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Connection between seizures and mental illness
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 20:42Comments
Re: Connection between seizures and mental illness
Submitted by kay69 on Sat, 2010-03-27 - 22:41
I agree totally with Tiadzos reply here. Psychiatrists are too quick to "label" people, particularly so in the USA, even when the clinical symptoms don't match their precious DSM criteria. It's incredible how many people are diagnosed bipolar (with our withyout E in the equation) and true ADD is not that common, it's just trendy to diagnose it. Many suggest that's alot due to the drug companies influence over doctors which I have to agree with.
I concede there is a big problem with sz activity causing psychiatric symptoms so inevitably people are going to get misdiagnosed. And lets not forget that every AED on the market has reported and documented psych side effects and it's really bad luck if you get them. Depression is really common with ep, it's just about mandatory.
From my experience, neurologists and psychiatrists know nothing about the others dicipline and for some reason don't have to cover neuro or psych in their training. So if a neuro sees an E patient with psych symptoms it's easier to fob them off to a shrink. I suspect not too many neuros/shrinks even consider the symptoms MAY be the result of szs and/or AEDs, even when the psych symptom onset is clearly related to sz onset or starting an AED. This is completely irresponsible on the doctors part and I strongly believe it constitutes malpractice since the long term consequences of a psych label are not exactly good.
It took me 19 years to get vindicated of a psych diagnosis and it's now fully acknowledged that the psych symptoms I had-and still have- are directly the result of my sz activity and probably the AEDs.
The bigger problem is when shrinks start thowing drugs t the symptoms- a lot of psych drugs lower the sz threshold so are actually quite dangerous for us, ie antipsychotics, SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants. Obviously some people do need psych meds and find them useful. But if the symptoms are a direct result of the meds or szs, then the meds have to be reviewd and maybe changed, and an attempt made to get the best sz control possible, BEFORE handing out psych labels and drugs like lollies which happens way too much.
I agree totally with Tiadzos reply here. Psychiatrists are too quick to "label" people, particularly so in the USA, even when the clinical symptoms don't match their precious DSM criteria. It's incredible how many people are diagnosed bipolar (with our withyout E in the equation) and true ADD is not that common, it's just trendy to diagnose it. Many suggest that's alot due to the drug companies influence over doctors which I have to agree with.
I concede there is a big problem with sz activity causing psychiatric symptoms so inevitably people are going to get misdiagnosed. And lets not forget that every AED on the market has reported and documented psych side effects and it's really bad luck if you get them. Depression is really common with ep, it's just about mandatory.
From my experience, neurologists and psychiatrists know nothing about the others dicipline and for some reason don't have to cover neuro or psych in their training. So if a neuro sees an E patient with psych symptoms it's easier to fob them off to a shrink. I suspect not too many neuros/shrinks even consider the symptoms MAY be the result of szs and/or AEDs, even when the psych symptom onset is clearly related to sz onset or starting an AED. This is completely irresponsible on the doctors part and I strongly believe it constitutes malpractice since the long term consequences of a psych label are not exactly good.
It took me 19 years to get vindicated of a psych diagnosis and it's now fully acknowledged that the psych symptoms I had-and still have- are directly the result of my sz activity and probably the AEDs.
The bigger problem is when shrinks start thowing drugs t the symptoms- a lot of psych drugs lower the sz threshold so are actually quite dangerous for us, ie antipsychotics, SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants. Obviously some people do need psych meds and find them useful. But if the symptoms are a direct result of the meds or szs, then the meds have to be reviewd and maybe changed, and an attempt made to get the best sz control possible, BEFORE handing out psych labels and drugs like lollies which happens way too much.
Re: Connection between seizures and mental illness
Submitted by jasssmit on Sat, 2010-03-27 - 21:19
Me: epilepsy, bipolar, add, excessive daytime sleepiness, and 60% lung capacity. Ive tried countless antidepressants, several anticonvulsants and they were all like placebos. I started taking Lamictal XR recently, and feel better than i have in YEARS. Lamictal treats both seizures and mood disorders. Look into it.