DID What's so bad about did??

[lostforgottensoul]

n Canada it gets a bit tricky because we pay up front for 'medical insurance' and if the DSM doesn't identify something as suffering, too bad; so sorry; so sad.

My edit cross posted with you but basiclly that's what happened to me with a PTSD diagnosis. The insurence provider's "therapist" (whom had never met nor spoken to me) decided I didn't need half of my therapy appointments and stuck me in an uncovered insurence hole for 6 months saying the other weeks I could go to peer to peer group meetings. Wha? If they ever met me they would realize people are my worst fear. Hense a service dog. And this was pre-service dog. There's no way on this green earth that I could go to a meeting of any kind with actual people and stay non-disocissated. So, I can see insurence nightmares even here in the US. Especially for those with United Healthcare. My therapist said they are the only ones that reup coverage every year even though they state unlimited visits to a therapist. They really don't mean that. No longer meet the diagnosic criteria for PTSD? Ah, well you don't need a therapist at all. I can see that. Insurence carriers can be the biggest dicks on the planet!

 

[shimmerz]

There's no way on this green earth that I could go to a meeting of any kind with actual people and stay non-disocissated.

Yeah, I can totally relate to this. That happens here as well. As a matter of fact, the few trauma treatment centres that are in Ontario all insist that traumatized clientele go to group before the one on one. It just doesn't fit with the disorder. So painful and at times dangerous.

Insofar as DID, structural dissociation, and really any kind of dissociative disorder, it is imperative for successful therapeutic value that we have an external frame of reference as there is no anti-Dissociative drug on the scene. If we lose the option for therapy that addresses the issues that come with a dissociative disorder (also, I have conversion disorder which is similar as there are no drugs for it either) then I think it is fair to say that without trained therapists we are done. There is no way out.

The only thing that I can think of that is worse than no therapy is limited therapy. Take DID for example. Let's say we get the okay for 12 sessions. That leaves just enough time to do serious damage (investigating parts etc) to then cut the client loose to deal on their own with all of these 'new parts'.

I feel like any dissociative disorder is dealt with in a reckless way by the decision makers. There isn't any money in people who dissociate. Not when it comes to dealing out drugs anyway.

 

[anthony]

I will be interested to see what they have done with the diagnostic criteria.

Not just the criterion themselves, but the underlying mechanisms that treating professionals apply for its application. You must remember that CPTSD will official upon its release, and you don't want everyone and anyone running round claiming that one either.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Actually it really does matter because seizures brought on by trauma (what used to be called pseudo sei...

If you read the initial post, it wasn't discussing treatment for pseudo seizures at all, it was an analogy showing that both types of seizures make you feel like crap and that physicians look at them differently which can be harmful to self.....I have had both types of seizures and physician reactions have differed. I have had epileptic seizures prior to TBI and several pseudo-seizures afterwards as a result of both the trauma and the loss of function after the TBI. You are correct about treatment, but for both types, neither is a holiday when it happens and my doctors view both in a very different way (which was my point). In my case...neurologist likes the clear-cut epileptic seizure....here's brand X drug for your seizure type, good luck, titrate on it like so..call me if you have a seizure so I can tell you not to drive.... Neurologists throw their hands up and say, it's not my department because it isn't a problem created by out of control neurons...….

I can speak from experience to this topic because I had a few psychogenics seizure which they actually videotaped after having such physical and other types of loss: memory loss, had speech issues, attention issues, reading and listening comprehension issues, went from being right to left handed and right side dominant to left, had foot drag, and had to go to PT for a short while, and when the psychogenic seizures happened, they wanted to admit me to the psych ward...The TBI had left me unable to read above a 4th grade level and I taught school...I was terrified I'd lose my job.I left the hospital without medical approval and went back to work...and faked it for the remainder of the year. I'm glad I did to this day. The seizure wasn't from forgetting meds or taking the wrong meds or drinking with meds, it was from the TBI-trauma...but the neurologists didn't deal with this well, and there handling of it once they realized it was a mental health issue was dismissive and hurtful. I left the hospital and went home. More drugs to dope me up was not an option.

 

[Suzetig]

but the neurologists didn't deal with this well, and there handling of it once they realized it was a mental health issue was dismissive and hurtful.

I get that it was an analogy, but it was a rubbish comparison tbh because the type of seizure totally matters in terms of treatment. To stay with your example, what did you expect a neurologist to do once they knew your seizures weren’t a neurological issue? They can’t treat mental health issues - are literally not qualified to do so. Their professional duty is to discharge you from their service because they can’t treat you.

