Everyone I've known who's had a medical problem related to their brain - including stuff like epilepsy that is not considered 'crazy' by people who like that word - has had to really do some doctor-shopping and be quite persistent to find a solution for their problem.

It really does sound like something is going on with your neurotransmitters, whether or not it's classic schizophrenia. One thing you have to realize is that doctors are mostly guessing about these things. There are lots and lots of people whose experiences don't fit their existing categories well. Some people think science already knows everything. That's completely wrong. With brain chemistry problems, we are scientific babies. You can probably teach the health care system something, but you need to find people working in it who don't just tack your problem onto the nearest available stereotype. Mind you, it's OK for a doc to start with the obvious, for example, just to treat you as a classic schizophrenic and see if the current anti-schizo meds will do the trick for you. You have to be the one, though, to give the meds a more-than-fair, conscientious trial, really taking them just like you're told, and then, if they are not doing good for you, go back and say "that didn't work. I need something else." If the doc is stumped, then try another doc. If the doc is a generalist, like a family doc, then try a specialist.

Note that most docs will not admit being stumped. "I don't know," is considered unprofessional in the medical world. This causes huge confusion among patients who have scientifically unknown or hard-to-categorize problems. You have to recognize when your doc is trying to say "I don't know" in oblique ways. "It's probably related to stress" has replaced "it must be a virus" as the main medical form of "I don't know," but in your case you might get something different. It may even be an expression of frustration, as if you have somehow deliberately caused your body's failure to respond to the meds.

A biochemically depressed friend of mine has finally found a drug combo that works after years of trying all sorts of treatment possibilities, and two rounds of electroshock therapy in moments of crisis (electroshock is actually helpful in his case but still pretty damn extreme). Imagine the relief. His doctor really cared, but his depression didn't fit the known patterns (still doesn't) and finding the right meds for it was what could be called an 'educated fluke.'

A friend with epilepsy had to keep going back over and over while docs insisted they couldn't find anything. Finally one day he came in for a scheduled EEG just shortly after having a petit mal seizure and they finally saw the brain wave pattern they needed. Then they discovered he had a brain tissue scar, and to condense a 5-year story, they removed it and his epilepsy was cured. So even he had over two years of "we can't find anything wrong with you" before he could seriously get started.

You're allowed to be a little paranoid with docs. Some of them are lazy and some are judgmental. Ask tough questions and don't let them slime out of answering. Or just find one who's really responsive.