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Psychiatric Conditions Other Than Depression Common in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Presented at ENS
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Sleep disorders occurred in 82% of the patients. Significant obsessive-compulsive symptoms were seen in 75%, and 67% had some form of eating disorder.

Depression was present in 61%, so it exceeded many experts' estimates even if it was not the most common single condition in this study, Dr. Pires-Baranta said. Anxiety occurred in 43% and 57% of patients had somatization symptoms.
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http://www.docguide.com/news/content.ns ... 8000502C17

57% with somatization symptoms? oh dear....

Hi jimmylegs. Is that vit d for just somatization or the other psych. conditions as well well well?

hehehe vitamin d helps with mood disorders and helps prevent alzheimer's. b-complex is good for the attitude also.

"When the human body is deficient in vitamin D because of reduced dietary intake or inadequate exposure to sunlight, the parathyroid hormone mobilizes calcium from its stores in the skeleton to restore calcium balance in the blood. While this action prevents the usual manifestations of hypocalcemia until vitamin D deficiency is quite severe, adults who are deficient in vitamin D may have chronic pain and lower extremity weakness. Indeed, women who are deficient in vitamin D often are misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia or even somatization syndromes. (2)"

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_n9486477

The estimates as to the number of people with MS who have depression issues always seems high to me.

It appears to me that physicians are prone to overuse the "anxiety" or "depressed" diagnosis for patients that are seen by them for 10 minutes a year. It is one of those things tied into "you look so good", therefore you must be nuts if you think that you have medical symptoms.

It is akin to me of the doctors who for years told patients to avoid stress, chocolate, spicy foods, etc because of their ulcers. In fact the ulcers were caused by a bacteria and had nothing to do with the commonly assumed causes.

I think it is frustrating to be diagnosed as depressed because no one can cure or properly treat this disease, but depression is too strong of a word for patients in many cases. Frustrated should be substituted for depressed in the polls and "research".

gwa

ya no kidding jeedub! looks sure can be deceiving. i hate it when i hear people say, o i know someone with ms, you'd never know she had a thing wrong! well try being her, then you'd know! and when people see me they're like wow, you look great, as if i'm supposed to be visibly haggard or something.

man, i have been frustrated lately! i've gotten over feeling like a circus freak, the phone has stopped ringing off the hook with callers wanting to hear the details.

but, my lab has been giving me the runaround (as in, they screwed something up or told me something inaccurate 5 times in as many visits over the last 2 months), and recently i had to correct my pharmacist's math twice. scary. then there's the whole impact of the lab issues on my relationship with my family doctor. i lost major sleep over that last night!

and then of course there's the frustration over the actual physical problems. mine are not huge any more - but they're sure aggravating!

ahhhhhh that's better

ok and just to rant a little more, there was this big confusion with the lab, and i was like 'doc, i think the lab is doing the wrong test this time!' and i carefully explained how i noticed and what i understood to have happened (unfortunately pissing off the doc's office staff in the figuring out process), but my doc questioned why i wouldn't want the test they were doing, and i was like fine, but it's not comparable to the first test, and it's not a good indicator anyway (i didn't have abstracts with me to back me up).

so my doc consulted another doc of mine, and between them they decided, no the lab did the wrong test LAST time, and i felt really stupid for getting all frantic about it, and really stupid for thinking i knew what was the right thing to test, and i fretted about it all night, and this morning finally took a deep breath and forgave myself for making a mistake.

but i just double-checked some facts... and i was so RIGHT, they ARE doing the wrong test this time. i KNEW it. whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

jimmylegs,

Thanks for making my point so well.

gwa

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I am definitely not saying Somatization is not a "real" disorder, by any means. I see signs of it every day while working in a hospitals billing office, and seeing the patients I deal with on a regular basis. What I firmly belive, and It has been touched on here, is that a crappy doctor can LEAD one into having this disorder, as I feel mine has done with me. I've been diagnosed with everything under the sun the past 3 years, and have been told many times that perhaps I was paranoid in the sympotoms I was having. Its the clasic "Its all in your head" response, which can drive one completely mad.

I was diagnosed in April of this year, and I cried and cried. Not because it was a horrible shock, but because I finaly had someone tell me its not "all in my head". I admit, I still question every ache and pain, or the lack of energy I have and the weekness in my legs. I'm paranoid now for different reasons. Am I having another attack? Will I be able to work? If I'm not having another attack, is there something else wrong with me? I, thankfully, have new docs, and a damn good relationship with them, and they understand the frustration and torment this whole situation has put me through. All I can do at this point is take life with a grain of salt, and try and remind myself that I may only have a precious amount of time before I won't be able to be the me I once knew....try to tell THAT to your head...