Misdiagnosed?

I was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1993.  I have recently (in the past year) experienced the following intermittent symptoms : pronounced difficulty walking (weakness in both thigh muscles) lasting for at least half an hour; numbness, tingling, weakness and loss of dexterity in my hands and feet; incresing clumbsiness and loss of balance with and without vertigo; blurred vision, including the almost total loss of vision in my right eye for about 10 minutes; fatigue; relapsing psychosis which is precipitated by a pressure headahce along my forehead.  I am wondering if it is possible that I have been misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and instead could possibly have MS.  My doctor has tested me for Lupus (all tests negative) but has not considered the possiblility of MS, nor sent me for any tests which my indicate it. I would appreciate your informed opinion.  Thank you.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

You must be having some other symptoms related to behavior and thoughts when you were diagnosed schizophrenia. If you wish you can share them.

Which medicines are you taking for Schizophrenia?

The other symptoms may be seen in demyelination, but I think you should also get your inner ear checked.

Regards

[songster]

Thank you for replying.  Yes, I was experiencing thought disturbance, paranoia and delusion as well as hallucinations when diagnosed with Schizophrenia.  I accepted the diagnosis and have been consistently well since beginning treatment with Risperdal in 1996.  After developing the beginnings of Tardive Dyskenisia as a side effect of the med I have since been prescribed Zyprexa, then Abilify.  The Dyskenisia is very well controlled by fish oil. I have been mentally well for twelve years until recently.  The psychoticsymptoms have increased considerably, along with the other medical symptoms I mentioned in my first post. However, the other typical symptoms of schizophrenia are not evident at this time.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

Schizophrenia has a definite familial trend. Do you recall anyone in your family having had schizophrenia? I do not think you were misdiagnosed to have schizophrenia. And the present symptoms of relapse of schizophrenia have probably come due to the inadequate action of the drug. You have probably developed tolerance. You may need to consider increasing the dose.

As far as the other symptoms are considered, there is a possibility that those are due to some physical ailment. I would have your inner ear examined and have your neurological examination done.

Regards

[songster]

I do not have any relatives past or present with schizophrenia.  I was wondering about MS because I have a cousin who has it, but I believe that it's only first or second degree relatives who matter where that illness is concerned.  I thought I'd enquire about it anyway.
I shall ask my Dr regarding a neurological examination as I have never had one, even when first diagnosed with schizophrenia.  My Dr in fact hadn't even seen or spoken to me when he made the diagnosis and prescribed med, as he was basing it on a report from a community health centre.  This has concerned me for some time, however I trust that I do indeed have the illness as diagnosed, with possibly another physical ailment at this time as you have suggested. Thank you for your comments.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

Have you been following with the psychiatrist who initiated your treatment? As I mentioned in the previous post, you may need to alter the dose. Have you been informed about the type of schizophrenia you are diagnosed with?

I would suggest you ask for a referral to a Neurologist for the complete neurological examination.

How are you doing in your work sphere? Can you cope up with stress and anxieties?

Regards

[songster]

Actually,  I now have a different psychiatrist who has altered the Abilify to 60mg from 30mg (for some time I was only on 10mg) since I have been relapsing.  He is now going to change meds to  Solian.  Perhaps this will solve the problem.  
It is my GP who tested me for Lupus but not MS.  Sorry if that was confusing.
I presume I have paranoid schizophrenia but have never been told this. It makes sense though, since paranoia was a problem.
Stress does affect me seriously.  I am not working but had a terribly stressful year last year.  This has probably caused the relapse.
Thank you for your concern and your time.  There does not appear to be a schizophrenia community on this website as yet, otherwise I would have posted with them.  The mental health expert forum was unavailable when I first posted.  I appreciate your replies.

[ILADVOCATE]

Your post concerns me. If you have tardive dyskinesia and you are on any antipsychotic other than Clozaril it will get worse. The antipsychotics themselves can mask it and it can emerge full fledged. In myself it is as bad as Parkinsons'. If you were diagnosed with a temporary movement disorder such as akathesia some treatments can be of help and that is not dangerous. However, tardive dyskinesia is a debilitating condition and can have a wide variety of manifestations that include full body spasms as in myself or tics. Also, although there is still a study criteria I am under evaluation for tardive psychosis so it is being studied that while helping with the symptoms of schizophrenia, the antispcychotics could also be worsening it permanently. No one should ever make medication changes without consulting a psychiatrist but psychiatrists who diagnose a person with tardive dyskinesia will generally switch them to Clozaril. That cannot cause tardive dyskinesia. It does have a 1 in a 100 chance of blood dyscreias and requires weekly bloodtests which are changed to biweekly after six months and then after a year once a month. Some people can tolerate it. I could not. However, I am recovered fully on glycine, a phase 2 experimental antipsychotic that is a glutamate antagonist, a class of medication in study that cannot cause tardive dykinesia or diabetes. I am taking it out of study but under the supervision of a psychopharmocologist. I have been advocating to have it released as a medication. One of the glutamate antagnosists will become an available antipsychotic in about 5 years but if a person has tardive dyskinesia it may be worth informing your psychiatrist about glycine. I will post the link to the official study.
http://www.schizophrenia.com/glycinetreat.htm
and a glutamate antagonist that be in phase 3 (final phase of study) next year:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/business/03drug.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Naominjw]

You asked about misdiagnosis. Nobody answered the following, but you might want to take a look at it: http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Sleep-Disorders/KLS-and-Narcolepsy/show/1413637