Erroneous Psychiatric Self-Diagnosis

Iron Deficiency (especially in men), Pyridoxine (B-6) Deficiency, Zinc Deficiency, Severe Vitamin D Deficiency, Definite Hypercalcemia, Definite Magnesium Deficiency, Cobalamin (B-12) Deficiency Definite Hypocalcemia - all of these can present as self-diagnosed "anxiety," "depression," and "irritability". This investigation began by accident. Initially Dr. Powell was just collecting 'teaching cases' for use with medical students - cases of non-psychiatric illness masquerading as...
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Iron Deficiency (especially in men), Pyridoxine (B-6) Deficiency, Zinc Deficiency, Severe Vitamin D Deficiency, Definite Hypercalcemia, Definite Magnesium Deficiency, Cobalamin (B-12) Deficiency Definite Hypocalcemia - all of these can present as self-diagnosed "anxiety," "depression," and "irritability". This investigation began by accident. Initially Dr. Powell was just collecting 'teaching cases' for use with medical students - cases of non-psychiatric illness masquerading as psychiatric illness. It turned out that 1 out of every 3 new patients seen had a hitherto undiagnosed non-psychiatric illness. Cases of cancer and endocrine disorder were part of the mix, but vitamin and mineral abnormalities were by far the most notable.The focus of this study is on demonstrating that frequently the initial clinical history along with the past lab values are sufficient to suggest probable non-neuropsychiatric conditions, which then can be confirmed by judiciously chosen lab tests.175 annotated references are included.