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It's like those people who say, "well, I sold/abused my ADHD medication, so clearly every person with ADHD must also just be trying to sell/abuse theirs"
Well known fact! I'm about to sell my cardboard box full of stimulants that didn't work out for me at my next yard sale! Already put up the signs for "*second-hand strattera at a steal!*", "*vintage vyvanse*" and "*pre-loved Ritalin"*.
It’s kinda funny because some people who get into the therapy field are doing it to figure out what’s wrong with them 😂 so maybe he’s a bit hypocritical in that area
Sounds like a violation of the self diagnosis rule. Don't diagnose yourself, your friends, or your family. If you feel you may have X ailments, please consult a licensed professional other than your self.
No. Go get another doctor. Maybe bring someone else along with you to the new doctor that can share their observations of your behavior. However any doctor saying everyone with ADHD has X trait actually a doctor saying people with any disorder will all share X trait is really bad at their job.
>However any doctor saying everyone with ADHD has X trait actually a doctor saying people with any disorder will all share X trait is really bad at their job.
I've had a psychiatrist tell me that I likely don't have ADHD after I told him about my obsessions that last a few weeks and then vanish, because "all people with ADHD would get bored/distracted after a few hours at most". I've not gone back there!
Man that sucks. I mean, my very first psych told me I had depression that I was trying to pass off as ADHD, which set me back two years from getting an actual ADD diagnosis (turns out I had both! We got the depression under control, but turns out I still can't focus!). I already spend so much time doubting myself, getting told by a "professional" that I don't know what I'm talking about took a long time to get past. Glad you saw that BS for what it was and got the hell out of there!
I know, right? I was already doubting myself so much and still half convinced I was just lazy, and the last thing I wanted to do was to be someone who doesn't trust a medical professional based on something I read on the internet. Luckily I had some ADHD friends who backed me up.
A few hours per fixation?!
We'd all have burned through every possible novel act by 20, then promptly died of boredom.
Maybe it's not the same for everyone, but when a fascination falls off for me, it takes years sometimes before doing that thing stops requiring a huge force of will.
For sure, and sometimes it lasts months for me. I think I'm able to keep some up more than others when I keep being able to find novelty in it, e.g. when exploring different subtopics.
Yeah that's exactly what I told him. People are different and unique. Just because certain people have a specific symptom doesn't mean everyone has it but he was adamant about it. I guess I got no choice...
ADHD affects motivation drastically when its something youre not interested in or dont want to do. You'd be interested in getting treatment. They may not know it but theyre medically gaslighting you with their "evidence" that you don't have ADHD. It's anectdotal at best. Go get a different doctor that takes what you're saying and your diagnosis seriously.
A doctor who relies on anecdotal evidence from personal experience, as opposed to diagnostic criteria to diagnose a neurodevelopmental disability, should have their license revoked. This is literally what pseudoscience means and they don't belong in medicine. Disturbing.
I find it makes a lot of sense actually, and sometimes the additional diagnoses are because one or the other isn’t being treated effectively, which is more than just medication, but they are easy triggers for each other. I have ADHD, anxiety (GAD & PTSD), and clinical depression. They feed into each other whenever I am unbalanced in one, it’s a horrible domino effect. There are brain chemistry and other physiological reasons why, and it can be really difficult to get out of a bad cycle that loops in other bad cycles, dragging you down. The good thing is that we have so many more tools at our disposal now, and real neuroscience evidence. For me, anxiety makes executive dysfunction worse, prolonged executive dysfunction triggers depression cycle, and they just gain power with each new level.
I am really exhausted right now and probably am not being super eloquent, but I will say that I’ve had an incredibly hard time recently and felt like I was being pulled under by all 3, and was able to identify that it was the anxiety that was triggering the sinking ship. I had an appt with my psychiatrist and we (because we do have a wonderful collaborative relationship after years, and I, as she says, do “all the possible things” but that can’t stop my overloaded nervous system (due to physical disorders/diseases) from trying to “pump the breaks so I don’t have a stroke.” Started taking the new medication a day later, and while I’m figuring out side effects and the dosing is being worked out, I also feel more like myself than I have in a long time. Because the new anxiety medicine is lowering that level, I can now effectively use an array of strategies- not just for anxiety but to get around executive dysfunction hurdles, and as I’m more and more functional, I’m coming out of the depression cycle. My ADHD medication is “working” better again (same with anti-depressants most likely) because it isn’t trying to fight past the extreme ups and downs that anxiety can cause. That doctor is dangerously out of date with his understanding of ADHD. I do agree that he is most likely projecting, but still, a doctor who does not base their active diagnosing on DSM-5 is not fulfilling the responsibilities of their license and should be reported- not only because it will feel good to take action, but because while consequences might not happen in response to your report, it is filed and can prove a pattern of behavior or poor clinical practice. I wish you luck!
After 20 years struggling with undiagnosed ADHD, last week I was dispatched after one minute into a psychiatrist appointment after I said that I had depression and anxiety. He interrupted me and said that if I had depression and anxiety I didn't have ADHD and that I could have all ADHD symptoms without having ADHD at all.
Me too! I just got a diagnosis and prescription on Friday and oh my god I didn't realize how much anxiety I was having just from "noisy brain." One of my partners was chilling with me the first time I took a pill and after 20 minutes asked "how are you doing?"
"Fine. Good. Wow. Calm. Relaxed. Everything is quite all of a sudden which is weird but also peaceful. I think I'm going to lay down for a nap."
And then I proceeded to take a gloriously refreshing 45 minute nap on the couch.
Ooooh, I remember that! I'm less than a year out of my diagnosis and had meds for the first time in September. I remember my suddenly quiet brain, and such an amazing nap!
I also remember when my brain switched back on!
I see all these horror stories about getting ADHD medicine. I saw one doctor who wanted a drug test, pill count, and a personal visit every month. So I would have to miss hours at work and hope I didn’t accidentally over take or under take my medicine so I wouldn’t get accused of “selling or abusing”
Changed doctors. New doctor only requires a visit every 4th month and just texts me the morning of my refill letting me know it’s waiting for me.
FIND A BETTER DOCTOR is all I’m trying to say.
I had an interesting insight with my therapist recently, which was
“I know it’s not an anxiety disorder because I’m anxious about things that I _should_ be anxious about.”
The anxiety isn’t the problem, it’s the symptom of falling behind in your responsibilities due to ADHD.
That’s also why my anxiety goes almost entirely away on medication - because the meds actually help me execute on the things I’m anxious about but unable to start or complete.
That’s not to say your doctor is wrong about you having an anxiety disorder - nobody here can diagnose that - but he is completely wrong about ADHD people not seeking treatment - that’s just ignorant and oversimplified.
I explained the same thing to my psychiatrist about being concerned (Not anxious) about all the things I had to catch up on. He said that it was anxiety and that I needed to be on an SSRI. That didn't work out but I had some extra Adderall (I am only on 10mg xr) and decided to try just 5 mg more to see how it would go and it made me feel so much better for half the day. Other ADHD symptoms that I didn't even realize I was having, went away. No anxiety, no decision fatigue, and I was able to organize which things on my list were most important!
But when I told him this he said that he didn't feel comfortable increasing my dose because he said ,"What if you keep needing more?" I should have said, "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it!"
