BPD/ EUPD diagnosis

[Capricorn8990]

Hi all, not really sure where to begin but I'll give you a it of context.

I'm adopted and when I was in the womb I suffered a lot of trauma before I was even in this world. My birth mum was/ is alcohol dependent and she would drink herself into oblivion and take drugs such as cocaine. She would self harm often cutting her own throat. She was a lady of the night and got into multiple fights.

I am diagnosed with OCD and was with CAMHS from 11-18. A therapist who specialised in adoption and therapy explained that I basically came out into the world as a scared babu due to what my birth mum put me through, so I developed OCD to take control and self soothe. I've been told I have attachment issues too which a lot of adoptive children have.

Anyways, I believe that I have BPD/ EUPD. I have been reading a lot about it and out of the 9 symptoms I have 6. I fear being abandoned, I push people away without meaning to, I often binge drink (not alcohol dependent). I have outbursts of rage, I hurt myself, hit my head on the floor, scratch myself, pull out my hair. I never hurt anyone else but I throw and break things and I space out when I do it and then come to. My emotions are up and down and I am triggered by the smallest things. I often feel lonely with people around me and I never know who I truly am. I have spates of extreme happiness and then extreme lows. I often don't know what I want to do in life and get bored quite easily. I feel unfulfilled. I am a real people pleaser and I feel paranoid that people have something planned to hurt me. I don't trust easily but I go above and beyond for everyone. I often hate myself, have feelings of not wanting to live and that I'm a burden. I have had these feelings since I was very young and to me it's very much normal.

The one thing I guess I have managed is a relationship of 7.5 years, we have a house together too. I hold down a job and friendships too. I'm an adult and I want to speak to the doctor about the possibility of having this, but I feel that I won't be listened to. My birth mum also has it and I know that it can be hereditary.

Will I be taken seriously? Does anyone know what the process is like for a diagnosis? Does anyone have a similar experience? What treatment is best for this? Is it hard to get diagnosed as an adult?

I hear that professionals don't like treating people with this so I am scared about being dismissed like I was when getting help for OCD.

Any help/ advice is much appreciated. Xx

I'm curious to know which symptoms you don't have which have made you rule out cPTSD?

I don't have flashbacks or panic attacks but my diagnosis is cPTSD due to childhood matters. I also have severe PMT, my eldest has been diagnosed with ASD and youngest ADD - so erm yeah I think I can now fully reject the misdiagnosis of EUPD I was given in my early 20s (that I was never told about 🙄).

I'm now being led through compassion based therapy and IFT by a Psychologist and it's just so helpful/good although hard. Working on both my intellectual understanding of what happens when everyday interactions trigger and the emotional side of actually "dealing" of the core issues. Rejection etc

My D was misdiagnosed with EUPD- she has had several diagnoses, including OCD ( as well as an eating disorder) and it is now thought that undiagnosed autism is the missing link. It presents very differently in girls/ women and is often not picked up on. DBT is the gold standard treatment for EUPD but it takes a real commitment and a quite a while to see results, from what I understand.

Hi. My DD2 (18) has this diagnosis along with PTSD.

I read quite a bit about it and one person I follow on FB is a MH occupational therapist called Keir Harding OT.

He writes and speaks prolifically and passionately about the mis-diagnosis and stigma of personality disorders.
He is a fantastic campaigner for the better treatment and understanding of the individual people who have been attributed the label.

Basically he says there is no personality disorder - only a set of behaviours which have been shaped by (nearly always) traumatic experience/s.

The problem with telling someone (doc/ friend/stranger/ new partner) you have a PTSD diagnosis is the first thing that happens is the inevitable
"what happened to you"

As a result my DD will still say BPD first and my heart breaks for her having to be stuck with this label.

Keep going - better days do come

OP if you've been through significant trauma please research complex PTSD as this might fit better than BPD - it's similar but different.

CPTSD's major relationship feature is avoidance rather than 'frantic efforts to avoid abandonment,' self injury isn't a defining symptom, and trauma is.

I thought I had BPD before I was diagnosed with CPTSD but it never quite fit - everything fit together when I learned about it.

@Knotswapper may I ask what medication your DD is prescribed atm?

@MargotandJerrywerehot DD is on 350mg of Quetiapine slow release and 40mg of fluoxetine. We use fast release Quetiapine in a crisis, up to an additional 100mg.

@Capricorn8990 I have RAD - you sound very similar to me.
www.helpguide.org/articles/parenting-family/attachment-issues-and-reactive-attachment-disorders.htm

Thank you for everyone's responses and sorry for the delay in replying I've been working non stop.

@RandomMess I only had a quick look and just felt that I fit the BPD symptoms more than the CPTSD. But I am open to reading more into both xx

It's so sad to read all the stigma attached to the diagnoses you or your close ones have received. Mental health is still so badly misunderstood x

@MyDcAreMarvel thanks so much for sharing that link, I totally resonate with what's been listed s

@mangoontoast

I wouldn't push for a diagnosis. There is no treatment and there is a lot of stigma amongst the healthcare profession, even MH workers, about BPD. I would push for a referral to adult MH services though.

I disagree. I am diagnosed eith EUPD and have had great support and success in dealing with it. You do have to engage in treatment but it's very unfair telling people this.

I disagree. I am diagnosed eith EUPD and have had great support and success in dealing with it. You do have to engage in treatment but it's very unfair telling people this

I agree. I also have EUPD, and got a ton of help for it on the NHS...
What I do agree with though is that the label follows you around. I went to A&E after misjudging the bottom of the stairs and breaking my foot. The triage nurse told me I was faking (said I was walking fine... I was limping! Could not weight bare at all) and then asked if I had thrown myself down the stairs on purpose. X-ray confirmed I had broken my foot.
Another time, I was in a walk in centre and the nurse left the room to get something. I had a peek at the computer screen. It was on the front page of my file, so basic stuff like address and allergies. On it, in big letters was a bit that said 'Patient Alert - Personality Disorder'
I have other psychiatric diagnosis's and they were not on there, just the PD, and not even specifying what one.

My DD is 20 and has a diagnosis of BPD. There are treatments for BPD. The NICE ‘gold standard’ therapy is DBT. This is hard to access via the NHS but if you can, it is good for some people but requires a long term commitment. Privately others offer DBT on faster more intense courses. There is a growing body of evidence for MBT as potentially being more effective for BPD than DBT and a couple of experts at UCL London are leading this therapy forward and it may also be on the NICE recognised therapy list now...so I was saddened to read the early poster who stated that there’s no treatment for BPD...sure it’s hard to access and find, but it is out there. In some ways Covid, has made virtual therapy more accessible and postcode can be less of a constraint now.
I think group personality mix can vary and be a determining factor on what a participant will ‘get out’ of therapy. In terms of stigma, it’s sad that ‘Personality Disorder’ does get flashed up on medical screens. But of course, you control OP who you tell. You don’t have to announce a diagnosis to the whole world. BPD for many can be a transitory illness whereby beyond a certain point people no longer meet the criteria.