And that’s the whole point. Looking for treatment in the wrong place from the wrong people is a complete waste of time. My neurologist wasn’t interested in me once it was established I didn’t have a neurological disorder - or, more accurately,he had done is job and I needed a different treatment from a different team. It doesn’t matter how debilitating I found the seizures, how much pain I was in or how much I wanted him to be able to stop it - he couldn’t treat me because what I needed wasn’t what he could offer me.

Mental health is a much less precise field of medicine so the diagnosis - treatment - cure thing isn’t as clear cut, but looking for treatment for PTSD when I have an anxiety disorder won’t make things better.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I left the hospital without medical approval and went back to work...and faked it for the remainder of the year.

Maybe that's why you didn't end up getting the correct treatment? Leaving a hosital AMA is basiclly saying "f*ck all you doctors, I can do this on my own". My brother in law left AMA from internally bleeding and died a week later. Leaving a hospital AMA for mental reasonings can be just as dangerous. What if you had another PNES while driving to work because you didn't get proper treatment? The treatment for PNES is psychotherapy along with medications to treat anxiety and depression but you snubbed your nose at medications and left the hospital AMA. Just as @Suzetig said, a neuologist can't do anything as it's not neuological. Of course he threw his hands up. Your asking an electrcian to fix your plumbing. That's not real logical. My neurologist, caraologist, and MD, once each was done with their battery of testing, all sent me back to my psychiatrist and therapist to treat as that's who treats issues that are caused by mental reasonings. Your doctors didn't treat you different, as you say they did. They sent you to a mental hospital who treats issues caused by mental reasonings. In my opinion, you being mad at the neuologist for being unable to treat a mental issue, snubbing your nose at medications, and then leaving the hospital AMA is rather childish. Just my opinion though.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Maybe that's why you didn't end up getting the correct treatment? Leaving a hosital AMA is b...

I came here for support and Im not feeling welcome. Being called childish when I made a personal choice and it was the right one at the time by someone I don’t know-not a place for me. Not positive- not helpful. My experiences of having a traumatic brain injury were just that. I shared and got criticized?

I’ve been called crazy like many of you. I have been victimized. Hurt. I don’t need more negative. I have no family to lean on and little support- I’m alone except for a therapist who I pay to listen to me. So alone. We are here because we have been hurt. I don’t need to be called names like “childish” because that’s a personal attack from someone I don’t even know! I was told it was safe here. I was told I’d find people who I might relate to. On this thread- no. I’m better off alone if that’s what this forum is all about.

I get that it was an analogy, but it was a rubbish comparison tbh because the type of seizure totally m...

TBI treatment is neurological and highly specialized- and yes can come w mental issues or cause them. Doping me up on meds when I was already taking seizure meds- a bad idea because it would have likely compromised seizure control.... there are so many I can’t take. SSRIs cause me seizures. Seizures with a recent brain injury you don’t want to happen-

I had a history of status epilepticus- a scary “can die kind.” Been in respiratory arrest before from seizures- makes you think before adding meds to potentially screw up things more when you’ve woken up on a respirator. In the moment I made my best decision with my experiences and knowledge I had. Everything is not simple nor so easy. I was sick from a head injury- not acting like a child or being childish-I did what I thought I had to do to survive.

 

[Suzetig]

I never said you were being childish or indeed criticised your decisions regarding your treatment so I’m not quite sure what you’re responding to in all honesty. You said your neurologist didn’t want to know when the seizures were found to be caused by something not neurological. It makes sense that your neurologist would withdraw from treating seizures at that point.

As far as this place being safe, it’s a public forum on the internet so there’s a limit to just how safe it can be. One random person said your actions weee childish - you have the option to put them on ignore or scroll past their posts. It’s your choice to stay or go but this is a good place for support - but all support isn’t necessarily agreement.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Being called childish when I made a personal choice and it was the right one at the time

I'm not sure leaving any hospital AMA is the right choice in any case but lets say it is. Complaining that your neuologist "threw his hands up" to a PNES, which has zero neuological reasonings, was sent to a mental hospital and offered meds (which IS the treatment for a PNES. Not necessarly hospitalozation but psychotherapy and meds for anxiety and depression and simular symptoms) and then you left that hospital AMA and refused meds but come on here complaining about your doctors when they WERE treating a PNES correctly, that is what's childish to me. Like your stomping your feet and having a tantrum because your neurologist "threw up his hands" to a non-neurological disorder. TBI or not, it was dignosed as a PNES, yes? That has no neurological causes so a neurologist wouldn't treat you. Mental health professionals would. Then you tell others in your post that doctors treat you differently when you have a PNES when your doctors were correctly treating it. I still have not seen where your doctors "treated you differently".

 

[TruthSeeker]

I'm not sure leaving any hospital AMA is the right choice in any case but lets say it is. Co...

