Suspecting ADHD in adulthood but no family doctor

[somethingaboutmary]

Hi all,

I’m creating this post to see if anyone could provide any insight on how I should proceed with potential diagnosis – that’s right – with no family doctor. Of course the first suggestion would be to find a family doctor, which is something I have been doing with the help of local and provincial online resources and directories (yes, I’m Canadian).

Here’s where it gets interesting: I am an adult female who has not had a family doctor in over a decade. I had recently left a 5 year long domestic abuse situation and am now beyond eager to address my mental health concerns (you guessed it – ADHD, at least being one of them). I had done a lot of reading within the past month which has resulted in making sense of A WHOLE LOT in my past. I’m 100% convinced that I’ve had ADHD my whole life and will obviously require proper testing and (hopefully) diagnosis.

All of which begs the question: What is the likelihood that I find a family doctor that will diagnose me with ADHD in spite of not having any recent medical examinations? (excluding the visits to the hospital for injuries)

My guess is that it is a lengthy and possibly tedious process especially as an adult. But if anyone has had a similar experience or at least knows of anyone else who has, any insight on how that panned out would be greatly appreciated. I truly think that any feedback would help me muster up the courage to initiate this daunting process.

Many thanks,
Mary

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[rosabrown]

I would also love to know more about ADHD

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[kennyk1]

Hello, My family has had (what I have learned) this condition handed down now for what I know to be 3 generations. My father had terrible symptoms of ADD with no diagnosis… There were 3 siblings from him one of which I am confirming, I of the three think I have it, not diagnosed either… But was fortunate to find a wife who has helped me overcome what would have been a wreck of a life…
On to my offspring my daughter has it, I invested countless visits, multiple doctors, varying diagnosis, from (I will just mention the scariest ones to me) BiPolar, Borderline Personality Disorder and the list goes on but those 2 in context both end in bad ways. She would not medicate, because as you learn the meds make me feel “not normal and sad”. She refused, and therefore spun out of control for years. She has given us two grandchildren. Her first I adopted and at age 50 began raising him following our adopting him while she walked away at about his 3rd month. She at this point has had bouts drug abuse (meth) has successfully burned about 175 lbs. of weight off, she is toothless and the 10k worth of dental work and orthodontics is gone. She has done about 4yrs.in prison for stupid stuff. And the list goes on…

Grandson is now in the throws of ADD, we have had him on meds which have helped him. He will tell you they help him focus at school. This was a tedious process to find a Doctor with expertise in this area. Daughter’s diagnosis work was what I look back on now as a stab at something, just anything really to get her somewhere, none of which helped nor was she dedicated to finding help for. We are working to learn some new ways to help him and me learn what we can make our journey a better one. It’s getting late for me, but he has a great future is exceptionally smart and in his teen years now. This beginning to be a trying time due to hormones, etc.

All of that to help you with this. Look for a physician with a focus in this field. We took daughter to therapist, psych. dr’s and others that really did nothing. With son we found his dr. that had his background in this field and immediately knew where to begin and so far has been a Godsend for him. Learn as much about the symptoms as possible, study them until they make sense to you! You can’t self medicate my daughter may well already be gone, she is far from us and we have not heard from her now in a couple of months… This is something that can be managed once you learn it’s parameters and how you can seek the proper help! Never Give Up on that help!

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[jesseofthenorth]

Hi MAry
I am also Canadian (BC) and have been to see a physician only a handful of times in the last decade. I live in a small town and made an appointment to see a physician at our local clinic to begin the process of being assessed. There was NO PROBLEM with a diagnosis despite the marked lack of medical history and not having a family doctor. I just chose a DR i felt would be helpful and open to the idea and made sure he was the one whom i saw each time.
I received my official diagnosis TODAY

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[bonnieihme]

Many of those being diagnosed with ADHD score high on the ACE score which can be taken on line. They also seem to relate extremely well to the diagnoses of HSP (highly sensitive person/ yes there’s a gene) highly sensitive refuge website is a good resource as well. They call it a gift but has it’s setbacks as you see. Many have endured emotional trauma due to being a divergent thinker placed in an education system set to play to the strengths of convergent thinkers which means THINKING differently is a no no. We tend to try harder to do all the things convergent thinkers do even when our thinking abilities tend to grasp higher order learning. The fact the schools haven’t understood what science is finding about behavior and human cognitive variation means playing to the strengths of convergent thinkers (those who pass standardized tests and assessments fairly well) have a different ability in order to do so. Playing to one type of cognitive strength alone leaves others to feel as if their broken in an education system that creates fear conditioning within society that deems their ability to thrive is less than if they don’t live up to curriculum standards from a very young and vulnerable age. It places them on a hamster wheel of trying harder to do the things one certain mind set find easy when convergent mindsets don’t ordinarily pick up on environmental cues or as outside the box thinking in order to come up with ingenious solutions. When you look up psychology of disenfranchisement it begins to explain how our culture and environment creates toxicity, shame and disconnect as we begin to dumb ourselves through unhealthy coping skills while feeling less than in a society that really hasn’t begun to search for nor care for the creative side to human variance. Science has proven time doesn’t heal all wounds, many times we just mask it as if we’re ashamed of being different. I honestly do believe that’s a great way to keep game changers down since it’s usually THIS characteristic and mind type (if they climb up from the madness our educational systems have created (look up attrition) in order to rise strong and use their voice to change the system, not just tweak (not tweet) it in the same direction. We just don’t conform well. But with the adversity we’d faced trying so many years being indoctrination and told what we should be able to do if we’re “normal” or “standard” what we need to be doing is being our best at being who we are, doing what we do best, playing to our strengths in order to become ordinary, because so many ordinary divergent minded people throughout history have become extraordinary by facing their fears, seeing there’s a problem in their culture and creating the solutions it’s taken to fix them by believing in themselves enough to do it. I’m not at all religious but our own human spirit is related to gifts mentioned in many bibles around the world, our edu hasn’t paid attention to individual innate gifts nor talents as well as they do report cards. It’s amazing how these man made structures seem to continue to write the rule books telling people their free as people follow. These structures have become ever more stringent limiting our maneuverability and as you can see the box has become increasingly tighter as your seeing more and more chaos ensuing within our culture. Try taking a fun Myers brigs test it has incredible accuracy with a closer view of our characteristics and behavior types and has been around a while. The horrific behavioral testing they’d done for centuries has already figured out human intelligence doesn’t lie dormant inside the minds of convergent thinkers as much as it has the divergent ones and we’re usually the more curious open minded free thinkers that look deeper into the bigger picture. Why on earth would a system want to limit such things like creative arts and humanities as well as healthy outside activity, exploration collaboration skills we tend to absolutely thrive in? Look up openness to experience, it’s a wonderful find. BTW most of the questions and descriptions and criteria for ADHD relate heavily to emotional trauma. Usually one of the parents of each of us are effected by what people would consider a bit narcissistic but causes many times are linked to emotional or physical abuse as well. So the fact the generations within the environment perpetuate themselves into the next is true. It’s usually the divergent thinkers who find hope strength and resiliency in order to rise up find their worth and understand each one of us are worthy of so much more. And so are you. Anything after the words I AM better be followed up positive remarks. We can DO stupid things, but we are not stupid. We just have the courage to try new things and become better every day. We’re human. Strive to be what we were born to be, different, and own it with pride that we made it through what so many might not have had the strength to. Good luck and God speed 😉

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