The Forums › Forums › Emotional Journey › Venting! › Please read, Input appreciated from those who have had troubles w/ doctors › Reply To: Please read, Input appreciated from those who have had troubles w/ doctors
I agree with everyone here. You need to find a doc that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of adult ADHD – not child ADHD, not teen ADHD… Adult ADHD. Our needs are different. We have learned behaviors that mask ADD.
I think you need to find an advocate. I have my wife, who goes to all my appointments. She and I talk about questions we want to ask, things we want to work through, and she keeps me on track before during and after the meetings.
An advocate could be a close friend, a relative, spouse – somebody who can help you and has an interest in your well being. This is the person who will make sure your questions are not only asked, but make sure they are answered satisfactorily. Advocates are the third party observer that can tell you if the meds have any affect or not, from an outside perspective. They can tell if a doctor is BS’ing you and call them on it.
Doctors are trained to “know it all”, but they really don’t. I got lucky and found a doc that may not know all the answers, but knows where to look for them. “I don’t know” being a perfectly good response to my questions. It just means we all do some homework.
Medications are individual. Docs have to understand that. Some of them do understand, some of them need a little encouragement. They do have their favorites, and you and your advocate can research other medications that work well. Adderall is mine. It may make your skin crawl and give you sleepless nights. Wellbutrin… well let’s just say it was a failed experiment on me and leave it at that. It works great for a vast number of people on this forum.
Advocates will help you be persistent. Persistence is one of our weak areas. You are going to need persistence to get the treatment you need, not the treatment they want to give. Advocates can help you nudge your doc into giving you the treatment you need. Be it drugs, counseling, or coaching, or all three.
At the end of the day, the medical profession are just like any other. If they can get you out the door quickly and efficiently, great. You and the advocate, just make sure “quickly and efficiently” is on your terms not theirs. The squeaky wheel gets oiled. Keep squeaking, until you get your “oil”.
Hope this helps.
REPORT ABUSE