what's your thought on self diagnosis ? - Forum

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Specter wrote:

Sharkaz wrote:

Specter wrote:
1. literally everyone self diagnoses. if you say "i have a cold", "i think i have a drinking problem," or "i think i broke my foot", then congrats, you've self diagnosed! just like physical injuries, some people are unable to go to the doctor and get treatment, or are mistreated by doctors who make the condition worse (not to mention racism in the medical field- not only do doctors believe that Black people inherently feel less pain, they also misdiagnose Black people with schizophrenia on a regular basis)

2. my dad didn't even believe that autism existed, let alone that one of his own kids could have it, so in turn i was "self diagnosing" until i was 19. even now i still technically self-diagnose for disordered eating since i've only ever been to the hospital for the physical side effects (heart palpations + anemia + dehydration + inability to digest food)

3. if a kid or teen is pretending to have mental disorders online for attention, that's not something mentally healthy teens do. they've either been horribly misinformed or are seeking attention in an unhealthy manner because it's the only way they know to get attention (whenever i was trying to find out if i was autistic, i ended up in a grooming circle where an adult convinced me i had DID because i dissociated whenever i talked to him, therefore (in his words) i MUST have had an alter that liked him and wanted to be with him!)

I absolutely agree with all of this, specifically the first one !!

And I can also sort of relate on the second one too, in the end my parents stopped freaking out and acting weird but having to come up to them to ask to get diagnosed ? for autism ?? that was so scary and hard to get them to understand

i wish i could get my birth father to understand, he's gone from 'i dont believe it exists' to 'i believe it's caused by food dye/vaccines/whatever conspiracy flavor of the week he's on this time'

i'm pretty sure that by the time he passes, we won't have any form of connection anymore, and it's both a depressing and relieving thought.

Sharkaz
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Sharkaz wrote:

Ella wrote:
I think it's fine to look up and see what there is that it could be, then when going to the doctor u can point things out better.
What i do not agree with thought, is self diagnosing, sticking with that diagnosis without seeking help and actually getting diagnosed.
I think it's way to easy to misdiagnose yourself, because u can have symptoms but not have the illness. A lot of different illnesses have similar symptoms too.

This counts for both mental health and physical illness ofc

Yeah that's exactly how I feel about it tbh !! or if you can't afford it/your parents won't allow you to seek help or whatever, just use that as an excuse even when you'll eventually be able to see a professionnal in the future

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Rotte wrote:

Sharkaz wrote:

Ella wrote:
I think it's fine to look up and see what there is that it could be, then when going to the doctor u can point things out better.
What i do not agree with thought, is self diagnosing, sticking with that diagnosis without seeking help and actually getting diagnosed.
I think it's way to easy to misdiagnose yourself, because u can have symptoms but not have the illness. A lot of different illnesses have similar symptoms too.

This counts for both mental health and physical illness ofc

Yeah that's exactly how I feel about it tbh !! or if you can't afford it/your parents won't allow you to seek help or whatever, just use that as an excuse even when you'll eventually be able to see a professionnal in the future

then i think the answer should be "i think i could have *diagnosis*" not "i have *diagnosis*, if u know what i mean.

Sharkaz
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Sharkaz wrote:

Specter wrote:
i wish i could get my birth father to understand, he's gone from 'i dont believe it exists' to 'i believe it's caused by food dye/vaccines/whatever conspiracy flavor of the week he's on this time'
i'm pretty sure that by the time he passes, we won't have any form of connection anymore, and it's both a depressing and relieving thought.

Oh god the vaccines thing haha
I just hope you'll be okay and that you're around people who try their best to be respectful and interested in your condition ♥

Private
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Specter wrote:

Sharkaz wrote:

Ella wrote:
I think it's fine to look up and see what there is that it could be, then when going to the doctor u can point things out better.
What i do not agree with thought, is self diagnosing, sticking with that diagnosis without seeking help and actually getting diagnosed.
I think it's way to easy to misdiagnose yourself, because u can have symptoms but not have the illness. A lot of different illnesses have similar symptoms too.

This counts for both mental health and physical illness ofc

Yeah that's exactly how I feel about it tbh !! or if you can't afford it/your parents won't allow you to seek help or whatever, just use that as an excuse even when you'll eventually be able to see a professionnal in the future

genuinely asking, do you live somewhere with free health care? in the states (for me at least) it's $500 an appointment with no insurance, $100 with insurance. unless you pay a lot of money for health insurance or have a sustainable, full-time job for longer than three months (something most mentally ill people can't do) then you won't be able to see a therapist for more than 2-3 times a year.

sadly, a lot of people don't ever get the chance to get to a therapist. it's why in a lot of cases, you see a lot of people with schizophrenia/psychosis end up homeless or dead.

