Doctor Wont Prescribe

[freakuancy]

Hello,

When I was a teenager I was diagnosed with ADHD and put on adderal, which I was medicated with between the ages of 18 to 25.

Some things happened and I slipped into a depression/self abuse pattern that has taken me years to overcome. About six months ago, my therapist and I felt that we had made enough progress with my mental health issues that I should start seeking to manage my ADHD again.

My doctor outright ignored the fact that I had been on it before, and prescribed me 5mg pills twice a day. A few days later I called her and told her that this dosage wasn’t working, as it was too far below what my body was “used to”, which is 60mg a day.

So she prescribed me 40mg a day — still not what I needed — and I attempted to just “live with it”. But I found myself having to take extra in order to maintain a medicated effect. All in all I was taking an extra pill, split between my two dosage times, so that I could maintain 60mg. I was honest with my doctor about this, which turns out to have been a mistake.

Her first thought was, “well try not to take it on weekends if you don’t need it, and we’ll see if the difference makes them last.” So I tried for a month, and of course the math didn’t work out and I was still short a week or so. I again asked my doctor to please just prescribe me the 60mg a day, and she again refused. This time she put me on 20mg XR capsules, which not only have no medicating effect but actually make me crash out in the late afternoon.

So I called her and let her know the the XR capsules were pretty much a bust. At which point she became angry, clearly angry. Now she will not prescribe me anything, even the 40mg I was on before, until I talk to a psychiatric nurse. I tried to jump through the hoops, made the appointment, and it turns out I can’t even see her for over a month. So I called my doctor AGAIN, and asked her to please prescribe me the regular Adderol so I can get through the month or so I have until I can see the psychiatric nurse.

Not only will she not return my calls now — she’s making her nurse do it at this point — but she’s outright refusing to edit my rx or take any action that would allow me to stay medicated while I wait for this psychiatric nurse appointment.

This obviously isn’t okay for me, this will seriously effect my ability to live my life for the next 30 days or more. But she won’t budge.

 

What to do?

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[honda]

I don’t know if this is a good idea or not, but what do you think about writing to the College of Physicians and Surgeons explaining your predicament? And then ask them what do I need to do to make both the College and my doctor comfortable in prescribing ADHD medication?

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[ancientgeek]

That sounds like malpractice, but I am not a lawyer. The process for determining the proper level of a medication is called titration. Get a referral to somebody who is skilled in ADHD titration. It can involve a “blind study” where the “pills” are dated for when to take them. Some are likely to be a placebo. Others, close to you, take detailed notes as to your behaviour over the study interval.

Since this physician did not take a family history, I further suspect incompetence and malpractice. Statistically, ADHD is a twin recessive gene combination. Reporting this practitioner to medical licensing authorities may incentivise additional education and training.

I take 108 mg of Concerta and I can’t tell if I’ve taken the capsules. My wife, children, and grandchildren sure can. Best of luck.

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[Pallist]

I had a similar problem with a therapist, but it was more that they gave me a medication that did some things well, but other significant areas of my life were still affected. Anyway, I switched doctors. It sounds like yours doesn’t believe in ADHD or has gotten some info about Adderall she’s not sharing with you.

Please try to do whatever you can to find another doctor: that may be the quickest way to solve your problem. If you aren’t on an HMO plan or something similar,(I’m in the U.S. and am with an HMO, so I’m not sure how Canada’s doctor referrals work) it may be hard to do, but that would be my first course of action.

Reporting her would be a second step – but it won’t solve your immediate problem of not getting the right medicine.

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[Author]

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