Discussions By Condition: Medical Errors

Heres some info on why I wasnt bipolar

• Posted By: Anonymous
• February 7, 2007
• 10:52 PM

This may help if I explain what happened to me in detail (I usually DON'T get detailed, so people may not know what to think, sorry about that).

In the end, I had a total of two symptoms that seemed bipolar.
First, I had one symptom a bipolar can have: insomnia for 2-3 days. This insomnia was the only symptom, but she said, "That's bipolar". Then time passed & I came in with another symptom which was depression. About this depression they said, "That's bipolar too.", so they continued on with pills. Then time passed again & I came in "complaining of another symptom"-this time it was "voices in the head"-to this they said, "That's a symptom of schizoaffective" (schizoaffective is BOTH bipolar & schizophrenia).

So, I had a total of 3 symptoms over 6 years. It was only an "accident of bad luck" that it "looked like a mental illness", much like when I had "symptoms of a heart attack" which turned out to be only INDIGESTION. Sometimes you can have symptoms that just "appear" to be something else.

The first symptom I complained of "insomnia for 2-3 days" was regular insomnia. I had not come in for "sleeplessness", but for a "symptom" you can get when you're that sleep deprived-I just had a question about that symptom. They never answered that question but instead focused on WHY you're awake & saying, "That's bipolar."

The second symptom of depression was due to how I felt about my medical problems, but they said suspiciously, "That sounds like bipolar too."

The third symptom of "voices in the head" turned out to be from the sleep loss from untreated sleep apnea (sleep apnea is a sleep disorder I got as a side-effect from the "mood stabilizer pills" they had me on). When I came in saying I had "voices in my head", they never ruled out the possibility that a physical medical condition (like untreated sleep apnea) may be causing it, so instead they said "We update our diagnosis- that's schizoaffective." I believed them & never got the sleep apnea treated for several years, so I kept having that "voices in my head symptom".

So, those three things is what lead them to think I had a mental illness. Over time, I slowly figured out what was going on & I took steps to cure it all. So, now I only have the sleep apnea to deal with-I just got my oxygen mask delivered today that treats sleep apnea, but it'll take awhile for it to work & for my body to "normalize" again.

This all started in late 1999 & went on until last year when I weened myself off their pills, but then I still had the sleep apnea to treat.

I sincerely apologize for NOT being detailed in prior posts, leaving only "brief statements" which people end up not knowing what I'm talking about. Hopefully this detailed list of what happened can provide some "clues" for anyone who went through a similar ordeal.

A special note to you: I'm sorry for sounding "defensive" in my replys before, & for getting on now as "unregistered", but you said you wouldn't read a thing that came from me, so I thought "It was my fault, but how do I apologize, & list what happened to me since you asked, if you won't read anything from that person anymore?!" So, I apologized this way, & included a detailed list for you & ANYONE who wants to know what happened to me. OK?

Please don't be mad...signed, dudbubbin1