Posted by Bill LL on February 5, 2007, at 12:56:26
In reply to Re: Doc said if I was given Lamictal I am bipolar. » med_empowered, posted by Phillipa on February 5, 2007, at 11:07:33
About 60% of people diagnosed with bipolar were first mis-diagnosed, usually with having depression.
In my opinion, it's not realistic for a doctor or for a patient to think that they can necessarily get a reliable diagnosis early on in their treatment. The simple reason is that there is no reliable blood, urine, or spinal fluid test for mental illness. Nor are there any widely accepted imaging tests.
It's all trial and error. If Ritalin alone fixes you and improves your concentration, then you can be diagnosed with attention deficit. If an antidpressant alone does wonders, you will probably be diagnosed as having depression. If a mood stabilizer alone such as Lithium or Abilify makes you feel and perform a lot better, they will probably label you as bipolar.
I don't think it's a good idea to rely too much on a diagnosis because for mental disorders since it's only a guess. If you rely too much on it, that might preclude a doctor from trying a different class of medications which might actually be the best one for a given patient.
poster:Bill LL
thread:729808
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070201/msgs/730004.html