Psychatrist keeps insisting I'm schizoaffective

Post Reply New Topic

I got back one of my childhood psych reports today and made my psychatrist read it. She said it was "childhood schizoaffective with ADHD". You know how rare it is for that disorder to pop up in childhood? I had a different doctor read it in the past that said "childhood bipolar with Asperger's"

Ugh. So I got upgraded from "bipolar 1" to " schizoaffective" again. I told my husband and he says he's been around schizophrenics and I don't act like that.

"Schizoaffective" is not the same as "Schizophrenic". According to the Mayo Clinic website:

Schizoaffective Disorder does not include extremely disordered thinking or abnormal interpretations of reality, nor is it usually disabling. Schizophrenia does not have mood disorder symptoms. Yes, the names are similar and there is some overlap in the symptoms, but the root causes and effects are not the same.

I had schizoaffective and schizoid labels thrown at me prior to being formally assessed and diagnosed with ASD. The neuropsychiatrist who specilaized in autism dismissed schizoaffective and schizoid labels as misdiagnoses.

I was officially misdiagnosed with Schizoid when I was tested for Aspergers & told I fit all the main symptoms of Schizoaffective but didn't have it. I was going through a bad psychotic depression at the time & some of the Schizoaffective symptoms went away as my depression got better. My big problem in the past is that I can not qualify for any autism specific assistance or services due to not having an official autism diagnoses. I was told i had Aspergers but it was due to my Schizoid personality disorder instead of anything on the autism spectrum. I was also told that I could only be diagnosed before I turned 21. In order for it to be a devlopmental disorder like autism, it has to develop before you turn 21 & the only way anyone can know for sure if it developed before you turn 21 is to get tested before you turn 21. I was tested rite before I turned 21. I was put on a waiting list for some services & assistance with things using my psychiatrist diagnoses of Aspergers but 1ce it finally became my turn on the waiting list, I was thrown off because I did not have an official diagnoses of autism from someone qualified to test for it.I don't understand why they accepted my psych's diagnoses to get on the waiting list in the 1st place if it wasn't accepted. It just wasted me & my parents time by having meetings about what services they could provide & doing BS paperwork.

I got ahold again of a psych report that was done when I was 11, it mentions my meltdowns, problems with social skills and making friends, odd gait and muscle weakness, but also mentions that I had high verbal skills and liked to talk about "subjects I was knowledgable in". But the same report says they thought I was"paranoid and hearing voices" plus the impulsive and hyperactive symptoms.

My psych doctor read into this as just early mental illness, but I'm wondering if I get it to the right person what would they think. I mean I called UofM clinic that does autism evaluations and they asked me what my current dx was and then the said they didn't deal with people like me and couldn't help even before I said why I called and hung up.

I think sometimes pdocs don't listen/take into account past symptoms/ the effect of current meds on symptoms.

My pdoc dismissed mood symptoms because I said I wasn't having any. The med I was on(I've recently changed to something similar) had mood stabilising properties.

Before getting on that med and taking meds regularly- Anxiety,irritability,inner
tension,busy mind,edgy,depression,contentious,impatient.

No that's a total load of baloney that doctor was feeding you. You don't need to be diagnosed prior to age 21, all you need is to have had the disorder since you were a child, doesn't mean you need to have been diagnosed. That is why they interview you, look at school reports if you have any and interview family members or parents for your history. Your psychiatrist I will assume was flat out lying because I don't think he was that stupid to actually believe that adults over 21 cannot be diagnosed with ASD. WP has tons of people who received their ASD diagnosis after age 21.

I was diagnosed at 29 then again at 30. The assessment I had at age 30 was the most thorough autism assessment that I could possibly get as it was part of a clinical drug trial (investigating the use of a oxytocin nasal spray used to treat autism). They would not have been able to publish the results without that level of testing and without me having a formal diagnosis of ASD.

Doctors as a profession tend to make terrible listeners period.

