It became true for me that diagnoses got added with every new psychiatrist I saw, and it only took 45 minutes of their time to do so. I know now that not one doctor took a full inventory of my life events, nor calibrated their findings over the next twenty years to any prescribed medicationâs adverse effect, polypharmacy, or even supplements that I took. In 1994, I attended a marketing seminar for Herbalife products and was convinced to purchase some Herbalife powders which I added to milk before seeing my first psychiatrist in December 1995. I had been seeing a therapist for PTSD since December 13, 1993. Neither the psychiatrist nor I knew that Herbalife could induce mania. (Chapter titled, âConditions Confused with the Illnessâ in the book, âSurviving Manic Depressionâ)
I took me twenty-five more years for me to learn (on my own) that alcohol abuse can worsen or cause anxiety and disrupted sleep. I had assumed the doctor knew best, so I said yes to a prescription of Klonopin in 1995. Four different benzodiazepines later, after multiple dose reductions and rapid tapers my CNS became kindled for a torturous benzodiazepine withdrawal period that commenced in June 2013.
Now, I proudly proclaim that I have every mental disorder one can receive from a psychiatrist (almost). In December 1995, I was diagnosed in order to receive Klonopin (0.05mg). The diagnoses were written as âtraitsâ because at the age of 41 years, they had not fully blossomed yet. (Chuckle) Traits: histrionic, borderline.
Two years ago, an acquaintance of mine wrote me to say, âAnyone can get a bipolar diagnosis.â I added, âAll you have to do is be talkative and moody, and have substance use problems that are not addressed nor treated.â
As for PTSD and traumatic events, those are the common causes of mental suffering besides the loss of a loved one(s). Psychotropic medications donât treat them, that I concur.
Are you willing to share with us what drugs you were prescribed that saved you by successfully treating your insomnia? I was recently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism after being diagnosed with insomnia and hypertension. I currently don’t take any psychiatric medications.
I appreciate your valuable information.
Thank you.
Drug pusher/pill pusher. Psychiatrist Dr Stephen Strakowski explains that people will think psychiatrists are pill pushers when they practice polypharmacy by prescribing drugs for “unclear reasons.”
He writes,” As a reminder, although most of our drugs are studied by themselves, there are some trials of combinations of two drugs, rare studies with combinations of three drugs, and virtually nothing when you have more drugs than that. That’s where my three-drug maximum actually comes from. This notion that somehow we’re so clever that we can understand how four or five or six drugs that are impacting the brain interact with each other is patently wrong. I can’t do it. Maybe some of you can. If you really can tell me how you understand that, with what we know about the brain today, please do the research and let us know. That, again, presents a problem because the pill-pusher myth is reinforced when people are on multiple drugs for unclear reasons.”
Evidence-based treatments (Tx) require more than verifiable data which can be replicated by others, they require a correct diagnosis following a thorough differential diagnosis conducted by an unbiased clinician. In today’s profit-driven healthcare systems, time is now the limiting factor before diagnoses are assigned to patients, and they too often, go unquestioned by other doctors.
Getting a second opinion from a psychiatrist is a waste of one’s time and money, because a doctor rarely questions another doctor’s diagnostic capabilities and the diagnoses assigned. Yes, rarely questioned.
Too many inappropriate medications are prescribed for too long, and at high doses to people like me who had a verified head injury (TBI) ten years prior to first seeking psychiatric care for insomnia and PTSD.
People who have had a TBI are super-sensitive to most psychiatric medications and many medications should not be prescribed at all, such as lithium and benzodiazepines. It’s the medical standard of care to treat the underlying condition, and do no harm by refraining from aggressively treating the TBI neuropsychiatric sequelae with daily doses of antipsychotics and benzodiazepines.
Recent MRIs of my brain, (2021 & 2024) reveal its volume has shrunk and that it has many holes, something my neurologist and I were able to quip about and chuckle a bit.
Diagnostic overshadowing of physical disorders by mental health clinicians, who incorrectly attribute a new symptom(s) to a previously diagnosed psychiatric disorder, is a problem occurring as a result of bias and stigma, and in rushed and stressed clinical environments.
Late, adult-onset Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was missed since 2010 when balance problems arose. Disease modifying treatments for MS weren’t in the realm of possibilities, until everyone in the room noticed “the elephant in the room walking like a drunken sailor.”
Well explained Yishay. You nailed it!