Maybe that's why you didn't end up getting the correct treatment? Leaving a hosital AMA is b...

I can't take many medications with my seizure meds. I have a history of status epilepticus which is dangerous and can and has caused respiratory arrest, which ultimately leads to cardiac arrest, and death if not treated in time. I live alone. I've been in respiratory arrest over SSRIs causing seizures and antibiotics interfering with my meds. You wake up on a respirator a couple of times from status epilepticus....see if you don't think twice about meds. I never made it to a psych ward because I left AMA. The reason I left was because I did try Prozac and saw a neuropsychiatrist for the script....I took it for four days or so after seeing him and had the car accident. The addition of Prozac combined with my current seizure meds at the time and caused a seizure, so I flipped and totaled my car from an epileptic seizure, and kept me out of work 2 years from the TBI....The pseudo seizures didn't start until the fXcking expert (neuropsychiatrist)-yes a man with a degree in medicine and psychiatry whom I saw on an outpatient basis once, screwed up picking the medication for depression, and the pseudo seizures started about 8 weeks later when I couldn't function from brain injury.

I wasn't willing to risk this level of seizures after a brain injury which had caused significant damage, cognitive, and motor loss, along w anxiety. I did not have any doctors familiar w my case as my general practitioner by this time prescribed my medication, so I didn't feel comfortable being another drug experiment in a hospital-outpatient didn't work. Doping me up on more meds that screw with my brain with a TBI after already being in respiratory arrest after the accident.... a seriously bad idea....very risky....could have made things much worse. I made the right call. Now, I take only hydroxyzine 50mg as needed. In my case, I don't snub my nose at meds...I've tried 12 different medications for seizure control in my life...and had many mental health side effects....I use past experience to determine the odds of success. Every failure (seizure) is 6months of no driving. 6 months of no independence. 6 months of difficulty getting to therapy and anywhere else...life isn't always so simple.

My trauma T thinks this is the right thing to do given that I am alone at home with my history of seizure type and the number of seizure drugs I've tried which have failed. BTW-In my case, seizure control trumps mental health (adding different psych meds)....because of the type of seizures I'm prone to. Look at the warnings on many antidepressants and even some antiepileptic drugs....they can cause seizures. I prefer not to die by seizure.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

@Bkinder, thank you for explaining.

 

[UnKnown-Self]

This post is to @anthony Some things have been said here and I feel to be true to myself, I need to address it.

It is not healthy to be breaking a person down into inner people, which some therapists love to do, then tell the person once they've done that, they now have DID.

I don't think a therapist has the authority to make a diagnosis. One has to get a diagnosis from a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Both have doctorates and are board certified.

It is no secret that mental health diagnosis has just gone stupid. For a field that we know little about in reality,

I agree totally!
It seems you see-saw in your opinion however.

I am well versed on DID and dissociation, enough to know whats real about it, and when people are totally full of shit.

How can you be well versed on a topic we know so little about? Psychology is in its infancy. What is "known" by "experts" today in 20 years will look as ridiculous as Freud and the various envies he spouted.

the therapist leads the person to describe themselves as having alternative personalities for behaviours, or lets create an "inner child" (just love that one) then after leading the person, slap them with a BIG business DID label.

I find this so dismissive... I have had "parts" ever since I can remember and many of them are children. I know they are not separate "identities" but they are the reason I survived. I didn't "create" them but they certainly have shaped me.

America has pathologized everything and anything into BIG business.

Maybe so but it's my America and it rubs me the wrong was to see it repeatedly sneered at.

I own a mental health community and have built it to the largest in the world for its field.

Kudos @anthony, You've done some really good things and I know you work hard. A community is not one person but a sum of all it's parts. Perhaps you can toss a few crumbs to all the moderators and members who go out of their way to lend their support.

ZERO evidence. In fact, current actual research is discovering quite the opposite, thus hence why too many who take anti-depressants end up more depressed

Considering the influence you have on this forum I found this a very irresponsible thing to say. While all words have power, in this community your words carry more weight than the average poster. If you've never had to detox off antidepressants, maybe a disclaimer is a good idea. I'm not debating the validity of antidepressants. You are far too intelligent in the ways of syntax and too well read. I know you can and probably will tear me to shreds. Picking out one line and turning it into a "let's make sure she knows she's not smart enough to voice here"
I certainly hope no one reading your words decides to go cold turkey off their meds.
The need to be right at the expense of others is growing on this forum while tolerance or a simple courteous, "can you explain what you meant?" is disappearing. I'm hoping it's just growing pains and something that will phase out as the ship regains balance. I guess that depends on your lead @anthony.