Post by Mea on Jan 6, 2016 10:17:10 GMT
Anonymous asked: What if you don't have a "primary illness"?
Answer: Here’s the thing. Your primary diagnosis can be complex, and it can change depending on circumstance. Primary diagnosis is a tool to make healthcare more efficient. It’s kind of like triage, but instead of trying to find the person who needs treatment most urgently, they’re trying to decide which of a person’s conditions needs treatment most urgently.
For example, the primary diagnosis that my therapist’s organisation has for me is BPD and social anxiety. Those are the disorders that led to me seeking treatment there. If I had a manic episode and went to hospital, my primary diagnosis there would be bipolar disorder. When I go to see a physiotherapist, my primary diagnosis is fibromyalgia. I also have a bunch of other disorders, but my primary diagnoses tell the professional treating me which one is the hardest for me right now, in the context of what they treat.
As you can see from my example, it is possible to have a primary diagnosis that contains two or three disorders, if multiple disorders are equally relevant, or if secondary conditions make treating the main problem harder.
For some people, one or two disorders are usually or always more disabling than the others. Some people switch between many different primary diagnoses depending on context.
You don’t have to agree with or assign yourself a primary diagnosis. If it’s invalidating or not helpful for you, that’s totally fine. It’s part of the healthcare system, and it wasn’t made for us to use for ourselves. So whether you want to or not is up to you.
- Exo
Answer: Here’s the thing. Your primary diagnosis can be complex, and it can change depending on circumstance. Primary diagnosis is a tool to make healthcare more efficient. It’s kind of like triage, but instead of trying to find the person who needs treatment most urgently, they’re trying to decide which of a person’s conditions needs treatment most urgently.
For example, the primary diagnosis that my therapist’s organisation has for me is BPD and social anxiety. Those are the disorders that led to me seeking treatment there. If I had a manic episode and went to hospital, my primary diagnosis there would be bipolar disorder. When I go to see a physiotherapist, my primary diagnosis is fibromyalgia. I also have a bunch of other disorders, but my primary diagnoses tell the professional treating me which one is the hardest for me right now, in the context of what they treat.
As you can see from my example, it is possible to have a primary diagnosis that contains two or three disorders, if multiple disorders are equally relevant, or if secondary conditions make treating the main problem harder.
For some people, one or two disorders are usually or always more disabling than the others. Some people switch between many different primary diagnoses depending on context.
You don’t have to agree with or assign yourself a primary diagnosis. If it’s invalidating or not helpful for you, that’s totally fine. It’s part of the healthcare system, and it wasn’t made for us to use for ourselves. So whether you want to or not is up to you.
- Exo