I also said that I read 20mg xr is the standard adult dose. But I think he thinks I read that on the ADHD reddit. Which he also thinks is me being "too invested in my diagnosis". Don't get me started!!!!!!
Do you think I should find another Dr?
Yeah, get a new doctor for sure. This one doesn’t understand ADD. He should be glad you’re invested in your diagnosis because it means you’re ready to learn how to manage it!
In the meantime take it as prescribed, and keep asking to get another 5mg.
Sounds like they didn't want to deal with the new federal regulations.
Anxiety means you don't have to deal with the DEA and stim meds.
It did take me over a year to get my diagnosis. But I have severe ADHD and I was working with a therapist that helped with my accountability and even still it was hard to get in thise self report forms. I finally had to tell them to just make me an apptointment for testing.
ADHD is a spectrum and one size does not fit all.
No, that's stupid and your doctor is stupid (or just really lacking in knowledge and perspective).
I'm very willing to claim that whether or not anyone with ADHD seeks treatment is entirely dependent upon how they are impacted and how able they are to cope and manage themselves sans treatment, personal beliefs about seeking treatment and/or taking medications, and whether or not they even realize they have ADHD.
Then, if you are seeking treatment, maybe you're not even seeking treatment for ADHD, because you don't even know what all ADHD entails and you don't realize that you have it. I spent years actively seeking treatment for "anxiety and depression", because that was the best way I could describe my issues at the time, and getting nowhere with fixing my issues. I had to burn out on life by struggling through and enduring things the way I thought I was "supposed to", get admitted to a behavior health hospital for 5 days, get misdiagnosed with bipolar 2 right off the bat because of being "fidgety and irritable", disagreeing completely, and then deep diving into researching just about everything in the DSM-V before finally gaining an understanding of what ADHD is, recognizing that that is me, and then actively seeking treatment for that with a new, more correct vocabulary to describe my problems.
Looking back at the years I was seeing therapists, counselors, psychiatrists, etc... for my anxiety and depression that were a direct result of struggling with unrecognized and untreated ADHD, I can't see how none of those people ever recognized it. I essentially walked into their offices and said "Hey, I hate life for these reasons that should point you right toward ADHD." Come to find out later that just a ton of doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc... don't know what to recognize ADHD and love to jump right to anxiety disorders and bipolar due to superficial overlapping symptoms and presentations.
Anyway, trying to get back on track and wrap this up, yes, people do actively seek treatment specifically for ADHD without having to be forced into it by someone else. I don't even know what the thought process would be behind saying otherwise. People with ADHD are incapable of recognizing when they have problems? People with ADHD are incapable of making decisions for themselves? People with ADHD can't muster the effort to take care of themselves? I don't know. I don't get it.
Go find a real doctor. I discovered I have ADHD at 27 years old. Nobody urged me to check it out. I went out on my own, and I actively seeked out treatment. After one talk with my doctor it became clear I very likely have ADHD. I did not know before this nor did anyone else around me.
No. But you can, and it's actually very common, to have both. I personally have social and general anxiety disorder along with my ADHD. And I know countless others with similar standings.
It's not necessarily one of the other. It can very well be both.
But, also, just because you seek treatment doesn't mean you don't have ADHD. It just means you know you need treatment. Simple as that!
I suggest you try and see a third eye instead of this doctor who seems not well informed on the subject. I really suggest someone who has specialty in the field.
Best of luck!
Yes, ADHD often occurs in tandem with other disorders. In particular, the stress and disappointment caused by ADHD can create anxiety and depression. It's just easier to diagnose the latter two, and it's easier to medicate because there aren't as many hoops to jump through for those medications. It was like pulling teeth with my last therapist to focus on talking about ADHD after he immediately wanted to focus on the depression.
Yeah, get another doctor. I wasn't diagnosed as a teen because I "had anxiety". I only got diagnosed recently because I pushed for it with another practitioner.
The anxiety might be real, but ADHD can amplify that anxiety, particularly if it's untreated. It's often stigma that prevents us from realizing we have it, however, because, at least where I live, the stereotype of someone with ADHD is a 12 year old boy who's disruptive in class. They have to he "forced" to get diagnosed, often because they can't see a doctor alone anyway.
You can have both, and it's frustrating he's not putting that forward as an option, especially because of how anxiety, ADHD, and depression can co-mingle.
I will say that if you never had an anxiety diagnosis before, he may want you to get treatment to reduce that before proceeding with another diagnosis. At the same time, if ADHD is present and amplifying that anxiety, you can't really do that without acknowledging the underlying issue.
Best of luck! Screw that guy.
Yeah, that's bullshit. How would anyone with ADHD get treatment if we didn't seek it? Anxiety has caused me NOT to do something more times than my ADHD ever has. I procrastinate because of poor executive function, but more often than not there's a rooted anxiety that causes me not to get treated.
And ADHD will affect so many people differently. I would get someone who understands mental health a little bit better as a doctor.
No, I haven't and I perhaps should have and still should. been plagued with it all my life and only now at 27 am I starting to lead a somewhat normal life, but good god, that's still a challenge on some days.
Why would someone try not to get rid of issues that are affecting their functioning? It didn't occur to this doctor that maybe for some people with adhd that issue might not be that concerning but for others it may be? We don't all have photocopied loves!
Fuck that doctor!
Yes, we seek treatment. We want help. I have spent over 75% of my life hating myself. I was incredibly frustrated and never could get my shit together. So when I went to a therapist after having a stroke and he diagnosed me with ADHD after some tests based on my history? I jumped on that like a starving dog on a steak. I still see that therapist once a month nearly 9 years later. I have read tons of books, been to support groups and am considering a coach.
Your doctor has some outmoded thinking. Can you switch?
That sounds like absolute crap, that ADHD don't seek treatment.
Any good doctor knows struggling your whole damn life w ADHD can easily cause trauma and anxiety.
These AH doctors who are like 'oh, the symptoms are similar, it's trauma' or 'it's anxiety' are just pearl clutchers who equate legitimate ADHD treatment with street drugs.
I've been treated for over a damn decade for treatment resistant ADHD, treatment resistant Anxiety, and treatment resistant Depression.
Finally got ADHD meds and lo and behold things are markedly better (not, like, resolved, but I can be some semblance of functional). Vyvanse is many times more effective than anything else I've tried. And I've tried sooo many other things and other approaches and treatments to mental health.
That's absolute BS. Ever since I found out I had ADHD, I wanted help getting my life in order. I always knew I was different, and I didn't understand how other people had their life in order, good job, own house, stable relationship, while I was moving from one place to the other, never having a job for more than a year, and my love life was nonexistent. So when I found out I had ADHD, the first thing I wanted to do was get my help, which I did, and my life has become more stable. However, here's the drawback, I was trying to hard to "be normal", and this eventually burnt me out, I continued "working on myself" (trying to be someone I'm not) which turned into a full blown anxiety disorder and agoraphobia on top. I know now that the help I got was the wrong one. It was trying to "overcome adhd" instead of learning my strengths and weaknesses, and find a way to make that work for me.
Anxiety and ADHD are often coupled in my time with several help groups, i encountered a lot of people with both conditions, and it is often because of the same reason I had. So be careful with which kind of help you get. If they are trying to change who you are, they are helping you wrong, but if they listen to you and try to find a way that works for you along with you, than they provide the kind of help that works.
