who can legally diagnose somatoform disorder?
Can someone please help me. One of my specialists, who is not a psychiatrist, took it on to himself to diagnose me with somatoform disorder because I had already been diagnosed with bipolar. I already had an existing diagnosis of autoimmune thyroid, a low positive ANA, a slight erythemous rash, irritable bowel, raynaud’s, and then found out that I have mild glucose intolerance and conjunctivitis from peripheral nerve involvment. My skin is stretchy and loose. The same physician also suggested in his notes that I might possibly have Ehlers Danlos, a genetic connective tissue disorder, or scleroderma. How on earth is it possible that somatoform disorder can be diagnosed at the same time that other disabling illnesses might be present? Has anyone ever heard of this? I had thought that only a psychiatrist with a PhD could do such a diagnosis by excluding organic pathology. Please someone let me know. I could not get a referral to any specialist. No one would even let me in the door. It see
