[Ivriniel]

dmak0

It’s not North Toronto, but my family Doctor referred me to Doctor Dominic Dimanno at Credit Valley Hospital in Toronto. He’s a relatively newly graduated Psychiatrist, and I was the first adult with ADHD he had treated, but he does have experience with ADHD from working at Sick Kids.

I had a good experience with him.

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[Ivriniel]

CJ: I don’t know where you are, but in Ontario, generic drug companies pay “roll backs” to Pharmacists when they substitute the generic for brand name medications. Recently when the Provincial Government tried to end the practise the Pharmacists put up a hue and cry. Rick did a video about it.

Steffie101: FOr me, the “generic shuffle” has nothing to do with my insurance, since I pay out of pocket and then get reimbursed. Also, telling someone with ADHD to make sure they check their prescription before they leave the Doctor’s office is not a winning strategy.

Anyways, the reason I am pulling this Zombie thread up from the depths of the board is that t for the first time since I moved to a new city, I went to fill my Concerta prescription today.

It was great. Noone tried to push the generic on me, and the Pharmacist even applied the Concerta Copay card without me even having to ask about it. Best service I’ve had in a pharmacy since I started taking Concerta.

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[Ivriniel]

Sugargremlin,

I don’t know about PC’s but with Macs you can set up the “Time Machine”. It makes automatic backups on a regular interval. You can even get a wireless hard drive so you don’t have to worry about leaving your computer plugged into the hard drive to work.

What’s more if you don’t back up for a given amount of time, for whatever reason, it will give you a reminder every 10 days.

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[Ivriniel]

As I recall from when I took Special Ed part one, no link has been found between handedness and Learning Disabilities or handedness and ADHD.

For the record, I’m a lefty.

Mr. Ivriniel on the other hand who is, imho more ADHD than me, (he hasn’t been diagnosed, but when he says things to me like “Don’t put the garbage pail under the sink. If I can’t see it, I won’t use it!”, there are huge flashing signs) is right handed.

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[Ivriniel]

If your meds are giving you an adverse effect, you should really see your Doctor before you refill.

And if you get dispensed Teva after your prescription said Concerta, don’t be shy about going back to the Pharmacy to get what you wanted. The first time I filled my Concerta Prescription, my Doctor (who just graduated in July) was unaware that Pharmacists would substitute without speaking to the patient, so he didn’t write No Sub, and it was only after I got home, that I realized that they hadn’t given me Concerta.

I took my prescription back and spoke to the Pharmacist owner, who took back the Teva, and gave me Concerta. Despite the fact he was going to have to throw out the Teva, he only charged me the difference between Teva and Concerta.

The Pharmacist told me that it is the position of the College of Pharmacists in Ontario to dispense the generic whenever there is one available, in order to save the public money. That’s all well and good, but it seems to me that if that is the motivation, they should talk to patients before making substitutions.

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[Ivriniel]

I take 54 mg.

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[Ivriniel]

One time I walked into my apartment with my bank card in my hand. Something happened to distract me for a moment when I came in the door. I can’t remember what it was, but the next thing I know, my bank card is not in my hand. I look around where I am standing, and it is nowhere to be found.

I go and get a new card. A week later, I walk into my apartment, and my bank card is lying in my front hall in full view.

I swear, it must have fallen through an eddy in the space-time continuum.

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[Ivriniel]

Yes, there is a inattentive/impulsive subtype. It’s referred to as Combined hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive.

You don’t have to be hyperactive to fall under hyperactive-impulsive. Often adults with ADHD are less hyperactive than they were as kids, but the impulsivity remains.

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[Ivriniel]

Haggis: I have to disagree that ADD has something to do with being good at visualizing, because visualizing is something that does not come naturally to me at all.

Larynxa: I also have left-right confusion. I’m a lefty, but no one ever tried to make me switch. I’m so grateful to my parents on that front, because my graphomotor skills are bad enough without being forced to use my weaker hand.

Who tested you for left-right confusion? I have a student right now that I would be curious to see tested that way. The poor kid can’t do the Hokey Pokey. He keeps switching limbs as we put them in and out. The other day, he finally got it on the last limb, but he had to physically hold back the wrong leg with both hands to stop himself from putting it in. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

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[Ivriniel]

JS-cart: Everyone here can relate to the feeling of needing to figure out what is wrong. The best way to do that, is to go to someone who is qualified to make that determination.

A counselor at a school is not qualified. There are other conditions that can present like ADHD, so just because you look like other students she has dealt with doesn’t mean you have it. When my fiance’s niece was in Grade 1, the Special Ed teacher and the Social Worker at her school insisted she was ADHD. They staked their many years of experience on it. Then her mother took her to see a specialist at McMaster, and it turned out that they were wrong. (She struggled in Grade 1, but is now doing a lot better in school. She’s a rather active little girl, and was slow to start reading. Had she been a boy, I doubt they would have tried to label her as anything at all.)

If you’re starting a Masters degree, then I would *strongly* advise you to get a professional diagnosis on paper, ASAP. If you do have ADHD, Aspergers or another condition that affects your ability to do you work, you would be eligible for accommodations which can be a big help.

I can relate to your difficulties with the Psychiatrist. Don’t give up. The first Psychiatrist I went to was horrendous. My diagnosis came from a Psychologist, so I went to a Psychiatrist in order to try ADHD meds. I gave him a copy of my report, and he made disparaging remarks about Psychology and started arguing with the my Psychologist’s conclusions before he had even finished reading the first page. Took me a year to work up the nerve to ask for another referral. But now I’ve got a Psychiatrist who is willing to work with me, and I’m currently giving Concerta a test drive. So far, so good.