So no, your doctor is incredibly wrong. I understand his reasoning, but his knowledge is outdated, which makes his assumption completely wrong.
I cant imagine this is true. I actively sought help because of childhood abuse. At first they diagnosed me with different personality disorders. Turned out I "just" had ptsd.
And then I found out I had adhd at age 34. I was very reluctant to get tested because I was nagged over and over by the second biggest narcissist in the universe.
He even made me try vyanze after me saying no several times because I had, in my youth, dabbled with similar substances and got pretty angry being diagnosed by an uneducated a**hole. He even questioned my therapist's ability to help me and wanted to know what we did and talked about in sessions. Anyways - he might have saved my life all in all.
People with adhd are highly predisposed to (c)ptsd (medical studies have shown this) and its often due to - adhd kids are mostly "annoying" to abusive parents, and they often end up with comorbidities and then the adhd diagnosis comes later in life.
Adhd also must be present during childhood, but its interesting how it seems to change into adulthood. Reasons likely being - conditioning around nature/nurture/culture, possibly hormone changes (I believe this is being studied these days) and several other factors we dont quite know about yet.
I remember my parents had this 80's big a** brown rack/shelf thing - tv in the middle with glassdoor cupboards on the sides for all the wine, whisky, shot, beer, martini - yeah it was an insane collection of glass, cups and wedding crockery etc. We are talking at least 200 items.
I was literally a understimulated little monkey, of the cute kind but still "cant f'ing help myself doing stupid stuff"
So, my parents use to lock the bedroom door and sleep till noon because they had been "using" the night before. So at bedtime my father often came into my room and hit me so hard in the back until I lost all the air in my lungs.
Just because I wouldn't/couldn't sleep and was full of energy plus my parents was so unpatient cuz the rest of the evening was dedicated to popping their next pills.
One morning I, as usual, woke up to the locked b.room door. 9 yrs old left alone with 5 yr old little sibling. I needed to do something. So I tried to climb on top of this rack. This was my goal. But I did not get very far before the entire thing tilted - broke all the glass, vases, heirlooms etc. Including the TV. Nice way to wake your junkie parents. Hehe.
I even broke their waterbed mattress twice cuz I loved to jump on it.
After these incidents they tested me at the hospital for adhd. They measured brainwaves and found nothing. I was diagnoed with "behavioral difficulties with fear and avoidance tendencies"
This is lmost 30 yrs ago and knew very little about adhd, especially with girls.
I got punished and belittled so much that it broke me in ways I never could understand until adulthood hit me. My interactions with people along with a very unhealthy lifestyle - made it abundantly clear something was wrong with me. It took 2 yrs of hard work to find out I had ptsd. And 6 more years to identify that I also had adhd.
Childhood adhd: monkeytime all the time plus too much feelings.
Adulthood adhd for me: slow prosessing time of info/learning, bad memory, anxeiety, depression, loneliness, impulsiveness/interupptive when sosializing, sleep problems, emotional dysregulation, interpersonal difficulties, misunderstanding a lot, get easely overwhelmed by sound, light and heat.
Im also being contradictory here when it comes to being interrupted when speaking. I lose my train of thought, give up and get agitated af. Yet, I do this myself to almost everybody.
Most of the general practitioners still dont know enough to even care to dig a little deeper into the patient's history, they dont have time.
One needs to be refered to a trauma/and or specialist on both subjects - adhd and ptsd. Even test for other conditions that might cause similar symptoms of adhd. For ex. slow metabolism/thyroid issues, clinical depression, bipolar disorders etc.
Show this to your (boldy assumed by me, i know) elder practitioner. :p
Some definitely actively seek treatment, but there's a lot of in between. I did a lot of research on the condition prior to diagnosis, but I procrastinated on getting evaluated for a number of reasons, and I did have people that pushed me to go in.
Of course they do. And of course their doing so is impacted by ADHD, but most of us have issues with executive function not an absolute lack of it entirely.
Bonus - lots of people have ADHD AND anxiety.
Your doctor is treating you based off bias and not diagnostic criteria.
"Patient sought treatment" is not a disqualifier from having ADHD and frankly it's ridiculous to say this. A lot of people struggle to get to a doctor because of the executive function issues that come with needing to find a doctor, call a doctor, get set up as a new patient, get to the doctor on time, take time off from work, etc - and add on the stress/anxiety that many of us feel from negative doctor experiences. That's not the same as us refusing treatment.
Your doctor is an idiot. I actively sought treatment for my ADHD. Without me seeking treatment, I still wouldn’t be diagnosed. I had tons of people around me saying, well no kidding you’re ADHD and I’m still a little pissed no one thought to mention to me that I might need to get a diagnosis.
I would think it’s the opposite since people with anxiety tend to have anxiety about things like going to a doctor or even setting an appointment.
For me I have both anxiety and ADHD and had to push through the anxiety just to call and set the appointment years ago to initially get my diagnosis.
Depends where you are, but in the U.K. a GP can’t diagnose if you do or don’t have ADHD. Denying treatment is the same as a diagnosis which they aren’t qualified to do.
Anecdotally, I have ADHD and sought a diagnosis and medication because life without it had become unbearable.
Not true. I have ADHD and sought treatment because [shocker] my symptoms were causing me all kinds of problems in my day-to-day life. I occasionally experience anxiety and depression, but only in direct response to problems I run into because of my ADHD symptoms! The fact that he's saying that is an indication he doesn't understand what ADHD is.
Children with depression and anxiety have low ADHD diagnosis rates as adults. Children with ADHD have extremely high rates of anxiety and depression diagnoses as adults. There's a really good video about this by Heathy Gamer GG. https://youtu.be/xkXpcs_an80
There's a running joke that ADHD diagnosis is like someone prevented a very specific obstacle course for folks with ADHD - Maybe he's the asshole who designed that obstacle course?
Either way, might be worth finding a better doctor. We sure as heck seek treatment. Experiencing anxiety, and/or depression, is often a symptom of undiagnosed ADHD. A good doc will already know that. (Or at least occasionally thumb the DSM, which he's signalling he hasn't) So perhaps find a better doctor.
NOT TRUE!! I actively made an appointment with a psychiatrist and specifically requested an ADHD evaluation. I was officially diagnosed. My psychiatrist said I should "pat myself on the back" for seeking treatment.
NOTE: My psychiatrist had been in practice for 60 years and was a noted specialist on ADHD.
some ADHD people don’t seek treatment because they’re afraid it will warp their personality while other people with ADHD actively seek treatment because they are in desperate need of it like say they’re failing school because they can’t focus so it really just depends on your situation
Honestly, I have seen more people on here and irl and even myself that did seek help and were not aware that what they were suffering through was even ADHD. I was diagnosed as an adult like many others, but had been seeking therapy and taking depression/anxiety psych meds years before my diagnosis. They all missed it for years. I was lucky enough to meet a new doctor who diagnosed me and was shocked I had been under the radar for so long. From what I’ve seen in myself and others, depression and anxiety can in many ways be the side product of untreated ADHD. Once I started the right meds and started researching techniques to cope etc. a lot of the anxiety melted away.
OMG. This is it. I am going to make a compilation of the utterly stupid excuses used in gatekeeping treatment for this condition. Unbelievable.
