Re: England doesn't Care

[Anonymous]

Hi,

This is my first ever post here, so hello.

I was just diagnosed with ‘hyperkinetic disorder’ a couple of months ago, and I have to say that my experience was different from anyone else from the UK that I’ve read here or anywhere else.

I approached my doctor late last year to say I suspected I had ADD. I had to write down my symptoms and let her read through them, and she sent me for tests to make sure what I was describing wasn’t caused by some of the other stuff it could have been. Once these were ruled out, I was referred to a psychiatrist in a matter of weeks.

I had a couple of consultations with the psychiatrist where I talked through what was wrong and went through some questionnaires. I took along my wife and a big stack of school reports to the second appointment. Then I got my diagnosis and was discharged back to my GP after I said I wanted to try to go ahead without medication. If I change my mind, all I need to do is go back to my doctor and asked to be re-referred.

The psychiatrist recommended a local counselling service (which is private, but relatively cheap), and I’ve contacted JobCentrePlus about Access to Work (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/disabledpeople/employmentsupport/workschemesandprogrammes/dg_4000347).

They’ve agreed to fund an ADD coach to come to my work to sit with me a couple of hours a week and help with time management, prioritising tasks and all that good stuff.

Either I’m really really lucky or things have improved a whole lot for diagnosis and treatment of ADD in the UK.

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