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

>>Great at defending others, not always so good at doing it for me. <<

That’s me…………

no_dope – I’ve seen my report cards. It hurt. My parents believe they are getting old and don’t want us boys to one day have the daunting taks of sorting through things, so they are giving us things now and then. Among those was a scrap book they’d kept. All my old report cards were in there. “Doesn’t hand in work on time”, “doesn’t pay attention in class”, “disruptive”, “doesn’t give others a chance to answer”, “not working up to potential” – it’s all in there – some comments on EVERY single one, quarter after quarter, grade after grade.

no_dopamine: I am in the same boat as you. First had an appointment with Dr. Tanguay – who was renowned for his work with ADHD patients, but he passed away before my appointment date, so I had to see another psychiatrist. Went through a battery of tests and was then diagnosed as having ADHD. However, the psychiatrist didn’t treat me – instead I was sent back to my family doc who had zero experience treating ADHD patients. I was able to find another family doc who specialized in ADHD and so finally, after all these years without a diagnosis or treatment, I’m now getting treated. Wish I could say everything’s rosy but we’ve just started so I’m learning to be patient.

@billd – my mom passed away almost 3 yrs ago and I got our report cards, for all 4 children. The ADD consultant I am seeing says that girls typically fly under the radar because we are not disruptive. My younger brother certainly made up for me! But there were consistent comments about “could do better if she just applied herself” and a lot of remarks about being poor in arithmetic. I was glad to have my siblings’ report cards to compare.

@quizzical – now I have the added indecision of deciding whether or not I have ADD or narcolepsy or both or neither (and it’s something else). I’m confused, and there’s no way out except for whatever the specialists decide. I just have to wait now, something that’s very hard for me.

@wolfshades – fortunately the ADD specialist I am seeing will give a complete treatment plan to my family doc. The specialist only assesses (sp?????), he doesn’t treat, so I am somewhat at the mercy of my family doc, but he does say she WILL follow what he prescribes.

Wolfshades, my wait has been shortened to 3 weeks now (sleep study results followup) – that has to be treated before any ADD treatment. But if the sleep specialist is correct, the sleep disorder is more impairing than the ADD. He marked my input form URGENT, so I’m very hopeful they will get on this right away once the report is complete. Hoping my doc will not drop the ball on this, I will have to be persistent with her to get in and get treated in an effective way.

Hope you can tolerate an increase – I tried ritalin 10 mg / 3x day and it worked well for me but increasing it to 15 mg made my body feel strange, admittedly I didn’t do that more than once.

just watched the WNED show the other night, I have walked away from everything my entire life, high school too hard ?? I quit, work too hard .. ? I quit my main problem is that I cannot concentrate or retain anything I have read. I lucked into a good paying Union job that I kept for 32 years then thanks to our never ending recession they closed our plant.

Now I am a 55 year old male without high school, I bought the G.E.D. book with good intentions but I find I have to read something over and over again to finally get the meaning and I cannot remember anything I read. Can’t get a job because everywhere wants high school diploma and I can’t do it. I can work out problems but it take’s me100 times longer than normal people .Does this sound like ADD ??

Stash, I must agree that the initial appointment is the biggest hurdle. The first one for me was with my GP to get a referral to a psychiatrist (I got the appointment for the psych 4 months ago after weeks of agonising and procrastination, and have only last week seen my GP…..). My usual GP made a “brush off” type comment when we were going through the diagnostic process with my son, so I decided I would go to another GP I had taken my daughter to earlier in the year (as I wanted a female for her) and was so relieved I did. She was really approachable and extremely supportive, and also has had no experience with adult ADHD – though she also said that it was no excuse for not listening to a patient as my male GP had done with my son and I (he told us it was most likely that he would turn out to be diagnosed as a normal teenaged boy….but this happened AFTER a confirmed ADHD diagnosis!!! Suggests to me that he didn’t listen to what I said and didn’t give proper credit to the diagnosing psychologist). The female GP I saw was thrilled I had picked her because we had been happy with how she listened to my daughter and dealt with her issues, she openly admitted to her lack of experience with adult ADHD, but also said she would give me full support if I didn’t have luck with the pshychiatrist I am to see later this week. She told me to come back to her and she would give me another referral. She also gave me some more ideas on how to find a suitable psychiatrist (as the ones I found who treat adult ADHD were either not taking new patients or had retired). I felt soooooo relieved after seeing her. The psychiatrist appointment seems less daunting now I have my GP’s support.

I did make sure I took some online tests with me (including the WHO one and one from a psych website) that I had printed out and completed. I also got hubby to do one on my behalf to confirm that other people noticed and were affected by my symptoms. I plan to dig out my report cards too, for my psych appointment.

I hated waiting, and I hope that I don’t have to do too much more of it. I am a wreck as specialist appointments approach, and I know from previous experience that I fall to pieces afterwards too, as I always think of questions I should have asked and things I should have said when the appointment is over and done with. I really feel let down. I am just hoping that I get someone like my GP, and like my son’s paediatrician, who is also a comfortable person to be around and doesn’t make us feel rushed.

I hope all goes well with your next appointment, Stash. Good luck!