Posted by Lonely on January 31, 2005, at 20:16:28
My hubby was diagnosed this past Sept. as Bipolar 2 by a *former* med school psychiatrist. In a way, I felt a relief and thought it was probably accurate. A few weeks later he was diagnosed with MS. He was put on Trileptal to which he had a serious reaction - his MS probably complicated it.
Today we saw a CURRENT med school prof psychiatrist (was trying to get my hubby into a program funded by NMIH that includes working w/family) who said that he's not Bipolar because ..... Bipolars have periods of time (apparently several weeks or a few months) in which they are normal. My hubby is mostly depressed and agitated and irritable. So, he could not join the study because the CURRENT med school prof psychiatrist (we liked him because he was so straightforward but nice) said his situation is too complex with MS, Hep C, Kidney disease, and now, Mood Disorder NOS.
So, what IS a Mood Disorder NOS? Why does it have to be non-specific? What is the future for this disorder? This sounds like one of those garbage diagnoses and it sure isn't very popular - no research done on it. I do not mean disrespect to the psychiatrist at all - just feel that it should be more defined. Mood stabilizers seem to be the best treatment and he's now on Lamictal 50 mgs and Wellbutrin 300 mgs. I got the impression that it's NOS because of his comorbid disorders but that must be fairly common, isn't it? There's no coordination at all and because he is not in the study group, he will not see the current med school psychiatrist any more.
What about psychotherapy? He's had it for 6 years and it doesn't seem to help. I've heard that until the chemicals are balanced that it's money down the drain. What about me? I've gone to LMSW for 4 years and just feel like I don't know what to do. It's overwhelming to have someone this depressed around me all the time.
The best I can say right now is that I'm more convinced that his bad behavioral problems (and some are very serious) are biologically based. I've been to NAMI and MS Support Group but noticed at the latter they don't talk about mental illness. We have insurance, thankfully, but that doesn't seem to connect us w/exactly terrific care.
poster:Lonely
thread:450769
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050129/msgs/450769.html