Posted by bleauberry on May 8, 2011, at 5:10:57
In reply to Case study of endocrine disorder mimicking bipolar, posted by mtdewcmu on May 7, 2011, at 14:12:38
Based on my own accidental discoveries in my own drug/herb journeys, I found out there is a powerful connection between endocrine system and mood. Immune system...same thing. The most incapacitating depressions can be improved or cured with substances that are not even psychoactive.
I've had over 12 psychiatrists and not one of them had any diagnostic skills. A couple times they checked basic thyroid, but not the indepth detailed tests, B12, and magnesiium. Tested for Lyme twice or 3 times. All useless and unreliable. They totally missed the hypoadrenalism and it probably never even showed up on their radar screen of ideas.
It is my opinion based on a whole bunch of stuff that many, if not most, psych patients are dealing with something that can be successfully treated....but the singular pscychiatric prescription approach misses almost all the possible contenders. In other words, I truly believe improvement is possible....but greatly limited when our weapons are only psych meds.
Unfortunately we don't have the right tests in today's technology. For the tests we do have, there is a great deal of room to make error in reading the results. For example, someone who shows a fairly normal thyroid level can in fact be seriously hypothyroid. It's all in how the test is interpreted. Many clinicians make the mistake of judging test results in a vacuum, discounting the actual clinical picture. The clinical picture is what should guide treatment. In the example you gave, which is all too common, the clinical picture was ignored.
In a perfect world it would be nice if doctors would rule out organic diseases or identifiable problems. I never saw them do that with me. Even if they had, the only true way to rule something in or out is to try treating it as if it existed to see what happens. That provides the information and clues to rule something in or out with a strong degree of certainty. Even though I had all the presentations of Lyme, as soon as the test came back negative, guess what, they ruled out Lyme....bad mistake that cost me almost 15 years, psych ward stays, and multiple drug failures. A simple 2 week trial of Doxycylcine would have been a much more accurate diagnostic tool than the test. I mean, come on, I did get bit by a tick, ok? Oh, but that only happens to other people. Yeah right.
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/magazine/mag-08Diagnosis-t.html?hpw
>
> This is an interesting piece in the NY Times Magazine where you get to play doctor and try to guess this patient's mystery disease. In her case, the doctors, too, missed the diagnosis until about 6 months had gone by with a lot of suffering and frustration. I'm going to ruin the surprise because I want to make a point. The lady had Cushing Syndrome, caused by a pituitary tumor. The disappointing part is that the psychiatrist utterly failed to contribute to the diagnosis. He or she was called in because the lady was having symptoms superficially resembling some kind of bipolar disorder. However, the symptoms began in her mid-seventies, and were accompanied by a bunch of obviously non-psychiatric symptoms. The diagnosis of bipolar was made. You would like to think that a psychiatrist, being an MD, would be able to differentially diagnose psych versus organic diseases. At least for endocrine diseases, because the endocrine system is so closely related to the nervous system. But I guess, in a lot of cases, psychiatrists put their diagnostic skills out to pasture.
poster:bleauberry
thread:984807
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110502/msgs/984891.html