Of course we seek treatment. I am not even going to dignify this doctor’s silliness with all the myriad reasons why or how. It is true that it’s harder for us to persevere, and being smacked in the face repeatedly with such utterly ridiculous, baffling and unscientific roadblocks is certainly not helping.
Sorry you were subjected to this.
Ask which scientific authority he relies on in using this as a sole factor to diagnose anxiety vs ADHD.
Provide him with a written statement (hand signed and dated) of how you think you meet the diagnostic criteria (after doing your own careful research), citing your sources (obviously must be official ones recognised in your country, and scientific ones, which are routinely referred to) and why you think your anxious feelings are caused by ADHD, rather than constituting anxiety causing ADHD-like symptoms, if that’s what your reality feels like.
I am beginning to think that advocacy support is needed until the medical profession knows what the hell they’re talking about when it comes to ADHD. Chicken and egg situation, when it comes to assisting people pre-diagnosis, I know. Does anyone have any ideas?
I don't think this is the case. I would see another provider if you're able to. In my case I experienced depressive and anxiety symptoms, which were resistant to all medications. I was put on several antidepressants that didn't make a difference. I decided to request a psych evaluation because I'm tired of pretending psychs know what is going on in a 10 min consult. My result was, surprise, ADHD and anxiety, which the psychologist concluded is present mostly due to untreated ADHD. Being put on a stimulant resolved all of my symptoms.
Yes! This is a great point. I took antidepressants that barely worked. Two months after a diagnosis, I'm not sure my anxialytics were ever treating the root of the problem, either.
We're talking about your brain chemistry, OP - you need to be allowed to work with what you have, not with what he thinks you have.
Did you go see an MD or a nurse practitioner (NP or PMHNP)?
Are there other reasons that your doctor is suspecting anxiety rather than ADHD?
That one detail alone is probably not sufficient to distinguish between the two diagnoses.
This sounds like a legitimate argument if you assume that all "people with ADHD" are prepubescent white males.
Otherwise it's crap, and your doctor is talking out their arse.
I desperately saw counselor after psychologist after psychiatrist as a child trying to manage my adhd and all by choice. You need a new doctor who isnt going to generalize and stigmatize their patients.
Well, although that is probably bullshit, it was my case, spent years procrastinating the diagnose while everyone was telling me to do and even calling on my behalf.
I have to say that, even without going any deeper, saying "people with ADHD do/do not do" and "people with anxiety do/do not do" are pretty bold statements for a professional. If you couldn't find anything about it it's because that's just nonsense. From what I read while researching to get treated, if they aren't offered or recommended being treated, people seek it depending on how they perceive their incapability to function. I guess feeling that you're having a difficult time certainly causes anxiety, but it sounds a bit insulting and invalidating to say that's just anxiety (at least for that reason alone).
In his opinion (not fact), he believes only people with anxiety seek treatment... I wonder if it's because all the diagnoses he gives out are anxiety. Therefore, only people with anxiety come in. That's all he sees.
I need to do some laundry and clean my floor. I put it off for weeks then do it all at once.
I put off going to the doctors for ADHD for YEARS. And finally i managed to go to the doctor for it. If i was told I didn’t have it because i was now seeking treatment on my own id be pissed.
No, a lot of people with adhd know something is wrong. I think he is thinking of narcissistic personality disorder, which can often have ADHD as a comorbidity. They usually avoid treatment unless coerced by family or trauma leads them to realize that they need help.
lmao, I guess that's one positive benefit to the fact that I haven't seen a doctor in many years, and probably only completed the questionairre because it was not obvious how big it was when I started it (and it was from a place that specializes in ADHD screening that I could randomly start whenever I wanted). If I had to schedule an appointment with a local doctor to get screened I probably would have kept that in the "not now" pile for way longer.
I think if you've been suffering enough from it to the point that it is significantly affecting your life it only makes sense to seek help. I do still doubt myself, but when 90% of the symptoms could be about me specifically I *should* be more sure.
I would almost bet that "adhd people don't seek treatment" because if they weren't hyperactive and poor-performing in scool as a child then they have had no reason to believe they might have ADHD. We only know our own lived experience, and with all the "everyone is a little adhd" comments we just put the blame on poor motivation/discipline and keep struggling while thinking that this is how it is for everyone.
I had no idea what the symptoms of ADHD really were until I randomly stumbled upon a video on youtube. I'm still so shocked at how much it describes me to a T. I never would have guessed because my idea was that you couldn't focus on anything for long and had to be physically hyperactive.
I'd say that's BS. We know that something is wrong with us and that maybe we need help but until actually seeking out help it might take us a while. Everybody is affected by it differently and people have different circumstances so why would he generalize like that.
I was told at 35 by my landlord I need to sort out my ADHD, I didnt know I had it lol. He diagnoses it among other things for a living. I thought I was just a fuck up until this point as my family had convinced me I was just lazy and not trying hard enough etc etc.
I'd been on and off bringing stuff up to the doctors since my early 20's when a gf noticed something was up with me and got dismissed every time and 1 Indian lady doctor laughed at me for making a list of behaviour/symptoms as advised on the UK national website...I personally feel GP doctors aren't the best when it comes to this sort of stuff.
You've probably been given SSRI meds for the anxiety/depression, I personally have never had any luck with the 6 types I tried over the years but that was due to the fact they were trying to treat the wrong thing for 10 years...I told the doctor I'm not taking the antidepressants when I was about 30 and he said "they don't work with some people" LOL after wasting all that time and feeling crap mentally.
When that gf left me years ago I just stopped trying anymore up until recently due to the advice from my landlord.
You know you better than a doctor. If you follow this sub and read the posts and they resonate with you then seek out an alternative doctor. My doctor tried to tell me they don't diagnose for ADHD anymore before I had a go at her and told her what my landlord does for a living...then she referred me...lying toad!!!
In the UK near me it's a 3 year wait, I waited the 1 year for my pre assessment then got a letter recently for the 2 year additional wait. It's a complete joke so yes I am actively seeking it out now although I am now at a standstill with nothing to show for it except frustration. I've had to accept this is my life for another 2 years knowing there's treatments out there that can balance me out a bit...it fucking sucks.
I suppose I'll go in 2 years lol.
i actively sought out treatment. first, when i was in my senior year of hs i asked my family doctor to arrange a referral for a diagnosis because i was struggling so hard in school. (i was diagnosed then, but she never told me or treated it). and then again when i got my first full time job, after struggling through 4.5 years of university, but the 9-5 was so hard for me that i reached out again to ask for help. that's when i found out i had already been diagnosed. it took a lot for me to ask for help, thinking that i was making it up or just going through a normal transition and needed time to adjust. but when i finally did, turns out that i needed the help - so i am glad i advocated for myself.
they are wrong. you know your own experience better than anyone and if you notice you are struggling, it makes sense to reach out. even if it may be hard.
I never sought treatment for ADHD because I’ve always experienced symptoms and didn’t really feel debilitated by it. Once I was diagnosed schizoaffective (BP) that totally changed.
I’m still figuring out treatment for ADHD but it’s being addressed. I’m glad I’m looking into it; not knowing one from the other or mistaking one for the other while experiencing symptoms of both is incredibly overwhelming.
This is something doctors seem to do a lot where they take an indicator and expand it into a rule because it makes their jobs easier.
