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anyone been told they were mentally ill?

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Posted 10/18/2013 7:39 PM (GMT 0)
I am just wondering if anyone has been told or believe they were crazy while suffering with lyme. I myself have been told everyone diagnosis under the sun until I got my lyme diagnosis recently.

I have suffered for 15 yrs. during this time, as my mind and health deterioated. my family and my husbands family have come to believe I am mentally ill. I did end up in the mental ward several times. my mother was mentally ill and I look like her, and I got labeled. and at times, I did indeed question my own sanity.

but after being drunk on benzodiapines, aka xanax, klonipin and ativan, for years, and after seeing an addiction specialist I spent 11/2 yr getting off benzos, and thus helped me realize how sick my body really was for I could actually feel my body when I came off thus leading me to do the research and find the doctor to finally diagnose me correctly.

I am a Rn and people in my life would say you were a rn you should have known. well I didn't. case closed

so I just want to offer some inspiration and strenght to those of you out there who are suffering. you can do this and don't give up for you can take charge of your health and be your own advocate. i have.

I have been thru hell and I can tell you I never considered myself very strong. but this disease has showed me how strong I really am. and I am also learning how devastating it can be to your mental health as well as your life.
Posted 10/18/2013 8:21 PM (GMT 0)
I'm one of the many that have been told that it was a mental issue. I even wondered and checked into psycho-somatic disorders once. Fortunately, I finally got to the right information, as I am now healed.

Thank you for your post!! I'm sure it will encourage many!
Posted 10/18/2013 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
I think many if not most of us were at one point told that. If I see one of the former doctors I went to I would tell them "Hey, you were right about it being in my head - the infection was primarily in my central nervous system and brain, who knew?" Of course I will say it very snidely but with a sweet smile before walking away with my head high...:)
Posted 10/18/2013 9:36 PM (GMT 0)
opugirl, I love your post.
Posted 10/18/2013 10:27 PM (GMT 0)
I have been accused of being crazy, hypochondriac, a drug seeking addict and much more over the years but when I received my diagnoses and started telling the Dr.'s I have chronic Lyme is when I really started getting the looks from them that I'm nuts! LOL, now I'm the amused one when they don't believe me! I don't really care what they think any more though!
Posted 10/19/2013 4:27 AM (GMT 0)
so cool opugirl!! and lymelittlaura i hear you and can identify with you. and just like you I am not worried about what they think anymore. especially after having 3 different lyme specialist confirm my diagnosis. the first I talked to in washington over Skype. the second I visited, and the third was a well qualified md, lyme specialist, as a second and third opinion. I like to see what a few people I know will say now that I have my diagnosis confirmed. I had one of my own family members tell me I should just forget about the lyme disease. forget it? god, if you were told this would you forget it? sorry, my anger is coming out lol.
Posted 10/19/2013 6:30 PM (GMT 0)
I too have been told that it was all in my mind.

You know what? I often wonder if those people who drink alcohol excessively are self-medicating themselves because they don't know they have a bacterial infection. I imagine that as long as they stay drunk they can forget their illness even if it is just for a little while. I also think of the homeless who are mentally impaired..is the bacteria in their brain so advanced that they can't think for themselves any more?

Sorry to go off-course. I see these people on my way to work and it breaks my heart how a human being can end up like this. Sleeping in the park, liquor bottles in a brown paper bag next to them, their shopping cart alongside them. Not one person that cares for them or who is willing to help them.

When I was told by a respected medical professional who in our society is relied upon to cure people and who took an oath to help others that you are crazy....well, sometimes you start to believe them. This is when I wondered if I was really crazy and if I would end up like these people. Alone in the streets, hungry, stinky, and with no place to go.

There was even this one time when I was coming from seeing a doctor who said I was crazy and saw this bridge that has sort of like a cave under it. It caught my eye and I stopped, got off my car and went under this bridge. I saw myself in the future sleeping in this same spot, homeless, sick, all alone, and with no one to rely on. This is when I got so angry that I promised to do anything in my power to get better. This was a turning point in my life. Am I crazy? perhaps, but not mentally ill :-)
Posted 10/19/2013 6:51 PM (GMT 0)
you go healing98. I can tell you personally I was ill for 15 yrs and was told I had a mental diagnosis when I did not. I was misdiagnosed, medicated on mind altering drugs, and I stayed sick a long time. recently I have been validated by my therapist that I had a medical problems that was masked by a psychological diagnosis. which now I know this to be true.

It is so sad, but this happens to thousands of people. I had a friend up in canada that shared alot of info with me on how bacterial infections, viruses infect the brain and mimic mental illness. I am sure there are many people on the street very sick, but are labeled mentally ill in our society. sadder, many at first were fully functioning adults with homes and jobs until they became ill, were misdiagnosed, and then eventally either gave up took drugs deterioted and ended up on the street, with no support from family or friends who understood or tried to help them.

i know because at one time, I came close to getting into a situation where I could have ended up on the street. my own family watched me slowly deteriote over a 15 yr period, and never really talked to me and tried to help me or understand. now, I feel I am thought of as mentally ill when I have two college degrees worked for 22 yrs, had a normal life before I got ill. it really hurts when those you love abandon you.

Am I crazy, mentally ill, no I am physically ill and now finally getting the treatment I need. thank god.

so for those of you that feel like giving up don't give up on your health and yourself. Hold the course, be your own advocate. find out read research as much as you can. and find a llmd you trust and can talk too. jackie
Posted 10/20/2013 11:41 PM (GMT 0)
Well I have to chime in on this.  I was always a very out going person, very

athletic very good family life, then all of a sudden my life comes crashing

down on me.. Had lyme test (not igenex) and every other test come up

negative, still my husband tells me its all in my head I've completely lost

it.  Finally go to LLMD with the Igenex test comes back positive he never

did actually say he was sorry... so he has shoulder problems, so what do

I tell him theirs nothing wrong with your shoulder nothing its all in your head same thing he told me... I think he got the point.. It was a real strain on our marriage. better now but still hurt full, I don't let him forget it either.  I think he even had our oldest daughter doubting me... My mom

would just say you need to find a doctor and find out whats wrong with you

like I hadn't already been to 8 or so doctors that couldn't figure it out. 

Those doctors thought I was crazy.. anxiety, pain, numbness, tingling,

candida, 1 doctor told me it was menopause.... so been there.  Hang in there it will get better.....

 

Posted 10/21/2013 3:42 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah, according to my family Im officially bat crap crazy.

Its the high levels of anxiety, but also these severe outbursts of aggression. As my neurological symptoms decrease, this craziness has actually been getting worse (not better, I would expect).
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