was i misdiagnosed with aspegers? am i really schizophrenic?

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I will try to make things short. in the past 2 years things have gone acceleratingly downhill for me mentally, as much as i tried fighting it. i am finally on seroquel and back from my rambling, ranting, and complete disorganization to the point where i could not communicate, drive, or eat without feeling extreme time dilation.

It really snapped last fall. i'm not sure if anyone remembers how i was ranting and raving about my teachers were seducing me and pretty much mind-raping with their propaganda. i then became paranoid, heard voices at the time, developed delusions of having ESP and super psychic powers, like a radio antenna picking up waves, and began smoking cigarettes because it cleared these thoughts and disorganization a bit, and helped with my short term memory which was failing.
anyways. when i was admitted to the behavioral hospital, within a week i was reduced to a rambling, ranting, totally disorganized, couldnt-tie-my-shoelaces mental infant... im not sure what they did to cause this but i think it was the monotony of every day in there, the stress of having 30 other people in the unit, and probably the effects of the new meds (prozac affecting serotonin pathways like lsd does)
so they pinned me with "thoughts disorder" which is a feature "disorder" of schizophrenia which must be some kind of pre-cursor to an official diagnosis of schizophrenia, or some kind of label they came up with to some undescribable mental state i was in... or a prodrome

I know for someone so "intelligent" how could i possibly become so delusional and disorganized? I believe there is some unknown "schizophrenia" disease eating at my brain cells, especially in my frontal cortex, destroying my memory and giving me delusions and hallucinations. somehow this problem was cured by taking antipsychotics and living under low-stress conditions as possible. when my mind becomes "excited" its very easy to think delusionally or hear voices again. luckily my head is always clear, clearer than it had been in years thanks to seroquel.

2. every time i smoked weed or spice, i had an extremely adverse reaction. like a full blown trip. voices, visual hallucinations, synesthesia, paranoia that i was going to be murdered or was beign tested on, complete tactile hallucinations. when i took wellbutrin ( SN-DRI), i had visual and auditory hallucinations, and it was like i was on acid.

3. im worried- right now im hearing voices. its not interfering with my life much but im afraid that stress might trigger a full blown schizophrenia and that id never come back.

is it possible i was misdiagnosed with aspegers and my oddities, eccentricities, and behaviors can be traced to an actual dormant schizophrenia that is extremely ready to pop out at any moments notice?

i know this post is long, but im trying to figure it out. im no hypochondriac or into labelling myself, but based on my own evidence im finding that im a person whos fighting against an unknown "schizophrenia" in my brain, not a static mental state of aspergers or autism.. a fluctuating state of in and out psychosis/delusion/hallucination./etc
???
i guess im just posting this cause, its probably rare for someone who would be mis-diagnosed with autism then later in their early 20's find out they have schizophrenia?

It sounds like the negative side effects from whatever medications they put you on. In general I would advise to stay away from psychiatric drugs as much as possible. Similarly, dont smoke either, that too could have produced hallucinations.

As far as your question goes, my guess is probably you do have schizophrenia, but it was compounded by your smoking as well as taking psychiatric drugs. Perhaps if it wasnt for the latter two, your schizophrenia would have been a lot milder than you are experiencing it now.

How old were you when you were diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome (AS)?

It is possible to have both Aspergers Syndrome AND Schizophrenia.

Typically AS is diagnosed during childhood, whereas the average age of onset for Schizophrenia for males is 19-22 years old, and for females 20 - 33 years old. (According to the National Institute of Mental Health).

You mention several things that are indicative of schizophrenia, but only a psychiatrist could make a definitive diagnosis. It might be worth it to you to have a diagnosis just so you know what you are dealing with, and then you can figure out how best to manage it.

Here is a link to the NIMH webpage on Schizophrenia ~ you may find this helpful.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publicat ... enia.shtml

You mention several things that fit the positive, negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is not a disease and does not "eat" at brain cells. It is a genetic disorder of the brain.

Let me share my story.

I was diagnosed in 1958 with "borderline autism". This was long before the term Aspergers Syndrome had even been coined. My mother was told I would probably out grow it, and to NOT try and socialize me. I spent my childhood spinning spoons in the corner, and banging my head on the wall (literally).

I have a highly sensitive central nervous system, and most of my autism eccentricities rotate around my acutely sensitive hearing, visual acuity, and tactile peculiarities. I also have very little ability to read body language, and I have limited interests upon which I perseverate. I meet the criteria for High Functioning Autism or Aspergers Syndrome.

When I hit puberty I experienced extreme depression to the point of psychosis. I had one hallucination where a tiger came bounding out of the wall over my bed. I had another hallucination where God descended into my small bedroom and thundered His fierce anger at me telling me I was cursed. I had my first complete mental breakdown after this encounter with "God" at the tender age of 19. I had never done any drugs nor did I drink.

I am not schizophrenic, but I do have a severe mood disorder. I only have these extreme symptoms IF I become extremely depressed. I have been diagnosed with Major Depression with psychosis, Bipolar I (due to the psychosis) and Bipolar II (before the psychosis was recognized). I manage it using various techniques.

So I have both Aspergers Syndrome AND a severe mood disorder.

One of the subjects that I perseverate on is mental illness and other neurobiological anomalies.

Hope this gives you some food for thought. Schizophrenia is a life long condition, but it can be managed successfully. Let us know if you get a definitive diagnosis.

It sounds pritty much like something schizophrenic.

It is possible, that you were misdiagnosed or you have both, that's actually not that uncommon.

