You should always get a second opinion or more for any kind of serious diagnosis. Doctors are only human and they make mistakes too. However, I don’t think anyone here can ethically give you medical advice. I think a lot of people here are struggling in life to some extent. I’m no exception. I hope it works out for you though.

We all have various states of inner dialogue. Your functional thought will have a bearing on how you think and interact with others. Some people have a rich inner dialogue. I do have a rich inner dialogue, but it is not with other people per say. I enjoy thinking in terms of how someone else might view me or some event, but it is never persistent.

One thing I like to tell myself is that everyone has moments when they show some kinds of signs of mental health problems. That is perfectly normal. It is only a disorder when the problem is impacting your life in a way that you are unable to address.

Hi

Even if you know the hallucinations aren’t real, I think it’s still considered a symptom of schizophrenia.

I don’t think you’ve been scammed by the psychiatrist.
That bill sounds standard for healthcare in the USA, unfortunately.

As far as I’m aware, a lot of psychiatric medication can take weeks or months before you start feeling the benefits. Let your psychiatrist know if you’re not responding to the treatment.

Wishing you the best, mate.

Don’t worry about the accuracy of the specific diagnosis. Focus on whether treatment is effective.

The treatment options are the same for many similar conditions, so even if the diagnosis isn’t quite accurate, treatment can be effective.

Also frustrating: not all treatment options are equally effective, not all individuals have the same treatment expectations, and diagnostic science is not able to reliably and immediately predict the best treatment for your specific circumstances. It can take weeks or months to find a combination of medication, diet, mentality, routine, and lifestyle factors that work for you, and those can potentially be disrupted by factors as simple as the changing of the seasons.

I don’t mean for that to sound discouraging. I am only trying to manage expectations. You are very likely to see some positive changes, possibly large, probably small. You’re also likely to experience some side effects, possibly small, probably large. The objective is to continuously adapt and tune your lifestyle to maximize the positives while minimizing the negatives.

Based on the little you share, I would lean towards that being a valid diagnosis. Nothing wrong with getting a second opinion though. Sounds like this is pretty new to you, so it is understandable that you a feeling this way. I’d suggest doing some research on it to see if you can relate and maybe check out local mental health support groups. They are free and peers with mental illnesses themselves. Talking to friends or people you know that you trust about how you were doing before treatment and now may be helpful as it can be very difficult to have personal insight with mental health issues.

There are various injectable treatments for it these days which means you don’t have to remember to take pills. Some last around a month and I have heard there are some that last half a year.

Pricing seems about right if in the US. A month of generic pills can be around $700 without insurance not to mention doctor appointment co-fees. Keep in mind that not taking schizophrenia treatment can end up costing more, not even getting into broken relationships, lost jobs and interruptions to education.

Honestly, I am leaning toward the psychiatrist being correct. From your limited description of your symptoms, it does sound like either schizoaffective disorder or schizophrenia. I am not a mental health professional at all, so you may want to get a third opinion from a psychiatrist or psychologist.

Treatment is expensive for any mental health condition, it really is unfortunate and unfair that there aren’t more free/accessible supports. Sometimes it does feel like you’re getting scammed (I have ADHD, most medications are very expensive and pharmacies sometimes treat you like a drug addict), but taking medicine can help a lot depending on the person.

Medication for schizophrenia has come a long way in the last 3 decades.

for the most part, for most cases and people, there’s no such thing as an instant cure.

most drugs take days or weeks to start to have an effect, and then only through regular dosing does this keep the positive effects continuing.

Give it time, and keep self-monitoring, but don’t give up. it’s a slow process.

I think a second opinion would be best, especially for any serious diagnoses like this one.

If you got already a second opinion, same as the first one, it seems solid. I guess my question is, is the disorder causing you distress or making it hard to live your life? I’ve had three people in my life with schizophrenia but it became so severe they couldn’t function.

If you are functioning well enough in the world, and not in distress, you have time to try treatments. Even if you don’t feel different (that’s better than feeling worse, right?). Keep going to whichever doctor you liked better. Let them know how you are doing so they can adjust the treatment.

Are you living life on your own and making it ok? Are the voices/conversations interfering with what you want or need to do? Are they interfering with your relationships?

That’s a lot of questions, but my nephew would have answered No to the first question and Yes to the others. He’s a diagnosed schizophrenic, and I’m telling you about him because getting on meds turned his life around. He’s working now, has an apartment and is maintaining relationships.

I know it’s frightening, but you’ve had two doctors diagnose you. It might be worth trying the meds. Ask if there are programs that can help you pay.

I hope things work out for you.

What country are you in and how well-regulated are psychiatrists there?

Have they told you what the medicines are? With psych meds sometimes they have to build up in your system and it can take a few weeks. But one-off injections sound a bit odd.

You should be able to look up the treatments on drugs.com or wikipedia.

First, while hallucination is a common symptom of schizophrenia (and that includes hallucinations involving ANY of the five senses), it is not a REQUIREMENT to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.

There is nothing wrong with having a mental illness. Having a mental illness does not make you a bad person. That said, it does sound like whatever is going on with your head (whether it’s schizophrenia or not) is interfering with your life in a negative way.

As much as it can seem like they don’t care, most doctors aren’t actively looking to screw you over, but at the same time, 1000 bucks is indeed a lot of money. You probably shouldn’t be going to a psychiatrist without also going to a licensed clinical psychologist for therapy. Developing a good and trusting therapeutic relationship will give you the space to figure out what’s actually going on with your head AND it will give any psychiatrist you see someone to work with to figure out diagnoses.

Please find a therapist you trust and feel safe with, possibly someone who specializes in psychosis because you seem to occasionally detach from reality (based on what you’re saying at least, in my very unprofessional but somewhat educated opinion). And regardless of what you do, please don’t stop trying to improve your life; you deserve to have a happy life!

You did the right thing by getting a second opinion regardless of whether the first person you saw was legitimate because it was the wise decision in the sense that its important to be comfortable with a diagnosis and the person helping you.

Do your best to be strong and don’t let the fear and frustration get the better of you, you can do this.

Whatever might be up, whether it is schizophrenia or something else, it is treatable.

It can take time working with a psychiatrist to figure out what works best to help you be the best version of yourself, but a solution does exist for you so don’t give up.

For a lot of treatments for this, it can take time being on treatment for a while before you notice a difference (some times a few weeks of being on treatment). If you still aren’t noticing a difference after a few weeks, just continue to keep your psychiatrist up to date on how youre feeling, and if the treatment does not seem to be working, they will alter it to try something else to see if it works for you.

I can definitely see how this can be frustrating, I myself experienced a long period of anxiety problems where I probably went through 10 different treatments before I found something that worked for me, but in the end it was worth the fight.

I wish you the best of luck, always remember that you can do this and that you are a strong person.

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Information about a disorder I know that could manifest as potentially schizophrenia looking is dissociative identity disorder as it can present differently in people.

Not saying you do have it. Just information for others out there also