Congratulations you have a new psychiatric disorder!!

I rarely get pissed off but this just pushed me over the edge.

Apparently in the world of medical assessment there has come a time where we have to make a choice. Are we sick and able to deal with it without complaint? Or are we sick and want the doctors to freaking well do something about it? Apparently we can no-longer have both without being told we are mentally ill.

I repeat. If we complain about being ILL, then our doctors may be given the option of labelling you with a psychiatric disorder. Yeh. That well and truly pisses me off. MEGA amounts.

The American Psychiatric Association wants to have the power of licensing the application of a mental health diagnosis to all medical diseases and disorders. In laymans terms this means that if you think about your disease, you think too much about the terrible pain you are in because of your disease, you know you are ill, the doctors know you are ill and yet they can't find what is wrong with you, then you are automatically placed into the catergory of having the proposed psychatric diagnosis of 'Somatic Symptom Disorder'.

They diagnose this as thus:

“Criteria A, B, and C must all be fulfilled to make the diagnosis:

A. Somatic symptoms: One or more somatic symptoms that are distressing and/or result in significant disruption in daily life.

B. Excessive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to these somatic symptoms or associated health concerns: At least one of the following must be present.

(1) Disproportionate and persistent thoughts about the seriousness of one's symptoms.

(2) Persistently high level of anxiety about health or symptoms

(3) Excessive time and energy devoted to these symptoms or health concerns

C. Chronicity: Although any one symptom may not be continuously present, the state of being symptomatic is persistent (typically >6 months).”

So you have have a disease or illness that is distressing or disrupts your life (YAY- you fit criteria A), your disease or illness also in your distress makes you think about your disease or illness, (say you have non epileptic seizures and you are worried you're going to die as I did- YAY You fit Criteria B) and then if this continues for say 6 months, or more than congratulations you have the whole freaking set and are the proud owner of a new psychiatric disorder...

Do you see why i'm pee'd off. I have ME and Conversion Disorder, I have symptoms that cannot be defined or diagnosed through one specific test. Yet my illnesses disrupt my ife, distress me and cause me to spend excessive time worrying that I need to conserve energy for the next day and it has so far lasted 6 years.....

I might as well diagnose myself now then eh, American Psychatric Association...

Yes this deals predominately with pain and symptoms without explaination such as MEGA SHOCK; ME, but if you have a pain in your head, back, arms, legs or ANYWHERE and the doctors can't find out whats wrong with you then they are at fault not us! They need to find the cause not stick another psychatric label on someone because they haven't got the answer. And if they want the answer they need to spend more on biomedical research!

BUT APPARENTLY THATS NOT HOW MEDICINE WORKS ANYMORE!!!

As a good friend of mine (who won't mind being quoted) said:

'My guess is that the pharma companies will just have another cash cow for all the drugs they have that are fast running out of patent time- you have SSD- here take this little green pill that we have marketed to doctors for the treatment of patients with SSD a brand new psychiatric catergory.'

So here is where you good people come in, this is still being debated and decided on, in fact its in its final stages RIGHT NOW.

"The DSM-5 Web site (www.dsm5.org) is open to a third and final round of feedback. For six weeks, patients and their loved ones, members of the profession, and the general public can submit questions and comments via the Web site. All will be read by members of the appropriate DSM-5 work groups."

I URGE everyone with an invisible disorder to register their feedback, we CANNOT under any circumstances allow this to happen!! The medical boards cannot be allowed to put us with legitimate medical conditions in a group and label us with a psychiatric disorder!! We are NOT mental. We are ILL. And becoming stressed and upset and having your time consumed by the stress and distress of our disorders is NORMAL.

Please! If you do nothing else today, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE submit your comments on the website above!! They need to know how wrong and damaging this could be for all of us. Because we all know as soon as America signs up and categorises us as thus, the UK won't be far behind!!

The Student Nurse Named Katie

The Student Nurse Named Katie.

So I was admitted to hospital the day after my dissertation was given in. The stress of that, hormones in general, a nasty run in with someone I am now calling Voldemort and the two more coming essays that are due in on the 1^st of June all mixed in with the unhealthy dose of M.E. and I was off on that crazy mental seizure train that has landed me in hospital. My speech is just coming after 24 hours, my swallowing reflex leaves a lot to be desired (doctors are already mentioning the NG tube! Pulls massive face), and theres no change to my paralysis... Joy oh freaking Joy.

So I wake up this morning at 7am having got to the ward at 3am, lovely lady 3 beds down has dementia bless her, so I didn't get much sleep even with the seizure meds that could have taken out a horse, so i've basically slept all day. But a face kept appearing everytime I could pry my eyes open.

A student nurse by the name of Katie. It was her first day today and she has been put through the ringer from what I can gather around the massive amounts of seizure drugs they're still pumping into me and the general M.E. brain fog. To behonest this is the first time i've generally been coherent.... for about 48 hours haha.

So I had another seizure this afternoon, my mum had come during visiting hour and I just knew I was brewing for a good one, one lot of drugs was already being put through an I.V and they gave me another lot to stop it and there she was. Katie, the student nurse of her first day, and she apparently sat there and stroked my hand through it all. Mother says I scared the crap out of her, she'd never seen a seizure like mine before. But she has been a champ.

I woke up and there was Katie, making sure I was okay, so sure of herself and her abilities, but something in her eyes showed that worry that I wasn't alright and she didn't know what to do to make it better. She will make one of the finest nurses of her class I am sure.

I can go on and on about how bad the NHS has gotten, the care that people receive is just so below par, the recent Panarama about care homes and all the horror stories that we've all heard. I could go on about the lack of government funding, the lack of compassion and the lack of basic human feeling that is being seen on a daily basis. But one thing I am reminded of is that within the bunch that are so run off their feet, so under paid and under appreciated, there will always be a Katie. Someone so bursting with energy and compassion and so willing to help in anyway they can, that they brighten your day.

I had my Katie today, and I hope that everyone else gets their Katie as well, because it inspires the hope that not everyone is lost in the blur and darkness and downtrodden horridness that hospitals and treatment has become; that there is someone out there who is willing to learn and experience your illnesses with you and make it better for the next person to come along with the same.

I hope that through my hospital stay, and the indignity of having my Katie see me through a seizure that is not classed as a normal seizure, that she will and can go on and treat another with compassion and understanding. And I have every faith that she will. Because she has that spark, and I hope and pray that it never goes out. For her sake and for ours.