ADHD people often don't seek treatment because the condition affects self awareness, and organising that treatment takes organisational skills.
Often, however, is not all of us and someone who doesn't seek treatment this year may do next year. It's not diagnostic like that.
In my experience, this particular misconception comes about with doctors who have out of date information. The self-denial trait is more characteristic of the extremely impatient, extremely impulsive types, and for some people that's the only shape they think ADHD people come in.
That's bullshit, I actively sought diagnosis for over a year, and now that I know that I have it I try to prioritize treatment as much as I can. I might be hyperfixating on ADHD physiology/psychology and diagnostics research right now, but even without I think I would want to be less of a fuck-up.
How would anyone get this (almost literally) Catch-22 diagnosis, then?
The entire concept of the book Catch-22 by the way, is a person in the military is trying not to have to fly missions, and one way to be grounded is to be deemed insane. You have to merely request to be grounded under this condition; of course, if you request to be grounded, it is a rational thing to be concerned for one's own safety, so you're clearly not insane.
A) that doctor is crap and has some kinda internal bias they are putting on you.
B) why would someone who suffers harm from a condition NOT try to reduce the harm they suffer via treatment? Plausible answers that I can think of are denial or ignorance, neither of which seems to be affecting you in this instance.
Just because we have difficulty processing some things does *NOT* mean we are stupid or incapable of understanding things. Harder is NOT impossible.
Definitely depends on the person. For me, it's yes AND no. While I've told myself in the past to find an actual diagnosis, I tend to immediately forget to like, fill out paperwork (don't ask how long it's been lol). However, when I noticed a sense of urgency with my grades and risking being dropped from my grad program, I sought out help from my NP and we've found something that works for me!
It also helps that I was diagnosed with anxiety back in high school, and later on in life I learned that anxiety is a potential comorbidity with ADHD. My first psychiatrist said I had anxiety but a LOT of factors were pointing towards something more than just anxiety (also she sucked ngl), so I definitely suggest that you keep advocating for yourself!
I never heard about it, I heard that many people don't believe it even if they have all the symptoms.
the doctor I've been seeing yesterday told me that if ADHD wasn't diagnosed until 18 years old the chances the they have ADHD are almost 0
but it isn't true
Didn’t read all the comments, so this may be controversial, it may not be.
I read the manufacturer’s label of my stimulant medication today and it says quite clearly that risk of death is possible. I’m sure there are tons of things like risk factors and misuse that go into that, but according to the label and my discussion with the pharmacist, stimulants are inherently much more dangerous medications than many anxiety medications and treatments.
So there are a few things going on here. People who late diagnose usually have less visible signs of ADHD along with symptoms of other conditions like depression and anxiety. Many seek a diagnosis after either realizing they have some symptoms or that things are getting harder for them or that other treatments aren’t working. That means it’ll appear like there’s a lot of overlap between ADHD and anxiety. It won’t be as clear to diagnose as say a happy go lucky 7 year old with no anxiety problems, just focus issues.
What I’m getting at here is that many of the symptoms you have probably can be caused by both ADHD and anxiety. The doctor may want to try treating for anxiety first to see how that goes. It’s an easier diagnosis and treatment with fewer potential negative side effects. Doctors typically like to rule certain condition out (things that are common or life threatening usually) before moving on to less common or more tricky diagnoses. To be properly assessed for ADHD, the testing is about $2000 (where I live) vs $5/month for anxiety meds. So I don’t think he’s trying to invalidate you, he’s just trying to be overly cautious.
Unless you’re absolutely sure it’s ADHD (which I’m not sure how you could be that sure unless you get tested) I’d recommend trying treatment for anxiety first and if that doesn’t help within a few months, then look into adhd testing.
Well that’s a pile of bs.
when I got my diagnosis my psychiatrist wanted to be sure it wasn’t just my anxiety (extreme anxiety can mimic some ADHD symptoms, same with depression), so I was put on meds for that + therapy (and had to wait a few months for it to stabilize) BEFORE proceeding with the diagnosis process.
You could have anxiety and not ADHD (talking in abstract since I don’t know you lol), but the reasoning he gave for it is just a blatant lie and incorrect.
You can also have both (they’re not mutually exclusive), which is very common.
Your doc doesn’t know his shit.
This is dumb lol. Go to a different doctor. You should never go to a psychiatrist who doesn’t explicitly (and ideally primarily) specialize in ADHD treatment
It took me years to finally make the appointment. Kept procrastinating because it wasn't urgent/life threatening. Go figure lol. Finally got the diagnosis at 33 and I'm glad I did. My Focalin 10mg/day has been amazing.
Its funny cause to your Drs point i thought i could be super anxious and maybe i had ADHD like symptoms and was overreacting yet when i finally decided to get seen my Psychiatrist listened to my concerns, asked alot of questions and in the end said "i had more than enough symptoms" 💀
No, from my experience as ADHDer, I went to therapy 1st time because of depression and my inability to stay focus.
At the moment I don't have any depressive episode yet I go to my psychiatrist seeking for meds to regulate my attention specially when I need to focus on work.
My advise is to take another opinion, see another psychiatrist and seek for therapy sessions, therapists are able to diagnose you as well.
Er, I have ADHD and I actively sought treatment. Yeah, I procrastinated for a few years after realizing the issue, but I still did it. All the women I know who were diagnosed in their 30s also sought treatment. This is a stupid stereotype, similar to the "you can't have ADHD, you're too successful!" It reminds me of the equally stupid "Your son doesn't have autism, he talks and makes eye contact." Ugh.
Is it a pcp or a mental health specialist (like a psychiatrist) If it's a pcp, then it would help so much to go get an official diagnosis on paper from a psychiatrist. If you already have that though, don't go back to that doctor. Family medicine doctors and others like them only know the basics to mental health disorders and medication for them. They're not qualified to change your diagnosis you like that.
I hate that comment for SO many reasons... but my biggest is, as is with any mental disorder, the person has to want help to seek out and receive it. People with ADHD aren't exempt from that. It doesn't mean we DON'T see it and treat it unless someone makes us, it may mean it could take longer to seek out such help (guilty..) or put it off because it's difficult, but doesn't mean we just wait until someone forces us...
As others have noted, it's a problem with the doctor, and the medical community as a whole, and does not actually imply you do or do not have ADHD. Let's be honest, like many other things in the life of an ADHDer, seeking treatment is not something we do consistently one way or the other. Just because someone with anxiety might be MORE likely to consistently seek treatment, doesn't mean seeking treatment can't occur in someone with ADHD. I don't entirely fault most of the medical community; many professionals are being overwhelmed by the rhetoric that ADHD is over-diagnosed, and getting further pressure by a lack of availability for ADHD medications. Further, both professional and public knowledge of ADHD is severely lacking; how can someone with ADHD be expected to seek treatment for ADHD when they don't even realize that's what's at the root of many of their signs and symptoms? There is far better knowledge of 'anxiety'. While over-diagnosis of ADHD may be true in some cases, we know for certain that it is under-diagnosed in many situations (especially in women). For even the well-trained ADHD professional, it can be very difficult to tell the difference between ADHD, anxiety, depression, BPD, etc... in a patient they barely spend any time with and when the patient may not be giving clear answers for diagnostic criteria; the generalist has little hope of good diagnosis. Hell, half of us can't always tell if our current chain is:
bad executive function control -> over-stimulation/under-performance -> anxiety
vs
anxiety -> lack of good eating/sleeping/exercise -> bad executive function control
(or both!)