Sharkaz
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Sharkaz wrote:

Ella wrote:
then i think the answer should be "i think i could have *diagnosis*" not "i have *diagnosis*, if u know what i mean.

absolutely, yeah !

Sharkaz
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Sharkaz wrote:

Specter wrote:

Sharkaz wrote:

Ella wrote:
I think it's fine to look up and see what there is that it could be, then when going to the doctor u can point things out better.
What i do not agree with thought, is self diagnosing, sticking with that diagnosis without seeking help and actually getting diagnosed.
I think it's way to easy to misdiagnose yourself, because u can have symptoms but not have the illness. A lot of different illnesses have similar symptoms too.

This counts for both mental health and physical illness ofc

Yeah that's exactly how I feel about it tbh !! or if you can't afford it/your parents won't allow you to seek help or whatever, just use that as an excuse even when you'll eventually be able to see a professionnal in the future

genuinely asking, do you live somewhere with free health care? in the states (for me at least) it's $500 an appointment with no insurance, $100 with insurance. unless you pay a lot of money for health insurance or have a sustainable, full-time job for longer than three months (something most mentally ill people can't do) then you won't be able to see a therapist for more than 2-3 times a year.

oh geez, ok, that is way more expensive than I thought it was... I live in france and my appointments were around 80€ without insurance if I remember correctly, it might sound stupid to you but here it's considered pretty expensive, especially since we have a bunch of free centers dedicated to mental health (although getting a right diagnosis for something as tough as adult autism is almost impossible in those, which is why I saw a professionnal). health care isn't exactly free, it just doesn't take psychiatrist appointments in charge (or not entirely at least, you can get around 10 to 20% of your money back I'd say)
I knew that the healthcare situation was crazy in the US but wow, I certainly didn't expect that

Callum
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callum wrote:
it can be dangerous but as specter stated, we all do it

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wrote:
like i think it's fine to like have an idea of what might be going on, but like ... so many have like contradicting self dx' and think they can have a million symptoms and what not, when in reality they have read too many tumblr posts and deluded themselves into thinking they have it too.
sorry but it's way more complex than checking off some dsm-5 list...go to therapy or speak to someone who's actually in w this stuff instead of trusting greasy strangers on the internet.

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ouch wrote:
I think its easy to fall into the pit of thinking urself into symptoms u didn't originally have too if u keep researching a lot and relate to some things, which is why its good to go to a professional either way

Sharkaz
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Sharkaz wrote:

acidreflux wrote:
like i think it's fine to like have an idea of what might be going on, but like ... so many have like contradicting self dx' and think they can have a million symptoms and what not, when in reality they have read too many tumblr posts and deluded themselves into thinking they have it too.
sorry but it's way more complex than checking off some dsm-5 list...go to therapy or speak to someone who's actually in w this stuff instead of trusting greasy strangers on the internet.

yeah ! that reminds me of a situation I got in a while back, as a teen I spent most of my time online and there was this app called "vent" which basically was a social media that allowed you to post freely on how you were feeling, it was really wholesome and the community was great, but after a while I realized that so many people on this app diagnosed themselves with so many illnesses, some of them going as far as not allowing neurotypical people to follow them (like a lot of people weren't allowing minors to follow them if they talked about nsfw topics often, but this... it's just so crazy, sounded almost cult like, that's why I left tbh)

Sharkaz
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Sharkaz wrote:

ouch wrote:
I think its easy to fall into the pit of thinking urself into symptoms u didn't originally have too if u keep researching a lot and relate to some things, which is why its good to go to a professional either way

also true !! I call that the tumblr effect, it's a big deal tbh

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Specter wrote:

Sharkaz wrote:

Specter wrote:

Sharkaz wrote:
Yeah that's exactly how I feel about it tbh !! or if you can't afford it/your parents won't allow you to seek help or whatever, just use that as an excuse even when you'll eventually be able to see a professionnal in the future

genuinely asking, do you live somewhere with free health care? in the states (for me at least) it's $500 an appointment with no insurance, $100 with insurance. unless you pay a lot of money for health insurance or have a sustainable, full-time job for longer than three months (something most mentally ill people can't do) then you won't be able to see a therapist for more than 2-3 times a year.

