After the worst two weeks of my life I now have a diagnosis but not sure where to go from here.

[BloominMarvellous]

I have been rather quiet on here lately. I have had a night in hospital (a general one) after taking a huge overdose.

The crisis team come to my house every other day and they call me on the days they don't visit me.

It's been horrible. I gave up completely. I was so upset when the overdose didn't work.

Well after the overdose a psychiatrist came to see me and spoke to me for a few hours. He took every bit of info he could about my life so far and this current episode and he has diagnosed me with Borderline Personality Disorder with an episode of phycosis at the moment.

I have been taking quetiapine which has made me sleep a lot and I feel empty. I don't want to kill myself as much now which is an improvement.

I have been told I will have DBT therapy but there is a huge waiting list.

That's all I've been told. I know nothing about the disorder and have a million questions. Google is a minefield.

What helped you if you were diagnosed?

[Crawling]

Have a hug im not borderline but thought you could use a hug.

[OpheliasWeepingWillow]

I have recurrent depression but just want to say that a diagnosis is a really good start in moving forward with making your life much, much better. You will be able to control symptoms and really take charge of not letting it defeat you. It's a positive step. Is there a support group of any kind you can join?

[BloominMarvellous]

Thank you Crawling - they are few and far between IRL so means a lot.

OpheliasWeepingWillow - I will have to Google in my local area. I've been given a leaflet for mind so they might know.

It's all a bit of a minefield. It's opened so many questions about who I am. Wondering what is me and what is this disorder.

[Hoophopes]

Sorry you have had such a tough few weeks. If you have only been seen once by a psychiatrist and this is your first dealing with the mental health services, then a diagnosis of BPD from one meeting is quite sudden. There is an official diagnostic tool that takes a long time to fill in to officially diagnose - so if you don't think the diagnosis fits you can challenge it. If you agree with the diagnosis then the standard treatment is DBT - which is a longish term treatment and therefore long waiting lists. But doesn't mean you can't have other treatments whilst you wait - such as medication and short term CBT if they think it will help.

[Bossybritches22]

Another one wirh a handhold or hug as you need.

Bloody MH problems are the pits.

All I can offer is keep posting & talking on here lots of support & well done you for taking the first few steps.

[BloominMarvellous]

That's interesting to know Hoop. Everything he was saying made sense and he was keen to get me onto DBT asap and to sort out a care co-ordinator.

He seemed very confident in his diagnosis. Does this mean it's not official? Do you think I will have to see more people before they say I can have the therapy?

I wish I thought to ask these things at the time!

[OpheliasWeepingWillow]

I don't think this is the time to second guess diagnoses - you need to concentrate on working with your doctors to get back in good shape. THEN research and learn and see how you feel it fits your life. Get second opinions but right now concentrate on being healthy and working through this.

[Fluffydressinggown]

Hi BloomingMarvellous, I am so sorry to hear what a difficult time you are having.

I have a BPD diagnosis (I don't especially agree with it but...) It is worth investigating the NICE guidelines for BPD. they will give you an idea of the way your treatment might go. The guidelines specifically say that short term therapy is not an appropriate treatment so you might find them keen for you to wait for the DBT.

All that said a care-coordinator can offer immediate support (mine is my CPN) and they can ensure that all the agencies work together. Are you finding crisis useful?

I wouldn't underestimate the experience of ODing and how difficult the whole thing is to process. Give yourself time and space to deal with it, I think it can be very upsetting afterwards because you have to deal with surviving and also deal with feeling like you wanted to do it. Very confusing!

Take care of yourself.

[Hoophopes]

Sorry it is not for me to diagnose, I was just concerned for you receiving a diagnosis like that if it was your first contact with MH services. As I say if you are happy with the diagnosis and treatment there is no issue. ( I was wrongly labelled so...) I agree it is all about getting right medication and services and it is great the dr was talking of actual treatment, but treatment can be hard to get and if you wait a long time for wrong treatment etc. debt is often group therapy, here it is a year long programme once a week. It can vary. If you get a care co- ordination they can explain how personality disorders are treated in your area.

[Hoophopes]

The official diagnostic tool if you are interested is a SCID-D tool. But no if a dr diagnoses you o one tends to challenge it and they do what the dr says (I challenged mine, nightmare with work, children etc for me, but that is my experience and does not mean there are not great experiences out there!)

[poppypebble]

My sister has BPD, according to the psychiatrist, but she (and we) doubt the diagnosis. She had ECT under section and that has really improved her condition (leading us to believe it wasn't BPD) but it has had profound effects on her memory.

A friend of mine was diagnosed with BPD and has had DBT, she found it a difficult experience, but very worthwhile in the end.