Re: 99% sure I'm ADHD & now I have to circumnavigate getting diagnosed?? Cruel joke!

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, I suppose so. It didn’t sound as if I was getting to choose what to focus on though. It sort of sounded as if there are differing views in the psych community about ADHD and anxiety, and I need to choose where to place my allegiance. Though I must admit that he did say that I was not signing a mortgage, so was not commiting myself to anything and could change my mind about treatment at any time.

I do know that his view on things comes from a psychoanalytical background, so he was pretty anti medication, even though he presented it as an option. He wants me to be “medication free” (from a psych medication perspective, not all medications) if at all possible while seeing him for treatment, as their mood altering properties can make therapy more difficult. But even so, I am tempted to at least get the ball rolling on the ADHD referral and testing, as I am not entirely convinced that all my issues stem from anxiety, and I know that it could well be a long wait for things to happen in the arena of appointments, testing, and test results.

The other thing I believe is that I am probably best off if I do not seek a second opinion entirely on my own – I could well end up with another doc who believes in psychoanalysis. I think if I do see another doc, then it will be one of the ones that my current doc was talking about when he offered to refer me on for further assessment/treatment, as I know that they will be close to what I am looking for, though hopefully more objective than he made them sound – he said that the ADHD doc would almost definitely diagnose me with ADHD and offer me medication, as “he believes in that sort of thing and that is what he does”. I don’t want somebody who would diagnose ADHD just because he believes in it, though my doc’s comment could also be taken as saying I meet all the criteria for ADHD, if you look at things from the right sort of perspective.

I really am stuck here. I had hoped that I could have BOTH issues (anxiety and ADHD) assessed by the one doc, and treated as appropriate. My doc certainly seems to have some good insights, but I also think his viewpoint is skewed somewhat – though every doc is going to be the same, with a tendency to prefer medications, or certain types of assessment over others, or towards CBT.

I think what really sticks with me is something that occurred with my son. A teacher once said that we had nothing to worry about with his learning, as he wasn’t even a year behind his peers in his areas of deficit BUT when he was tested for ADHD, we were told that it was the discrepancies in his own abilities that told the biggest story, not the comparison of each area to his peers – if he was compared to an average kid his age (as his teacher did), his deficits would be unremarkable, but when compared to the rest of his testing, his deficits stood out because there was a three year difference between his strengths and his deficits, which is big. I feel like I would benefit from the same sort of testing my son had, to see if it matches an ADHD profile, as I am sure that the results of such testing would be more beneficial at determining if ADHD is likely than only serial 7s and an interview (though an interview is also needed, for sure).

Aaaarrrrrghhh!!! My mind is all in a mess and I don’t know what I want to do anymore. I have had such stumbling blocks along the way that I am wondering if this was not meant to be. Talk about frustrating!! And the more I think about it, the worse it gets 😯

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