Reply To: Ritalin and the adventures of PigMonkey

[Robbo]

Hi Larynxa, it looks like you’ve really done some thinking about this issue. And I want you to know that I really do appreciate your concern. Unfortunately I’m grouped in with a very large population of human beings in California who have extremely low income, and either are disabled, elders, or MIA. MIA stands for Medically Indigent Adults. In other words “Obama Care” patients.

It’s extremely difficult to get in to see a specialist of any kind. The psychiatrist I saw was new there, and only filling in once a week. That was after a very long wait.

This is the 21st century, and it’s just plain not reasonable for a disabled person in California with no other income other than my federal disability to get another appointment with a qualified specialist, unless a life is in danger. The truth is. My life is very far from being in danger.

In fact, I’m doing much better than I ever have. Maybe this is the problem. I just look too dang healthy. And no, they did not say it was because they were afraid of me abusing the medication. It was my own choice to stop taking the generic Ritalin (methylyphenidate) about this time (roughly) last year.  Of course the social worker/counselor that was with the psychiatrist, is/was the same one that accidentally sent me to a gamblers anonymous meeting last year when he thought he was sending me to some ADHD support group. So heck, maybe they think I’m just a gambler who wants to sell his pills to pay off his debts! lol. My imagination went there last year when I showed up for it. At least I got a little bit of a laugh at the time. Told a couple adrenaline junkie stories at the GA meeting and had a couple laughs with the gamblers at least.

I’m thinking about maybe asking my therapist to refer me to a better psychiatrist. But that’s also a very long term solution. In many cases, Ritalin type short acting medications are only for the short term any way. Like I said before. I’ve been making steady progress, and by the time I finally get around to trying the Ritalin, I will already have built all, or most of the new habits that we all learn just doing our time in recovery from a life with misdiagnosed, or under diagnosed ADHD.

I really need to make the best of my life here, now. And maybe in six months or so, I’ll get back in to see a better, and more qualified specialist. Then we will go back to the drawing board. For now. I just need to keep on living my life, and doing the best I can with the hand of cards I’ve been dealt.

Make sense?.

Yep, my life might be a lil easier with the Ritalin, but I will just have to do this the harder way for now. It’s not the most difficult way. But no life is perfect. Right?

Right. Just trust me. K?

The bottom line here is that I’m truly fed up with doctors appointments. I’ve had 17 years of complications due to my spinal cord injury, and at this point. I’m just not willing to sit in yet another dang doctors office any time soon. So I have not even made a follow up appointment. No second opinion, nothing. And I didn’t even ask my GP doctor why they decided not to let me try it again. I hardly even care to be honest.

I’m just just fed up with doctors and doctors offices. My ADHD problems are bad yes indeed. But I’ve got lot’s and lot’s of other good things going on in my life also. On balance, I’ve got to say that my life is generally not all that bad. Even with my heart a lil bit sore from a recent romance debacle. I can still say that I’m a happy camper most days. 

Thanks again for caring about this, and not just giving up on me.

I’ll stick around and keep on dealing with ADD using our good and very large kit of tools here.

We got a lot.

Peace

 

 

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