Posted by Christ_empowered on January 27, 2014, at 3:35:48
I used to reject this diagnosis because I thought the whole thing was BS. I was thinking...either uber-Bipolar or moody schizophrenia. Don't create a diagnosis out of nowhere, please.Now, I've been doing a short googling of what I can get on the diagnosis, and it seems...
...the moodier you are, the better response to treatment. So, if I have schizoaffective, it'd be Bipolar/Manic type. That would explain a robust response to fairly standard meds.
The old school Orthomolecular docs (you know how I love them) liked schizoaffective patients. Apparently, they/we respond nicely to treatment. I don't know why they'd like SA patients' (due to response) over BPD patients, as was suggested in one article I read, but I'm sure they have their reasons. My best, wild guess is that the stuff that OM docs were in to--low(ish) dose neuroleptics, managing mood and anxiety, high dose supplements--would be particularly helpful for SA and BPD patients, although treatment for BPD depression might still be tricky, especially since OM docs tended to use old, cheap meds whenever possible (TCA=higher rate of switching, I'm guessing).
Blah blah blah...anyway, I just don't quite see the difference between bipolar I w/ heavy psychotic symptoms and schizoaffective, manic type except that SA would have a worse prognosis (but better than schizophrenia, or schizoaffective depressed type).As for me...I'll just stay on the Trileptal. It does help. The downside is that it play with other meds. When and if I get that Tofranil-PM filled, it'll boost blood levels a bit, which is worrisome since I'm starting at 150mgs/day (I don't really know WHY the starting dose is that high).
SA would explain my agitation...then again, my doc (until recently) swore up and down it was bipolar I with agitation and psychosis as part of the picture. 6 of 1, 1/2 dozen the other I guess, as long as treatment is correct.
blah blah blah...up early and rambling.
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:1059621
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140123/msgs/1059621.html