Am I schizonphrenic or am I Bipolar

[Blondejo2009]

I was diagnosed by my GP in 2004 with Bipolar Disorder after several years of drug use. I currently have abstained from drug use since then.  Recently in 2008 I had an incident which landed me in the psych ward and the doctor there has put me on a PTO (Sectioned me) under bipolar disorder but has further diagnosed me with with a psychotic illness schizophrenia.
I had a look at the symptoms for schizophrenia and they were too acute I have never experienced these symptoms, like hearing voices, wanting to commit suicide, hallucinations etc.

I have recently 2007 developed a problem with anxiety and paranoia but he wants to remit me as schizophrenic.

[ILADVOCATE]

Explain to him what is going on further. There are many diagnosis in between. For example I have made a full recovery (with an experimental agent in Phase II FDA study glycine for more information google "Dr Javitt, glycine) from schizoaffective disorder which is schizophrenia with a mood disorder. There the person hears voices and has delusions at all time. With bipolar with psychotic features the person only hears voices and delusions during moodswings. And not all symptoms are present at all times. Speak to your psychiatrist further about this.

[Blondejo2009]

To tell you the truth ILADVOCATE I dont know what Biploar is and I dont know what Schizophrenia is.  I'm new to this and I'm a bit scared and in the dark  do you know any good websites I could find useful on BP or Schizophrenia.

[ILADVOCATE]

For information on bipolar google "Depression Central" (for all mood disorders)
For schizophrenia: schizophrenia.com.

[ktheid]

Do you have distinct mania and depression episodes? That is typically how you can tell the difference between Schizophrenia and Bipolar I Disorder with psychotic features. You can experience delusions and hallucinations in both diagnoses, so the manic episodes is usually how to differentiate.

[ILADVOCATE]

Schizoaffective needs to be ruled out as well. I certainly don't have the understanding of a professional nor claim to but what I posted about the difference between schizoaffective and bipolar with psychotic features came from an answer when I gave testimony and posed questions at a psychiatric hospital about new medications in clinical (of which I am on one) study. Its great that other people have knowledge about the different diagnoses. I try to learn from any information I get on any clinically accurate sites or knowledgable people.