oh geez, ok, that is way more expensive than I thought it was... I live in france and my appointments were around 80€ without insurance if I remember correctly, it might sound stupid to you but here it's considered pretty expensive, especially since we have a bunch of free centers dedicated to mental health (although getting a right diagnosis for something as tough as adult autism is almost impossible in those, which is why I saw a professionnal). health care isn't exactly free, it just doesn't take psychiatrist appointments in charge (or not entirely at least, you can get around 10 to 20% of your money back I'd say)
I knew that the healthcare situation was crazy in the US but wow, I certainly didn't expect that

trust me, the only reason i was able to get help for my ana was because i was on my parent's insurance- after 21, i got kicked off, and can't afford the $250 a month extra it'd be for something that covers mental health and prescriptions. i still have enamel damage from throwing up, since our dental work costs as much as a minor surgery ($300-$5000 per tooth, depending on if you just need a filling or a whole replacement)

money aside, my mom (who's 42 and insured) can't even get a hip replacement because the doctors told her no, despite her spending almost her entire childhood in metal leg braces because the doctors are worried she'll "grow out of it". no doctor is willing to replace it until she turns 65, assuming her hip doesn't break before then.

literally every medical procedure is at a doctor's whim, unless you can drive miles to visit another doctor that's maybe covered by your insurance. it's really batshit out here lmao

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wrote:

Sharkaz wrote:
I KNOW THIS IS A CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC but I do think it's really interesting and I'd love to hear you guys' opinions !

a bit of introduction first, I'm 20 years old, been officially diagnosed with anxiety at 15 and autism last year. In both cases I was the one who decided to seek diagnosis after a long time of reflecting, anxiety was because I recognized myself a lot in most of the symptoms that I've been having since I was a kid. On the other hand, I started questioning myself about autism about 2 years ago, my ex partner was autistic as well and we frequently talked about it, he's the one who implied I should look into it and I'm thankful I did !

Anxiety diagnosis went pretty smoothly, autism however... yikes. As an adult woman it is extremely difficult to find signs of autism as most of them usually are pretty well hidden and not that noticeable from an outside perspective (depending on where you stand on the spectrum of course!). It took a lot of thinking as well as a look of courage to seek a professional diagnosis, and free centers take years to get back to you so I had to see a psychiatrist specialized in diagnosing autism in adults, which is very expensive (my family isn't really wealthy so that was complicated to say the least).

In the end I believe I "self diagnosed" for a while waiting for the results, mostly because I was distressed and kind of waiting for a positive answer (scary yet feels like an answer to a lifetime of questioning what's "wrong" with your brain), I did keep it to myself but considering myself autistic before knowing it felt reassuring, although now I think it might've been dangerous cause if I learned that I in fact wasn't autistic it probably would've fucked with my brain.

ANYWAYS, because of all this I'm not sure where I stand on the self diag topic, is it a good thing ? a bad thing ? in which cases is it good or bad ? i'm so curious to hear your thought !!!

it can be good, because it can push someone to go to therapy if they feel like they have a problem that needs to be solved. the first step to recovery is recognizing a problem.

it can be bad, because some ppl may try to self medicate. or think that normal states of mind are illness(and vice versa). it's always important to ask a professional (or two).

but it's tricky. it's like trying to diagnose a disease. you can't just checklist things and diagnose yourself. but many people who had problems already knew, wouldn't that be a self diagnoses too?

Meister
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Meister wrote:

Specter wrote:

Sharkaz wrote:

Ella wrote:
I think it's fine to look up and see what there is that it could be, then when going to the doctor u can point things out better.
What i do not agree with thought, is self diagnosing, sticking with that diagnosis without seeking help and actually getting diagnosed.
I think it's way to easy to misdiagnose yourself, because u can have symptoms but not have the illness. A lot of different illnesses have similar symptoms too.

This counts for both mental health and physical illness ofc

Yeah that's exactly how I feel about it tbh !! or if you can't afford it/your parents won't allow you to seek help or whatever, just use that as an excuse even when you'll eventually be able to see a professionnal in the future

genuinely asking, do you live somewhere with free health care? in the states (for me at least) it's $500 an appointment with no insurance, $100 with insurance. unless you pay a lot of money for health insurance or have a sustainable, full-time job for longer than three months (something most mentally ill people can't do) then you won't be able to see a therapist for more than 2-3 times a year.

sadly, a lot of people don't ever get the chance to get to a therapist. it's why in a lot of cases, you see a lot of people with schizophrenia/psychosis end up homeless or dead.

That is so frustrating!
And even if they can afford to go to the doctor they can have a hard time to buy the medicine because it´s expensive. People that needs insulin has to pay a lot for a dose.
Saw an documentary many years ago about a family in the US that had a daughter that needed medicine. I don´t remember what she had as an illness, but the family had a hard time to buy it. Then the father saw that the same medicine in a country in Europe cost about 2-15 dollars. He thought about to go there with a sports bag an then fill it and then go back.