Tomorrow I am scheduled to see a psychiatrist, the first time I would ever be seeing one. I have a number of symptoms that can be classified as "mental", including OCD, brainfog, strong mood swings, vivid nightmares, depersonalization and constant feeling of impending doom. Their severity tends to coincide with the severity of other symptoms such as pain, OI, digestive symptoms, etc, and they are especially aggravated by infections or reactions to drugs/chemicals.
Despite all of that, as well as several past referrals to psychiatry from unhelpful doctors, I avoided seeing a psychiatrist or even mentioning my mental symptoms because it would give the psychobabble camp more ammunition to abuse me with (I've had doctors accuse me of hypochondria, hysteria, etc. for a long time before I got more extensive evaluations). There was even a neurologist who cherrypicked my symptoms before, saying my pain was psychosomatic and completely unrelated to my verified autonomic dysfunction.
I want to firstly get my OCD diagnosed so I can be evaluated for PANDAS and other neuroimmune conditions. I know this can easily end up going the wrong way, with after-visit notes like "patient suffers from health-anxiety causing hypochondriasis and obsessive-compulsive thoughts." or "patient's false beliefs, depression and stress conjure up psychosomatic manifestations."
I've read threads from other patients recounting their compulsory psych visits just to rule out psych diagnoses, but my case will be trickier because I will have to return with a psychiatric diagnosis while avoiding having it written down as the causation of all my other symptoms.
Despite all of that, as well as several past referrals to psychiatry from unhelpful doctors, I avoided seeing a psychiatrist or even mentioning my mental symptoms because it would give the psychobabble camp more ammunition to abuse me with (I've had doctors accuse me of hypochondria, hysteria, etc. for a long time before I got more extensive evaluations). There was even a neurologist who cherrypicked my symptoms before, saying my pain was psychosomatic and completely unrelated to my verified autonomic dysfunction.
I want to firstly get my OCD diagnosed so I can be evaluated for PANDAS and other neuroimmune conditions. I know this can easily end up going the wrong way, with after-visit notes like "patient suffers from health-anxiety causing hypochondriasis and obsessive-compulsive thoughts." or "patient's false beliefs, depression and stress conjure up psychosomatic manifestations."
I've read threads from other patients recounting their compulsory psych visits just to rule out psych diagnoses, but my case will be trickier because I will have to return with a psychiatric diagnosis while avoiding having it written down as the causation of all my other symptoms.