Can someone please help me. One of my specialists, who is not a psychiatrist, took it on to himself to diagnose me with somatoform disorder because I had already been diagnosed with bipolar. I already had an existing diagnosis of autoimmune thyroid, a low positive ANA, a slight erythemous rash, irritable bowel, raynaud's, and then found out that I have mild glucose intolerance and conjunctivitis from peripheral nerve involvment. My skin is stretchy and loose. The same physician also suggested in his notes that I might possibly have Ehlers Danlos, a genetic connective tissue disorder, or scleroderma. How on earth is it possible that somatoform disorder can be diagnosed at the same time that other disabling illnesses might be present? Has anyone ever heard of this? I had thought that only a psychiatrist with a PhD could do such a diagnosis by excluding organic pathology. Please someone let me know. I could not get a referral to any specialist. No one would even let me in the door. It seemed to be a mechanism to write me off.

Lily,

I'm so sorry this happened to you. He sounds like he was frustrated or just plain clueless. Regardless, his oath is to first do no harm. I see his actions as you describe them as harmful...dismissive.

I would immeidiately get in contact with my other drs and have one of them or my GP write me out a referral to another specialist.

I'm sitting here shaking my head that he can dx you with that with all the phyisical dx's you have. Did he say why? Just because one doesn't respond as the dr feels "they should" doesn't give them the right to dismiss their symptoms.

This is a sore subject with me for a couple of reasons...I lived with trigeminal neuralgia for 16 yrs. prior to a dx and some dr's acted this way though they never said the words.

Also, my daughter was dx'ed with Grave's Disease and was dismissed for all her "crazy symptoms".

It's unfair and not right what's happened to you, but you must keep on seeking help for yourself, get the proper dx and then maybe one day in a letter you can tell him all about it and that you'll not be referring anyone there while you tell every professional or potential patient about his actions.

Some drs seem to only want to help the "easy ones", and there's nothing right about that. Again, I'm sorry this happened to you.

Regarding your question, MD's can dx bipolar, anxiety, depression, etc., so I'm thinking they can dx other disorders, but I've never read of an MD actually dx'ing one with a personality disorder. Did he actually say that or say that it might be that or symptomatic of that?

KD

A doctor with a Ph.D., ABPN I was diagnosed with it and after reading about it and trying to understand it, it kind of makes sense....we have this pain...then we get stressed or our thoughts get out of wack and our bodies or I should say brains can't deal with it all. My doctor described it as "your fist would be considered your "emotional" part of your brain, when your emotional stress levels get too high they have to go somewhere, then he put his other hand on top of his fist like a half moon...he started to stretch out his fist showing me that the emotional stress is being released into the physical body causing "symptoms"...it's all do to how much stress your emotional "brain" can handle and what your individual stress level is. When the emotional stress is released into the "physical" part of the brain that sends all kinds of things to the physical body, like pain, some symptoms like you described, then the physical part of the brain can forward the stress to your auditory system etc. My impression is that it's an emotional stress thing. I hope this helps you understand what I've been told. beenthere

A Neurologist, Neuropsychologist, and psychologist are the only ones that I am aware of who can confirm a diagnosis of Somatization Disorder. You have to be evaluated over a period of time and have the symptoms for long periods of time. A Neurologist will order an ECG and MRI of your brain. If your results come back normal, you're usually sent to a Neuropsychologist to be tested and evaluated and have a confirmed diagnosis.

FYI: Somatization disorder, per the DSM-V, is no longer listed as a disorder. Now, several of the somatoform disorders are bundled together into a SSD diagnosis, or Somatic Symptom Disorder. Now, doctors may diagnose you with SSD if you have what the doctor considers to be an inordinate focus on a specific pain for at least six months. And, now, the pain can be either medically-proven or not medically-proven to have a physical origin. So, now, if you have a chronic pain and want the doctor to fix it, you'd best be able to get to the bottom of the matter within 6 months. If not, then not only will you have to live with the pain and, as the doctors tell me, take my losses, but you will also be rewarded with the SSD diagnosis.