But also Aspergers get more often a psychosis in early aduldhood.
So it's possible you are Asperger and it's just an episode.

And there is also McDD (click) as diagnoses. It's believed by some sienticed that it is possible to be between autism and schizophrenia. So it's more something like schizoaffective disorder, instead of having both.

Also very interessting:Is autism spectrum disorder common in schizophrenia? (click):

"About half of the cases with schizophrenic psychosis had ASD according to the results of the parental interview. The rate of ASD was strikingly high (60%) in the group with a SCID-I diagnosis of schizophrenia paranoid type. The findings underscore the need to revisit the DSM the either or stance between ASD and schizophrenia."

Last edited by Raziel on 01 Aug 2012, 2:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

Prozac made my mother psychotic before she became schizophrenic. Did you take Prozac before your hallucinations? It may have triggered depressive psychosis. This can happen in anyone, I believe. Not everyone can handle anti-depressants. I can't either.

I have schizoaffective diagnosed currently with traits of Aspergers. I've adapted very well to my Autism which got worse when I was young and got better over time.

I dunno, I don't like the word schizophrenia. I don't think people with this label should be separated in some box from the rest of people. Why? Because this is normal in the world, people become psychotic and there are usually reasons. For you, it was likely depression and psychiatry not addressing your underlying problems. that's only my opinion.

I think that's why my mom became this way. She got depressed once after being stressed out from money problems and taking care of two kids. Overcompensating etc. they put her on Prozac which she claims they kept upping and my dad claims she was OD'ing on which is freaky because I don't believe him. She is responsible even now despite having delusions.

She is not happy, but the Prozac made her psychotic when she took it. So the actual depression never went away, hence depressive psychosis. I do not think it made her happy she started sleeping hours on end and went into a different universe basically. Now she has false memories and all sorts of crazy problems.

I've never touched anti-depressants, and I'm the sanest schizo you'll ever meet...lol.

A little healthy speculation is all we need in a society of people who like order.

I believe autism and schizophrenia are genetic opposites and one cannot have both at the same time. It would be like flipping a coin once and landing on both heads AND tails.

Aspergers can turn into paranoia as you grow older. as it gets harder to cope with because of reality, social, etc. So you get depressed and anxious because nothing around you makes sense, and not being able to get a job, and being independent, etc, which can turn into paranoia. I don't think you have schizophrenia unless you start seeing things, hearing things, smelling things, or feeling things that are not there, like peoples flesh rotting, being covered in bugs, etc.

Just calm down. Do something to occupy the time.

Nope, there is even a slight spectrum connecting autism and schizophrenia with each other and autism, bipolar and schizophrenia are even genetically related to each other and all 3 run more strongly in many cases through the same families.

I have heard differently. I have heard that it is the same mutation, but in different directions. Like right hand and left hand amino acids. So having them together would not work. That is why the DSM-4 states that: "Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia." as a prerequisite for being diagnosed with aspergers.

This just means that the autistic symptoms described in the DSM-IV are not caused through schizophrenia.
But it doesn't mean that you first have autism and can't have schizophrenia.
There is even a disorder (not in te DSM) called McDD, where you have symptoms of both. Schizophrenic and autistic symptoms.

It looks like a "mash-up" syndrome. Like, "here are some kids with these issues that seem to correlate with autism, schizophrenia, bi-polar, tourettes, epilepsy, and/or mental retardation, let's call it MCDD" It is also not in the DSM, the proposed DSM, or ICD, and has no strict diagnostic criteria, which makes me think that it may not actually be a disorder at all. It certainly isn't a recognized one.

But it seems like a disorder one would give if they did not want to differentiate someone having more than one disorder, like depression and scizophrenia, or ADHD and autism.

The DSM states that psychotic disorders should only be diagnosed in addition to autistic disorders if hallucinations or delusions are present due to the overlapping "negative symptoms". Yes there is a theory that they are genetic opposites which was theorized by dr. christopher badcock. However that wouldnt cancel each other out seeing that we have more than one gene to cause a condition. It would just imply that seperate genes caused each condition. Here is an article he wrote on this matter. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the ... ake-genius
I have also been diagnosed with both autistic and schizophrenic spectrum disorders comorbidly. However I will also say all of psychology isnt an exact science. All of the lables are just there to define what symptoms you are experiencing. Its like having the cold and diagnosing it as "coughing disorder" being the symptom instead of diagnosing the actual cause. It would obviously be possible that someone with any assortment of symptoms and personality traits must exist since no two people are going to be the same anyways. Anyone imaginable is out there somewhere.

Idk why I bother.

Last edited by amboxer21 on 16 Sep 2012, 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

One psychotic episode does not make you schizophrenic. The symptoms have to persist over a period of time. Psychosis can be a symptom of many different mental disorders. Don't smoke weed if it gives you a bad trip - it will have long terms effects on your brain.

One poster said to stay away from psychiatric medication, especially anti-psychotics. While it's true that they can have very bad side effects, it's also true that the psychosis itself is damaging to the brain, and anti-psychotics are the only way to treat it. I have tardive dyskinesia (involuntary movements) in my hands from anti-psychotics, but if I had my time again I would take them again, because they stopped the psychosis. So I guess I disagree entirely with his point of view. They are serious drugs but you have a serious condition.

I just wanted to add again:

You can have more than one diagnosis!

It's even very very common, I also do.

Of course you can have more than one diagnosis, I was simply talking about autism and schizophrenia. You can definitely have bipolar and autism, or Multiple personality disorder and aspergers.