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Did my child have a conduct disorder or Oppositional defiant disorder?
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<blockquote data-quote="BusynMember" data-source="post: 668534" data-attributes="member: 1550"><p>Actually, if bipolar, not taking medications will make the person worse as each mania/depressive cycle is imprinted on the brain as sort of a blueprint for later. Each cycle harms the brain. Or so my psychiatrists have explained, at least the ones who said I had bipolar. That was early in my career as a psychiatric patient and later diagnosis. have discarded bipolar altogether since I've never had a truly high high manic episode and I'm the "iffy" diagnosis. of mood disorder not otherwise specified, anxiety disorder (I believe this) and panic disorder (i know this is also true). But back to bipolar, if somebody really has it.</p><p></p><p>A mood stabilizer is needed. The problem is twofold. There ARE side effects in some people which cause them to go off their medications and continue the spiral downward. Also, bipolar is hard to diagnose and easy to misdiagnose. All disorders are because t here are no blood tests. I've been diagnosed bipolar and unipolar and mood disorder not otherwise specified. I definitely have depression and can't function without medications. So there is no mistake in my case and no blood test is needed for depression. But mania in my case is really a matter of opinion and I've had many opinions, especially early on.</p><p></p><p>Often times just moodiness and defiance is seen as bipolar and it could be a lot of things. Bipolar I with obvious psychotic mania and deep, deep non-functional depression is easy to see. The in between mood disorders are harder. Bipolar is an easy diagnosis for a psychiatrist to make if somebody is moody, but often it is incorrect. I don't do well on mood stabilizers. I hate them. And my two hypo-mania episodes felt great, but they were not severe enough or life changing enough to warrant the deadening emotion of a mood stabilizer. My anti-depressant is just fine and doesn't give me side effects.j</p><p></p><p>The dangerous part of medication is that psychiatrists can not be sure WHAT they are treating. They can only g uess. Any honest psychiatrist will tell you that. I've had them do so to me. So if they give somebody bipolar medication and they aren't really bipolar, it won't help and could make them worse. Of course, anyone can have bad side effects to any medication, regardless of whether they are given the r ight diagnosis and correct medication or not. It's a game.</p><p></p><p>In my peer-to-peer class for those who have dealt well with mental illness and are training to help others, we have talked about how we have all felt like guinea pigs at one time because of the unpredictability of psychiatry. It is NOT NOT NOT an exact science. There are theories. And that's why diagnoses change often in the DSM.</p><p></p><p>To me, as a patient who had suffered depression all of my life, badly until I finally found good medication, I feel the best you can do for anybody who seems to be suffering is to alleviate the symptoms and teach coping skills for deficits in dealing with life. Somebody's diagnosis can vary in the same person from doctor to doctor. You can get ten opinions on the same person by ten different doctors unless there are ironclad symptoms...psychosis or chronic depression. Moodiness, combativeness and other iffy symptoms are very hard to diagnose.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BusynMember, post: 668534, member: 1550"] Actually, if bipolar, not taking medications will make the person worse as each mania/depressive cycle is imprinted on the brain as sort of a blueprint for later. Each cycle harms the brain. Or so my psychiatrists have explained, at least the ones who said I had bipolar. That was early in my career as a psychiatric patient and later diagnosis. have discarded bipolar altogether since I've never had a truly high high manic episode and I'm the "iffy" diagnosis. of mood disorder not otherwise specified, anxiety disorder (I believe this) and panic disorder (i know this is also true). But back to bipolar, if somebody really has it. A mood stabilizer is needed. The problem is twofold. There ARE side effects in some people which cause them to go off their medications and continue the spiral downward. Also, bipolar is hard to diagnose and easy to misdiagnose. All disorders are because t here are no blood tests. I've been diagnosed bipolar and unipolar and mood disorder not otherwise specified. I definitely have depression and can't function without medications. So there is no mistake in my case and no blood test is needed for depression. But mania in my case is really a matter of opinion and I've had many opinions, especially early on. Often times just moodiness and defiance is seen as bipolar and it could be a lot of things. Bipolar I with obvious psychotic mania and deep, deep non-functional depression is easy to see. The in between mood disorders are harder. Bipolar is an easy diagnosis for a psychiatrist to make if somebody is moody, but often it is incorrect. I don't do well on mood stabilizers. I hate them. And my two hypo-mania episodes felt great, but they were not severe enough or life changing enough to warrant the deadening emotion of a mood stabilizer. My anti-depressant is just fine and doesn't give me side effects.j The dangerous part of medication is that psychiatrists can not be sure WHAT they are treating. They can only g uess. Any honest psychiatrist will tell you that. I've had them do so to me. So if they give somebody bipolar medication and they aren't really bipolar, it won't help and could make them worse. Of course, anyone can have bad side effects to any medication, regardless of whether they are given the r ight diagnosis and correct medication or not. It's a game. In my peer-to-peer class for those who have dealt well with mental illness and are training to help others, we have talked about how we have all felt like guinea pigs at one time because of the unpredictability of psychiatry. It is NOT NOT NOT an exact science. There are theories. And that's why diagnoses change often in the DSM. To me, as a patient who had suffered depression all of my life, badly until I finally found good medication, I feel the best you can do for anybody who seems to be suffering is to alleviate the symptoms and teach coping skills for deficits in dealing with life. Somebody's diagnosis can vary in the same person from doctor to doctor. You can get ten opinions on the same person by ten different doctors unless there are ironclad symptoms...psychosis or chronic depression. Moodiness, combativeness and other iffy symptoms are very hard to diagnose. [/QUOTE]
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Did my child have a conduct disorder or Oppositional defiant disorder?
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