It became true for me that diagnoses got added with every new psychiatrist I saw, and it only took 45 minutes of their time to do so. I know now that not one doctor took a full inventory of my life events, nor calibrated their findings over the next twenty years to any prescribed medicationâs adverse effect, polypharmacy, or even supplements that I took. In 1994, I attended a marketing seminar for Herbalife products and was convinced to purchase some Herbalife powders which I added to milk before seeing my first psychiatrist in December 1995. I had been seeing a therapist for PTSD since December 13, 1993. Neither the psychiatrist nor I knew that Herbalife could induce mania. (Chapter titled, âConditions Confused with the Illnessâ in the book, âSurviving Manic Depressionâ)
I took me twenty-five more years for me to learn (on my own) that alcohol abuse can worsen or cause anxiety and disrupted sleep. I had assumed the doctor knew best, so I said yes to a prescription of Klonopin in 1995. Four different benzodiazepines later, after multiple dose reductions and rapid tapers my CNS became kindled for a torturous benzodiazepine withdrawal period that commenced in June 2013.
Now, I proudly proclaim that I have every mental disorder one can receive from a psychiatrist (almost). In December 1995, I was diagnosed in order to receive Klonopin (0.05mg). The diagnoses were written as âtraitsâ because at the age of 41 years, they had not fully blossomed yet. (Chuckle) Traits: histrionic, borderline.
Two years ago, an acquaintance of mine wrote me to say, âAnyone can get a bipolar diagnosis.â I added, âAll you have to do is be talkative and moody, and have substance use problems that are not addressed nor treated.â
As for PTSD and traumatic events, those are the common causes of mental suffering besides the loss of a loved one(s). Psychotropic medications donât treat them, that I concur.
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Are you willing to share with us what drugs you were prescribed that saved you by successfully treating your insomnia? I was recently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism after being diagnosed with insomnia and hypertension. I currently don’t take any psychiatric medications.
I appreciate your valuable information.
Thank you.
Report comment
Drug pusher/pill pusher. Psychiatrist Dr Stephen Strakowski explains that people will think psychiatrists are pill pushers when they practice polypharmacy by prescribing drugs for “unclear reasons.”
He writes,” As a reminder, although most of our drugs are studied by themselves, there are some trials of combinations of two drugs, rare studies with combinations of three drugs, and virtually nothing when you have more drugs than that. That’s where my three-drug maximum actually comes from. This notion that somehow we’re so clever that we can understand how four or five or six drugs that are impacting the brain interact with each other is patently wrong. I can’t do it. Maybe some of you can. If you really can tell me how you understand that, with what we know about the brain today, please do the research and let us know. That, again, presents a problem because the pill-pusher myth is reinforced when people are on multiple drugs for unclear reasons.”
Here’s the link to article his on Medscape: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/906519?form=fpf
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Evidence-based treatments (Tx) require more than verifiable data which can be replicated by others, they require a correct diagnosis following a thorough differential diagnosis conducted by an unbiased clinician. In today’s profit-driven healthcare systems, time is now the limiting factor before diagnoses are assigned to patients, and they too often, go unquestioned by other doctors.
Getting a second opinion from a psychiatrist is a waste of one’s time and money, because a doctor rarely questions another doctor’s diagnostic capabilities and the diagnoses assigned. Yes, rarely questioned.
Too many inappropriate medications are prescribed for too long, and at high doses to people like me who had a verified head injury (TBI) ten years prior to first seeking psychiatric care for insomnia and PTSD.
People who have had a TBI are super-sensitive to most psychiatric medications and many medications should not be prescribed at all, such as lithium and benzodiazepines. It’s the medical standard of care to treat the underlying condition, and do no harm by refraining from aggressively treating the TBI neuropsychiatric sequelae with daily doses of antipsychotics and benzodiazepines.
Recent MRIs of my brain, (2021 & 2024) reveal its volume has shrunk and that it has many holes, something my neurologist and I were able to quip about and chuckle a bit.
Diagnostic overshadowing of physical disorders by mental health clinicians, who incorrectly attribute a new symptom(s) to a previously diagnosed psychiatric disorder, is a problem occurring as a result of bias and stigma, and in rushed and stressed clinical environments.
Late, adult-onset Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was missed since 2010 when balance problems arose. Disease modifying treatments for MS weren’t in the realm of possibilities, until everyone in the room noticed “the elephant in the room walking like a drunken sailor.”
~JLReoch
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