD isn't a misdiagnosis, not sure about the other ones.

I've also been wrongly diagnosed with bipolar type ii and borderline personality disorder. I spent time in a psychiatric hospital when one of my children was a baby. I'm quite irritated with a psychiatrist who is convinced I must have been sexually abused as a child when I'm almost certain I wasn't. I don't like having this attachment disorder label because it's not correct and psychiatrists don't know much about autism. I have an autistic child so it makes sense anyway.

I regret not being able to write only for people who are not yet involved with serotonin drugs, etc, because faith is at least half of healing. I certainly agree about the prescription writers often lacking imagination. I got much better help from a "public health nurse / social worker" because, lacking a PhD, she was still allowed to say "I don't know." I basically still had to do all my own research and diagnosis, but she helped with the terminology and distinguishing overreactions, etc. The Canadian health plan is only really concerned with suicide stats, not mental wellness, but having a counsellor who actually cares makes a big difference.

Not a misdiagnosis perse, but when I started showing autistic traits at about 14 months old doctors did wonder if I was deaf.

A lot of my traits were put down to hearing loss, anxiety and depression.
I think I've been depressed since birth.
Was first officially diagnosed with depression at 13.

I'd turn it on its head and say, it's probably precisely because she did not have a PhD that she felt comfortable saying "I don't know."

In any case, I'm glad you were able to get effective help. And the part where she helped with terminology and distinguishing overreactions sounds pretty good, too. Might I classify this as an example of helping but not overhelping?

Interesting. Apparently it was originally thought I might have been partially blind then partially deaf. Turns out the latter was correct due to allergies blocking my ear canal.

I also have no doubt that if I were to start school just a couple of years later I would have been diagnosed with ADHD. All my report cards say "excellent student but needs to learn to pay attention". The teacher would constantly try to trip me up for "not paying attention" and I always knew the answer. Still, they continued to ask me questions over and over whenever I was looking out the window or at the floor. It got really annoying after a while!

Yes; she did what she could, and stopped there. We were like co-researchers on my case.

I didn't get mis-diagnosed because I was too scared to go and see a doctor. But I definately had mental helath problems, including suicidal thoughts.

Eventually I had some kind of a break down where I cried for several days and couldn't find the will to do anything, and still instead of taking me to a doctor, my parents took me to some Church people to pray about it. Which didn't help.

If I had been put in the system things might of turned out very differently, I don't know if would have been better or worse, but I am in the age bracket where they probably wouldn't have been diagnosed as Asperger's.

I was diagnosed with low functioning OCD and slight ADD. I had multiple anxiety spectrum disorders but I was placed four or five grade levels above everything else so they didn't diagnose me with learning disabilities any delay which is clearly present in other areas like social ability and number sense.

in the topsy-turvy, crazy world, I hope you are able to find help, at least from time to time.

If you're a spiritual person, I'm not sure a religious leader is necessarily the worse person. However, pushing prayer is not cool. I think you wanted them to make an effort to really listen to you first, and then maybe prayer if that's your choice. Plus, it sounds like there was more than one person there, which is awkward at best. I myself don't like that, almost as if I'm expected to give a press conference.

I myself haven't had the best of luck with mental health professionals. Other people here at WrongPlanet have. I think both experiences are 'normal,' regular, typical, standard.