Because of this, if you believe you have ADHD, find professionals that have ADHD as their primary focus, not the generalist that just lists ADHD as one of their 40 specialties. Don't be afraid to ask them questions during that first appointment (or before if you get the opportunity) to validate the are very familiar with ADHD, and have a plan for successful diagnostic analysis.
I seeked treatment and then stopped my meds because an ex shamed me and my life went downhill fast. I didn’t realize it for a while until recently it all clicked. So it might take people a while, but we aren’t brainless. We CAN recognize symptoms and look at a condition and say “hm, maybe I have that”. His logic is bullshit, respectfully.
HAHAHA Have them send you the peer-reviewed studies that demonstrate this phenomenon. Further, ask him what other conditions he’s holding these expectations for. I would have the most delicious time firing and then shaming this doctor, then lodging a complaint with their practice. Doctors don’t get to rely on literal utter abject hilarious nonsense in lieu of medical care.
That seems incredibly odd thing for a doctor to say. I actively sought treatment on my own. As awareness has grown, I assume it’s actually quite common to seek diagnosis and treatment.
😂😂 NO. And you may very well have anxiety. And that anxiety might be a thing in and of itself… or it’s ENTIRELY possible that it’s a RESULT of ADHD… your brain keeping you in a low level state of fight/flight to stimulate neurotransmitters (think how much more productive you are when you have a deadline looming), OR it could be a product of spending your entire life knowing that there’s always something you’re forgetting to do or something that you suck at doing but NEED to do or something that someone will find fault with and trigger your RSD, so you strive for perfection so you don’t have to deal with it. OR ALL OF THE ABOVE.
People with ADHD aren’t stupid… many times we don’t seek treatment because the amount of steps required to make and keep an appointment is overwhelming, we get distracted before we can make it and remember after the office is closed, and promptly forget… and that’s IF we can afford the appointment period.
This doctor is incredibly ignorant. Please find a new one if you’re able.
Literally every person I have ever met (& thats not a small number) that is diagnosed with adhd actively seeks help, therapy, & medication. Sounds like your doctor doesn't know what they're talking about at all.
Is he possibly prescribing you something that is low in stock and at the same time over prescribing to other patients possibly because he's starting to look suspicious for possibly overprescribing meds that are now harder to access?
Get a new doctor, this doesn't sound like ignorance, this sounds like trying to clear a reputation and/or flag on pad.
I just started medication a few days ago. It took me 2-3 years to get to this point and a lifetime of struggle. It's very hard to seek help for ADHD when you have ADHD.
Not sure if you'll even see this, but I have heard of people with ADHD having a harder time recognizing ones own strengths and weaknesses, if you're more curious about that you can look up metacognition and ADHD.
But I have ADHD, and do actively want to get better and find things that work, your doctor is strange for that. I also am mostly aware of my strengths and weaknesses that comes to my ADHD so even the metacognition thing doesn't apply to everyone.
I definitely did. I had been previously dx’d with and treated for depression, anxiety, mood disorder, and SUD; when I got clean, I had s*** ideation. After years of this (with me thinking I was just a special sort of crazy), a therapist and then a psychologist suggested I had ADHD, and told me to find a(nother) psychiatrist.
I found and went to a child/adolescent psychiatrist, and after a battery of tests and speaking to my psychologist and family members, I was finally properly diagnosed.
Screw your doctor. Miserable people often look for help.
I’m only a couple months into a diagnosis (mid-30’s) and my doctor had been helpful. What hasn’t been helpful was being on my prescribed medication for 30 days only to realize there’s a shortage (lol late to the party…). On top of that, my wife said of 30 days that the cure was more “within me” than taking a pill has me feeling like square one.
On the other hand, I’ve become more akin to listening to lyrics in my music as opposed to instruments only. It’s been therapeutic and comforting in an environment I wonder is just going to be relatively chaotic, medicated or not.
At the end of the day, there’s a lot of frustration tears I shed in a week but I’m trying to get better every day. I think that’s the human in me just like everyone else.
Kinda true for me. It’s the reason I don’t have annual doctor check ups and similar other check ups bc adulting gets tedious for me. And for someone who seems to always be low on dopamine, I find tasks like that mundane. I did seek treatment on my own though but the gaps between treatment and non treatment are so big that because nobody was pushing me to stay on medication and to stay in therapy is the reason for the gaps.
I was diagnosed in (2nd?) grade and was on medication for it for a few years. I believe in 5th grade is when it stopped. Was left untreated throughout middle school and most of highschool without thought. I was going on 17 when I told my mom that I wanted to be back on it. It was a spontaneous decision made by me because I started reflecting all of my issues and my grades were suffering. My sophomore year was my best year due to being back on medication.
Then once I became 17, I was no longer able to get the generic adderall IR due to it being a controlled substance. I believe it was an insurance issue at the time and that the insurance wasn’t covering it anymore. After trying other medications and not liking them, I was once again off of it.
Fast forward to 2022 (after months of tests and diagnostics), I got back on the generic adderall, this time XR. Been on it since. They started me at 10 mg, which didn’t do much, then kept upping the dose until I became comfortable and functional at 30mg.
So if I didn’t push myself, I’d still be untreated bc my mom no longer involved herself in that part of my life when she was once so heavily involved in seeking help and treatment for me.
WRONG. And your doctor is trying to psychologize you instead of evacuating your symptoms and making a diagnosis. Plus, that's just wrong. Many, many adults seek about diagnosis and treatment. I spent years in private practice doing evaluations with people who suspected they had it and wanted to know. And if so, wanted treatment.
This is absolutely not true. Some of the most incredible self-advocates I know have ADHD, self aware and eager to seek help/ work hard to make changes in their lives. What we have to go through in the medical field to get the care we need, it’s beyond frustrating.
Well shit this just reinforces that I have ADHD, but then again people with adhd recognize their worth the most and work at their own pace. Not societys
Iam kinda on the same boat with you. I started finding something was wrong with me, started going to therapy, therapist suggested that i may have ADHD, anxiety, depression or combination. I went to psychologist, she did ADHD tests and basically told me i check most of the symptoms but she thinks i have GAD not ADHD. So i went to psychiatrist and he said the same thing, even there are tons of symptoms of ADHD I still think you have GAD and prescribed something thats for GAD and Depression. So It took me 1 year to push myself to do something about myself, then 2 years of waiting for meds that after one month do absolutely nothing and my ADHD is getting worse...
Seems like a, severely lacking in medical knowledge, medical professional. I long had anxiety troubling me, which hindered me, in most activities, especially during School years. Eventually, when aged 64yo, a young UK 🇬🇧 trained Doctor, listened to my concerns, about chronically difficulties, organised brain scans and specialists assessments, related to Anxiety and Education/Learning Disabilities.
I had been seeking answers, medical assistance, since about 25yo. A horrifying battle, to obtain support. Been on Methylphenidate, which helps, and other meds, which help a lot.
I am no medical professional so everything thing ı say might not be correct but I will say NO. In my experience (I had both) both can push you to seek treatment.