My psychiatrist believed I was on the spectrum & referred me for testing. She also got me on some waiting list for services for people with developmental disorders. I forget what the specialist who tested me was. He didn't ask me any questions about social skills stuff, didn't interview my parents or anything, & didn't look at my IEPs. He just had me play with blocks, find what was missing in pictures, put things in categories, remember things, ect. I kind of realized he was wrong about things as I did my own research & joined this forum. He also said I seemed too intelligent & communicated too well verbally to be on the spectrum. He did say he thought I had a learning disability but I had been diagnosed with dyslexia since kindergarten & I had told him that. For some reason it seems lots of people where I'm from think of autism as a less sever form of mental retardation. I list Aspergers for my reviews for Social Security Disability & the psych's they refer me to believe I'm on the spectrum. The GP's I've had believe it too so that's good. I'm not sure what good an official diagnoses would do me at this point. Where I'm from you had to be on waiting list for services before you turned 21. Like the quack specialist I saw, they believe the only way they can know if it's a developmental disorder is if your on their list before you turn 21 & they do their assessment of you. I had to have another assessment when I was up for some services 5 years later & they kicked me off the list because I didn't have an official diagnoses. They didn't know about the quack I saw, they didn't trust my psychiatrist diagnoses. The real ret*d thing they did was have a meeting with me about what services they could provide for me shortly before they did their 2nd assessment of me & kicked me off the list. They then wanted me to sign something saying I wasn't interested in receiving services which is a crock of bull. I refused to sign.

Agnix, which center did you call at U of M? The UCCF place only does child autism evaluations from 12 months to 18 years.

I go to Rachael Upjohn (where all the U of M psych services are), and the clinic there only sees children.

Maybe that's why they blew you off. Curious who you called, because when I checked U of Mich directory, there was nothing for autism adult services. I want my husband to see someone there, but all I could find are pediatric related.

I called the adult psychatry department (and they don't deal with schiz?)

Agnix,

I couldn't believe U of Mich doesn't treat schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder. But you ARE right.

I'm seen at bipolar disorder clinic (Rachel Upjohn), and I ratted through that whole web site for you.

There are exactly two doctors who say they treat schizophrenia, but both look like it's only inpatient.

If your major diagnosis is bipolar disorder, you probably could squeak in at U of M. They have a huge bipolar disorder clinic.

I would call again and ask about the bipolar disorder. I wonder who treats schizoaffective in SE Michigan?

If U of M believes you are truly schizoaffective, mybe they can punt you to a better doctor.

I got a recommendation that I could see a place called Complete Neuropsychology Services and they might take my insurance. I actually live in Lenawee County and my doctor there keeps insisting I need DBT and I start that next week. There WAS an autism center here but when I went there before they said they only delt with kids, and recently they closed the place down because three workers were convicted of abusing the kids

Waves to Agnix!

I asked my shrink at Rachel Upjohn about your question.

U of Michigan does research. So the clinics are for teaching and research.

They have a huge depression clinic. A whole separate deal for bipolar disorder. That's a massive department. Clinics for post partum depression. A huge huge outptient children's psych department, and a pediatric autism clinic. That clinic does not see new adults.

While the inpatient hospital treats schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorders, does research on schizophrenia, there is no outpatient clinic. I don't know why. My shrink (post doc fellow) said he didn't remember one. At least not on this campus. The bipolar clinic is funded by a massive endowment.

That's why they said they dont treat schizophrenia/schizoaffective patients. There is no outpatient clinic for them.

The place you were referred to looks promising from what I could see.

I did better at CBT than DBT. DBT was like watching paint dry. Probably the instructor more than the material. Good luck!

I emailed Complete Neuropsychology but no response yet, maybe I should call them. My first DBT one on one session was the peer support saying why I have Borderline... Anyway I do have traits minus self-harm but I don't know if DBT will help. I had that lady look in the computer and my complete current diagnosis is Schizoaffective, General Anxiety and Borderline. But not long ago when I lived in Eaton County that caseworker thought I had autism and when I was in patient in September the psychatrist there thought I had autism too but said they don't diagnose that inpatient. That doctor had me down as Bipolar 1, General Anxiety and Borderline.

The therapist years ago that said I had Asperger's (she used DSM IV) gave me the AQ test and RAADS and she said autism was one of her specialties, but my psychatrist (same one I have now) said no.

Anyway I had severe symptoms as a child and many of my childhood problems, most notably the meltdowns and my impulsive nature, presist to this day. The severe depression/mania/psychosis came later. It's a very complex situation.