memory problems and schizo

[dfowler1976]

about 4 1/2 years ago I had started having severe memory and cognitive, (learning) disorders that rocked my world. Now I've gotten somewhat better but I'm now trying to see if I'm indeed Schizo-Affective. My other symptoms include

flat affect
depression
feeling not all there
feeling 2 dimensional
feeling spacey
slow thinking, kind of clunk along
less thoughts in head
brain feels blank
terrible memory
problems learning
everything feels boring
lack of interest in things and life
don't get super tired ever but sleep well sometimes it takes a while
used to get delusions
used to hear voices
hear a faint faint whistling in left ear
trouble thinking ahead and feel thoughts are there all at once, but few
brain feels like concrete sometime
sometimes feel like i will faint, never do

So what do you think does this sound like I have Schizo-Affective Disorder or is this another psychological or neurological problem? I go back and forth!

you can email me at fowlerdevon@gmail.com if you want! I like to meet new people.

Devon

[Naominjw]

Why would you think all this might be caused by a "psychological" problem? And asking about schizoaffective versus anything.... just remember that ALL the schizoaffective diagnosis is based on are SYMPTOMS when they do not know the medical cause. It doesn't mean that it is psychological, and it doesn't mean it is NOT a medical/neurological/nutrition/hormonal or whatever other condition, or a combination thereof. It just means the symptoms match and they don't know what the problem is.

So ... take your pick.

My child had "schizoaffective" for years and years... grew up on antipsychotics. That didn't mean that it had anything to do with psychological whatever. But she did have neurological, metabolic, sleep disorder, immune problems... etc. problems.

You might want to look at Dr. Mark Hyman's new book ... something about Fix your Broken Brain by Healing your body first, and the www.itsnotmental.com website oh and www.lef.org ....

And that doesn't mean you might not benefit from psychotropic meds...

but I wouldn't start with the mental label until you have really looked into all the various physical problems that can cause these same symptoms (and it may be more than one thing wrong).

Just my opinion based on tragically hard-earned experience.

[dfowler1976]

thanks for replying! Well the first neurologist and his psychiatrist gave me the diagnosis of SAD. My current psychiatrist went along with this diagnosis plus his obedient therapist counterpart.

Um my psychologist, another one, thinks I may have had a delusional disorder and agrees that my symptoms sound psychological, that's why I said it was psychological in nature. And the neurologist I'm seeing now also agreed it sounded psychological. I guess I thought a psychological disorder had to do with the DSM-IV criteria for mental disorders. You know depression, schizoprenia, bi-polar, borderline etc. And I think it's a type of neurological, but not neurological in the more physical sense like Parkinsons and brain injury. Maybe you could explain to me the difference.

I don't think it's brain damage because I never sustained a brain injury nor have I had any diseases and illnessess at all in the last 10 years. And I know I didn't have a stroke, or carbon monoxide poisoning. And finally I never was deprived of oxygen as well as no brain tumors showed up in my 2 MRI's, which came out normal.

But it could, I suppose, be any other neurologic problem and there are hundreds I've checked.

What do you think?

Devon

[dfowler1976]

I get it now. It might not be psychological. I misread your post. I checked out your links including the blog and thought it was very insightful. It makes me mad that my Psychiatrist would quickly jump to diagnose me as that.

The Life Extension Foundation is a great favorite of mine as I am a Transhumanist. The idea that science will allow us to go beyond our human limitations through applied technology.

You see, I used to pride myself on my thinking now I'm thick as a brick. I was thinking maybe I should get my thyroid checked and my hormonal balance. Do you know other medical things that I might want to look at?

I understand now that so called "mental illnesses" are really physiologically based out of real biologic problems.

Thank you so much for your help!

Devon

[Naominjw]

I understand now that so called "mental illnesses" are really physiologically based out of real biologic problems.


The problems with us saying "mental illness" is that... we don't call autism that. We know it is biological. We don't call Parkinson's that or so many other things affecting the brain. But they DO affect mental abilities. ... and SOME things we consider mental illness or "mental" as in psychological - really ARE "mental"... and some things we consider purely physical still have a huge component of mental thinking in how we deal with the medical condition and therefore the outcome. Like diabetes. If we have a bad attitude with diabetes and ignore what we need to do we will destroy ourselves.

**I** had a "mental" depression from the severe and long trem stress of my daughter being psychotic. It didn't incapacitate me, but I was in despair. That depression was completely different from my little girl's completely biological depression. **I** needed TLC and someone to talk to. For my daughter, talking to someone about her depression mught lessen the trauma from the depression but could not prevent nor stop it. She needed biological/medicinal therapies.

So are your problems biological or psychological? Maybe one, maybe the other, maybe by this point some of both because we develop coping strategies for the biological which may not be great for us. That happens to cancer patients and patients with diabetes. We can have positive coping strategies, or negative ones. But even so, it doesn't make the underlying medical condition (cancer, diabetes, biological depression, hallycinations, etc) any less medical.

Both dimensions (actually 3 including social) need to be addressed -- but that is true in any long-term medical condition.

If you have all these other neurological/physical problems, you might want to address them regardless of the mental diagnosis. Feeling better physically can go a long way to helping your brain function.

Here is a "funny"
To the psychiatrist, my daughter's problems were psychiatric. To the endocrinologists (now finally after a decade and a half when they finally took her biology seriously) her problems are endocrinological - NOT "mental." To the neurologist she has neurological problems. To the sleep specialist, her problems are sleep disorders. In general she has gut issues and the allergist sees her as being allergic with autoimmune issues. BUT before the extensive testing to everyone except her pediatricians they were "mental." Even though the ped. psychiatrist said her "mental" issues were NOT psychological - they were biological. Still, once diagnosed with the depression, it was like that's all the doctors saw was "mental.

My daughter says that is changing dramatically now. Children are getting the biomedical, alternative, integrative, hormonal, gluten-sensitivity, etc. testing (http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/2008/03/important-links-to-help-our-children.html). Maybe in large part because of the tremendous amount of work done for autism. So, her issues which were not caught when she was young may be caught in more children now (if their parents are not poor). But that kind of testing seems to be hugely lagging in the adult community.