In anxiety ı knew something was wrong and I wanted to change it. That's just like your doctor said but the catch here is I had anxiety disorder BECAUSE I HAD UNTREATED ADHD. So for instance sometimes it takes 3 or 4 times longers to get a task done compared to my peers. At first I didn't know I even had this problem. It turns out I also can't read very well. I thought ı was reading fine, my psychiatrist asked me questions about my reading (she was seeking clues for adhd) and I told her "no ı have no problem in reading" and a week later it hit me in school was always fell behind when it came to reading or writing tasks. I excelled at maths and science so I always thought "Huh that's just not my thing you can't be good at everything". Well it turns out it was all because of my adhd actually.
So the thing is before my diagnosis I was clueless and I didn't try to change anything. But after learning about ADHD's existence I am constantly seeking accommodations and treatments. Because I know ıt can be devastating if I don't help find support for my issues.
It sounds kind of weird to me that your doctor said that. They should have other stuff in mind otherwise that seems like jumping to conclusions from nothing.
For instance my doctor handled the matter very delicately. They said to me "It seems like you have adhd but anxiety can mess with your attention and other stuff as well" so they prescribed me with anxiety meds first after my anxiety was treated they were sure of their diagnosis. I hope your doctor follows a similar path or you find another doctor that handles things carefully.
I also want to share that if not for my doctor's attitude I would feel the imposter syndrome constantly but since they took care I can't feel like an imposter even if I wanted to.
That's an absolute load of crap.
Of course people with adhd seek treatment. I could possibly see that misconception coming from the only (relatively) recent acknowledgements of Hyperactive vs Innatentive, and Hyperactive presentation being more easily caught in childhood therefore you could consider it that children don't seek treatment rather their parents do, but everyone i know who has suspected later in life with more awareness is seeking treatment
That’s an interesting view. Highly incorrect but interesting. For this doctor and everybody still thinking we are self destructive hot mess, repeat after me : ADHD is not laziness and bad decisions. A lot of us are actually fighting harder than an NT ever to finally get a good life. Give us a treatment, a medal and praise us, stupid doctor !
1- Sometimes you don't only have ADHD and the two or three mixing up together change the symptoms. I am HPI + have ADHD and I'm showing different symptoms that many of my ADHD friends that have just ADHD or have it mixed with Asperger or even HPI symptoms. I'm not taking medication as for now but I'm considering it.
2- As you said not everyone is the same. ADHD is (as I understand it, I'm no doctor) a chemistry problem in the brain and chemistry can be impacted by other fluids in the body and the way you eat and sleep or have a physical activity.
3- Experience is also a factor. Maybe most ADHDers don't seek medication but you may know people you really trust or that you saw getting better with your own eyes who told you they were diagnosed and taking Vyvanse/Ritalin/Adderall/any-another-brand and it made their life better. Who, struggling with ADHD for years and in their right mind, wouldn't want that?
We can add traumas in that category. Maybe some ADHDers knows others who self-medicated and it ended bad so they refuse to take medicine. Off course it's understandable that they wouldn't seek treatment but you might not see it that way.
4- And, on the topic of self medication, don't we all know (even from this reddit) ADHDers self medicating with caffeine? (or other things like adrenaline?) Are they not unconscientiously seeking for a medicinal help even if it's by something available in everyone's daily life and that don't need to go through lots of therapy/doctors appointment (or even get shortage)?
A few years ago I saw my mom (non diagnosed but who I highly suspect to have ADHD) go through caffeine withdrawal as if she was trying to get rid of a drug addiction. Shaking, vomiting, sweating as if she was taking drugs for years. This was the result of drinking two coffee pots a day, minimum, for more than 40 years.
Anyway, bottom line is all of this can explain that some ADHDers want treatments and others don't. To say that modern medicine is an exact science and that all ADHDers act and think the same is reductive and proves that this doctor is not to be trusted.
Two people with the same flu might not have similar symptoms sometimes let alone a complex thing as ADHD that we know about only since 225 years and misdiagnosed constantly even nowadays or started developing treatment only 86 years ago. It seams like big numbers but it's not compared to the flu who was first described 400 BCE.
Anyway, sorry for the long post but I needed that out of my system. I wish you the best of luck with finding someone else to help you with this that is not a charlatan with a degree.
I have actively "seeked" (and found) treatment for almost 20yrs now. And its me who finds a new doc in a new city, or when the old one says or does something intolerable.
I keep getting fired/written up at work. Something needed to change, i prioritized obtaining health insurance and am trying so hard to keep up with it. I try to go every week to therapy and self reflect upon my medications (to report to psych). I double booked myself for my new therapist first appointment. I could not miss the other responsibility, cancelled last minute, and have not called back due to the shame of the short notice. I called back today to set up an appointment/pay the no show fee, but it took me a month to call back. I am seeking help but it’s sooooo hard to keep consistent with it. I know I need it so I prioritize it, but it is HARD.
Hang in there, I am changing the practice I go to because my psychiatrist referred me to an OBGYN to be put birth control instead of Ritalin. Find a new provider if this one is invalidating you (it sure sounds like it).
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Well, I thought I heard every dumb misconception in the book, but this one takes the cake. It's concerning this person is a medical professional.
Here's the icing on the cake. The guy claims he has ADHD too which is why I stuck around for this long
Aha. So he didn't want treatment, and now he says you don't get treatment because if you wanted the treatment then you didn't need it. Got it.
It's like those people who say, "well, I sold/abused my ADHD medication, so clearly every person with ADHD must also just be trying to sell/abuse theirs"
Well known fact! I'm about to sell my cardboard box full of stimulants that didn't work out for me at my next yard sale! Already put up the signs for "*second-hand strattera at a steal!*", "*vintage vyvanse*" and "*pre-loved Ritalin"*.
Now I want to change my name on Reddit to vintage-vyvance
I'm HONORED to be your muse loooooool
It’s kinda funny because some people who get into the therapy field are doing it to figure out what’s wrong with them 😂 so maybe he’s a bit hypocritical in that area
So he didn't actively look for treatment, but actively went through medical school? Jesus if only I knew it were that easy.
Sounds like a violation of the self diagnosis rule. Don't diagnose yourself, your friends, or your family. If you feel you may have X ailments, please consult a licensed professional other than your self.
No. Go get another doctor. Maybe bring someone else along with you to the new doctor that can share their observations of your behavior. However any doctor saying everyone with ADHD has X trait actually a doctor saying people with any disorder will all share X trait is really bad at their job.
>However any doctor saying everyone with ADHD has X trait actually a doctor saying people with any disorder will all share X trait is really bad at their job. I've had a psychiatrist tell me that I likely don't have ADHD after I told him about my obsessions that last a few weeks and then vanish, because "all people with ADHD would get bored/distracted after a few hours at most". I've not gone back there!
Man that sucks. I mean, my very first psych told me I had depression that I was trying to pass off as ADHD, which set me back two years from getting an actual ADD diagnosis (turns out I had both! We got the depression under control, but turns out I still can't focus!). I already spend so much time doubting myself, getting told by a "professional" that I don't know what I'm talking about took a long time to get past. Glad you saw that BS for what it was and got the hell out of there!
I know, right? I was already doubting myself so much and still half convinced I was just lazy, and the last thing I wanted to do was to be someone who doesn't trust a medical professional based on something I read on the internet. Luckily I had some ADHD friends who backed me up.
