Posted by Racer on July 7, 2007, at 13:51:13
In reply to anybody have an 'vague' or 'uncertain' illness?, posted by nickguy on July 6, 2007, at 20:37:05
I diagnosed myself with Irregular Polygon Syndrome. It means that I'm not exactly a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, nor a round peg trying to fill out a square hole -- I'm more like an irregular polygon which needs a specially matched hole to fit into. Maybe that's what you have, too? (In my case, it has qualifiers: IPS with feral features.)
It helps me to think in terms of diagnosis as a roadmap of sorts. It doesn't really tell you much more than the direction you're heading in. It won't tell you if there are hills, or trees, or potholes -- only that you turn left, or right, and sometimes to watch for curves.
Diagnoses are categories that make it a little easier for doctors to plan a treatment. They're created rather arbitrarily by a committee, so that doctors have an easier time communicating with one another about patients. Diagnoses are NOT naturally occurring disorders -- they are a label used to describe certain clusters of symptoms. The biggest problem I've seen with diagnoses, is that some doctors treat a code number, rather than a patient. So, if you have a more amorphous cluster of symptoms, and doctors are not agreeing about what the code number should be, you may actually be better off. Your doctors may actually be looking at your symptoms -- at YOU, rather than at a code number referring to a list of symptoms in a book.
On the other hand, it is nice to be able to put a name to what we experience. So, in that sense, maybe you'd do well to take a look yourself at the DSM, and see which of those labels fits you best, from your internal experience? The library should have a copy of the DSM in their reference room, or you can find a lot of the criteria online. So, run a quick search on "social anxiety," or "depression," and see what you think. "Depersonalization," by the way, is a symptom, not a diagnosis. You might want to look up symptoms, too, and see which symptoms fit -- that might help you work out which disorder fits best.
The one thing I hope you remember through all this, though, is that you are not a label -- what you really have is NickGuy Syndrome. It's much more complex than anything listed in any diagnostic manual. It includes all your strengths, all your weaknesses, all your likes and dislikes, all your quirks, and everything else that goes into making NickGuy. It's unlikely that any diagnostic code will fit perfectly.
Unless, like me, you suffer from IPS...
Good luck, and I hope that helps.
poster:Racer
thread:768165
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070630/msgs/768281.html