Help! ADHD Diagnosis Process – Best Practice????

[CircleS]

What’s a positive and successful way to confirm a U.S. ADHD diagnosis? I’ve recently moved back to Canada to recoup after becoming overwhelmed in another new job. It’s been over 6 months of assistance from the local medical community without addressing or being willing to investigate the ADHD component.

I think ADHD is the likely cause for my anxious & depressed behaviour after repeately failing at life: College 3x’s, Careers and most of all as a husband & father. Failures/lack of success can breed a poor self image, right?

So, this bloody, grueling and less than hopeful journey has led me to this forum to ask for direction. I’ve joined in on the last two webinars and have been both impressed and encouraged.

What framework works for someone who doesn’t remember what happened yesterday or more to the point trust himself he remembers it correctly? Whoa that’s a bit screwed up isn’t it? Here are the medical people currently involved: General Physician (GP), Psychiatrist (who indicated at first visit she would see me for 3 visits but is unwilling to take me on as a long term patient), Considering a Psychologist, no counsellor or coach.

Finding someone I trust to tell my story to and then help me make sense of how I got to this terrible place I’m in is what I’d like to work towards, unless this is also a deadend street.

And if this post belongs in a different forum, please don’t hesitate to move it.

Antipathly speaking,

Steve

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[blackdog]

@l1v3

Hello, welcome to T.A.D.D. 🙂

You will find lots of help here from the forums as well as the webinars and videos. Reading some of the stories here will help you to understand yourself a lot better. It was what led me to seek an assessment and official diagnosis.

I don’t really know how to answer your question but I’ll take a stab at it.

I don’t know how long it’s been since you lived in Canada, or what part of Canada you are in, but there is an extreme shortage of doctors in many areas and mental health services are in very short supply. Most psychiatrists will not take you on as a permanent patient. Not unless you are suffering from a severe mental illness.

I’m not sure what you are considering the psychologist for? They are, as I’m sure you know, very expensive and not really necessary for an ADHD diagnosis.

For ongoing support your best bet is probably an ADHD coach. You could also look for support groups in your area, but there don’t seem to be many of them.

There are two things you can do to help with the memory issues. One is to take a family member or good friend with you to the assessment so that they can help answer questions about your past. Some psychiatrists will insist on it, due to the fact that we can’t be trusted to remember things. If the one doing your assessment doesn’t ask you to bring someone you can still do it on your own.

The second is to make notes before you go. Just jot down anything that comes to mind that could be an example of the ADHD symptoms you experience. It’s easier to remember when you don’t have the pressure of trying to come up with an answer on the spot.

Though ADHD may be the primary condition, you also need to take care of the depression and anxiety. If you are not taking medication for it now you might want to consider that as an option, at least temporarily, until you get to a place where you are coping better.

Don’t dwell too much on how you got here. The regret, and guilt, and shame of all those pasts failures is weighing you down and stopping you from moving forward. You have to let it go. Forgive yourself. I know it’s hard but it’s the only way to do it if you want to get your life together and make a better future for yourself. You can’t change what has happened. You can only change what will happen.

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[shutterbug55]

It sounds like you do not have an official diagnosis from either the US or Canadian side of the border.

You might want to get an official diagnosis. I think in Canada, you need a referral, and that means convincing a GP for the referral.

If I am wrong, and you have a diagnosis from the US, it should be a matter of having your Canadian doctor request your records.

In addition to that, I would get a friend, spouse, or someone to stand in as your advocate. This person’s job is to take notes and keep you on track so your questions get asked and answered. They also provide a third party perspective on you and your behavior. My wife is my advocate, and she is with me during my sessions with my shrink and my life coach. I have both ADD and Autism (Asperger’s).

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[Patte Rosebank]

@l1v3, Blackdog & Shutterbug55 are right.

I’d add that the important thing is to make sure that whichever Psychiatrist, Psychologist, or Coach you go to, specializes in treating ADHD.

This is because ADHD is so misunderstood, that we often end up having to educate the professionals we go to, for help with it. And that tends to leave us feeling worse than when we went in.

To find local Coaches, you can use the Coach Directory here: http://totallyadd.com/coaching-directory-search. Then, you can ask them if they can suggest local Psychiatrists and Psychologists who specialize in Adult ADHD.

Remember, each of these service providers fulfills a different role.

A Psychiatrist can give diagnoses and prescribe medicines.

A Psychologist can give diagnoses, but can only give “talk-therapy”, instead of prescribing medicines.

A Coach cannot give diagnoses or prescribe medicine, but can help you to understand your situation, and help you to work through it strategically and mindfully—similar to how a sports coach helps athletes.

The most effective treatment for ADHD involves a combination of treatments: medication, talk-therapy, mindfulness, exercise, eating right, getting enough sleep… And it’s an ongoing process, for the rest of our lives. It’s not always easy (especially those last 4 things), but it does help!

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