As far as spamming the board goes, no worries. Sometimes you need to spam a board. As I said in my last post, my motivation was kindness. You look like you are driving yourself crazy trying to self-diagnose.

What I would suggest is, slow down, and just make a list of your symptoms. Things like: Difficulty focussing, difficulty getting projects done, easily distractible, and so on. Ask your parents about what you were like as a kid and add that to your list as well. For a diagnosis of ADHD, there needs to be evidence of the condition from an early age. If you have any Grade school report cards in a box somewhere, try to dig them up. She what your teachers had to say about your work habits.

Then I would suggest going to your GP and getting a physical. Talk to your Doctor about your symptoms. (And if they include either fatigue or hyperactivity, ask about getting your thyroid hormone levels checked. It’s a simple blood test and it’s good to eliminate as many possible conditions as possible. ) A GP can diagnose and treat ADHD. Yours may or may not feel comfortable with the issue, and may want to refer you to a Psychiatrist.

Another line of inquiry might be with your University. These days Universities have centres dedicated to helping students with Special Needs. Some of them offer testing.

Keep an open mind about what your difficulty might be. For example, I have a friend who has a lot of symptoms in common with me and we were both tested by the same Psychologist. Despite the fact that we both have issues with executive function, our diagnoses are quite different. My friend has a Non Verbal Learning Disability, while I have ADHD and a Learning Disability.

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[Ivriniel]

Well, when I went in for testing, they administered the Wechsler Adult Intellegence Scale (WAIS) on me, and my Working memory was in something like the 36 percentile. My Psychologist said that it was difficult to tease out if that was the result of my ADHD or my Learning Disability. (Besides the low working memory, I have a 30 point difference between my Verbal and Performance Scores. A 10 point difference is considered indicative of an LD.) .

I think the Concerta is helping a bit. I would be curious to retake the WAIS while on it, to see if it made an impact on my scores, but I’m not paying for another test.

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[Ivriniel]

Yes, I use a wallet. For many years I resisted using a purse, because I would forget it places, but finally I started carrying one too. As long as I can find my purse, I tend to be good to go. Unless I bought something online with my credit card, in which case I will probably leave my wallet next to the computer, and not realize it until I try to buy something.

My fiance (who hasn’t been formally diagnosed, but scored really high on the test here) carries a wallet, but doesn’t tend to use it. He ends up with random bills in all of his pockets. Laundry day is like a windfall, and when he puts on a coat after not wearing it for a season, he inevidably finds $20 – $40 in the pockets.

*makes a mental note not to invite anyone from this board over, now that she has revealled this*

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[Ivriniel]

js-cart: Seriously, dude, I say this is all kindness: Stop trying to diagnose yourself and get the to a specialist.

I’m a teacher, and when I took my Special Education Part 1, they told us “You will probably see parts of yourself in many of the conditions that we study. Don’t panic. This happens to almost everyone who takes Special Ed, just like a lot of male medical students diganose themselves with thyroid cancer when they get to that portion of the curriculum. They touch their necks, feel their Adam’s Apple, and freak out.”

Now in my case, I turned out to be ADHD and have a Learning Disability, but the point still stands. If you go in for testing, you really need to leave your preconcieved notions at the door, and the more you convince yourself you have one thing or another, the harder that will be.

It’s far better to go in and say “Doc, these are the problems I am experiencing…” than “Doc, I think I have ADHD, and this is why.” If you list your symptoms, they may point your Doctor to something you never considered. If you start with a diagnosis, you may find yourself emphasizing symptoms that back up your thesis, and forgetting other things that don’t fit with the diagnosis, but also might be important.

As far as the differences between ADHD and Aspergers goes, a person with Aspergers tends to be less socially aware. A person with ADHD might offend someone through inattention or impulsivity, but generally, if they are told that they were rude, they will be able to understand what they did wrong. A person with Aspergers will generally have a harder time figuring out what they did to offend someone.

People with Aspergers also tend to have an obsessive streak. They will often become experts on a very narrow topic. This coupled with lack of social awareness means that some people with Aspergers will approach complete strangers and do information dumps on whatever their topic of interest is.

The obsessive streak can also result in people with Aspergers developing and adhering to rigid routines. People with ADHD by contrast often have difficulty establishing and maintaining routines because the routines simply don’t hold their interest.

The character of Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory is often said to have a lot of Asperger’s traits, though the writers insist that they did not have Autism Spectrum Disorders in mind when they created the character.

As far as Mark Zuckerberg goes, if he has ever been diagnosed with anything, ADHD, Aspergers or something else, he has never publicly revealed it. It’s nothing more than idle speculation on the part of the public.

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[Ivriniel]

Js-cart: Smoking anything as a asthmatic is highly problematic. Your airways are stressed enough without loading them up with particulates from any source.

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[Ivriniel]

Jacob: One thing you need to understand is, ADHDers have spent most of our lives trying to hide our difficulties from other people. This can make it very difficult to admit that something is wrong

Instead of trying to get your boyfriend to go in and get a diagnosis, perhaps you should pick the one symptom that bothers you the most, and talk to him about it? Make the discussion a problem-solving session, rather than a blaming session, say things like “I noticed that you have trouble with x. What can we do to make that easier on the both of us?”

Focus on the behaviours that are bothering you, rather than trying to diagnose your boyfriend for now.

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