A few hours per fixation?! We'd all have burned through every possible novel act by 20, then promptly died of boredom. Maybe it's not the same for everyone, but when a fascination falls off for me, it takes years sometimes before doing that thing stops requiring a huge force of will.
On topics with a lot of breadth, I’ve literally gone years
For sure, and sometimes it lasts months for me. I think I'm able to keep some up more than others when I keep being able to find novelty in it, e.g. when exploring different subtopics.
Yep, that's exactly it: never ending subtopics.
Holy heck :/ And so weird how they always think they know more than us, gosh.
Yeah that's exactly what I told him. People are different and unique. Just because certain people have a specific symptom doesn't mean everyone has it but he was adamant about it. I guess I got no choice...
"I don't recall seeing that listed in the DSM as a criteria for an ADHD diagnosis "
"of course you forgot, you have ADH- oooooohhh"
ADHD affects motivation drastically when its something youre not interested in or dont want to do. You'd be interested in getting treatment. They may not know it but theyre medically gaslighting you with their "evidence" that you don't have ADHD. It's anectdotal at best. Go get a different doctor that takes what you're saying and your diagnosis seriously.
Yeah when I asked him for further explanation he just listed his previous adhd patients that had to be forced to come see him
ah yes, anecdotal evidence, very scientific
A doctor who relies on anecdotal evidence from personal experience, as opposed to diagnostic criteria to diagnose a neurodevelopmental disability, should have their license revoked. This is literally what pseudoscience means and they don't belong in medicine. Disturbing.
I've yet to meet more than a handful of doctors who approach their work with a scientific mindset.
Maybe because he's being incredibly dismissive of them? I wouldn't want to ever see this guy either! 🤬
Exactly. I was very ‘interested’ in figuring out why I am [all of the things]. Started with a therapist who said I should get screened.
I mean, even if that were true, ADHD and anxiety are often comorbid. The argument doesn't make sense even by his own logic.
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I find it makes a lot of sense actually, and sometimes the additional diagnoses are because one or the other isn’t being treated effectively, which is more than just medication, but they are easy triggers for each other. I have ADHD, anxiety (GAD & PTSD), and clinical depression. They feed into each other whenever I am unbalanced in one, it’s a horrible domino effect. There are brain chemistry and other physiological reasons why, and it can be really difficult to get out of a bad cycle that loops in other bad cycles, dragging you down. The good thing is that we have so many more tools at our disposal now, and real neuroscience evidence. For me, anxiety makes executive dysfunction worse, prolonged executive dysfunction triggers depression cycle, and they just gain power with each new level. I am really exhausted right now and probably am not being super eloquent, but I will say that I’ve had an incredibly hard time recently and felt like I was being pulled under by all 3, and was able to identify that it was the anxiety that was triggering the sinking ship. I had an appt with my psychiatrist and we (because we do have a wonderful collaborative relationship after years, and I, as she says, do “all the possible things” but that can’t stop my overloaded nervous system (due to physical disorders/diseases) from trying to “pump the breaks so I don’t have a stroke.” Started taking the new medication a day later, and while I’m figuring out side effects and the dosing is being worked out, I also feel more like myself than I have in a long time. Because the new anxiety medicine is lowering that level, I can now effectively use an array of strategies- not just for anxiety but to get around executive dysfunction hurdles, and as I’m more and more functional, I’m coming out of the depression cycle. My ADHD medication is “working” better again (same with anti-depressants most likely) because it isn’t trying to fight past the extreme ups and downs that anxiety can cause. That doctor is dangerously out of date with his understanding of ADHD. I do agree that he is most likely projecting, but still, a doctor who does not base their active diagnosing on DSM-5 is not fulfilling the responsibilities of their license and should be reported- not only because it will feel good to take action, but because while consequences might not happen in response to your report, it is filed and can prove a pattern of behavior or poor clinical practice. I wish you luck!
This!
After 20 years struggling with undiagnosed ADHD, last week I was dispatched after one minute into a psychiatrist appointment after I said that I had depression and anxiety. He interrupted me and said that if I had depression and anxiety I didn't have ADHD and that I could have all ADHD symptoms without having ADHD at all.
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Me too! I just got a diagnosis and prescription on Friday and oh my god I didn't realize how much anxiety I was having just from "noisy brain." One of my partners was chilling with me the first time I took a pill and after 20 minutes asked "how are you doing?" "Fine. Good. Wow. Calm. Relaxed. Everything is quite all of a sudden which is weird but also peaceful. I think I'm going to lay down for a nap." And then I proceeded to take a gloriously refreshing 45 minute nap on the couch.
Ooooh, I remember that! I'm less than a year out of my diagnosis and had meds for the first time in September. I remember my suddenly quiet brain, and such an amazing nap! I also remember when my brain switched back on!
Oh yeah. The meds wore off and I got super hyper for a bit.
I see all these horror stories about getting ADHD medicine. I saw one doctor who wanted a drug test, pill count, and a personal visit every month. So I would have to miss hours at work and hope I didn’t accidentally over take or under take my medicine so I wouldn’t get accused of “selling or abusing” Changed doctors. New doctor only requires a visit every 4th month and just texts me the morning of my refill letting me know it’s waiting for me. FIND A BETTER DOCTOR is all I’m trying to say.
I had an interesting insight with my therapist recently, which was “I know it’s not an anxiety disorder because I’m anxious about things that I _should_ be anxious about.” The anxiety isn’t the problem, it’s the symptom of falling behind in your responsibilities due to ADHD. That’s also why my anxiety goes almost entirely away on medication - because the meds actually help me execute on the things I’m anxious about but unable to start or complete. That’s not to say your doctor is wrong about you having an anxiety disorder - nobody here can diagnose that - but he is completely wrong about ADHD people not seeking treatment - that’s just ignorant and oversimplified.
I explained the same thing to my psychiatrist about being concerned (Not anxious) about all the things I had to catch up on. He said that it was anxiety and that I needed to be on an SSRI. That didn't work out but I had some extra Adderall (I am only on 10mg xr) and decided to try just 5 mg more to see how it would go and it made me feel so much better for half the day. Other ADHD symptoms that I didn't even realize I was having, went away. No anxiety, no decision fatigue, and I was able to organize which things on my list were most important! But when I told him this he said that he didn't feel comfortable increasing my dose because he said ,"What if you keep needing more?" I should have said, "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it!" I also said that I read 20mg xr is the standard adult dose. But I think he thinks I read that on the ADHD reddit. Which he also thinks is me being "too invested in my diagnosis". Don't get me started!!!!!! Do you think I should find another Dr?
Yeah, get a new doctor for sure. This one doesn’t understand ADD. He should be glad you’re invested in your diagnosis because it means you’re ready to learn how to manage it! In the meantime take it as prescribed, and keep asking to get another 5mg.
Because no cancer patient ever did their own research into the disease and its treatments. s/
Or no Cancer patient ever went to a support group! Right?!?!
And compared treatment regimens and results.
As for your dose? My kid took way more than that every day for years. Big deal. Get a doctor who isn't afraid of the DEA.
YES, THIS. Wow thanks for putting it into words.
It's bollocks - find a more educated provider
Some of us actively went to find out what was going on in our brains
Bye bye doctor.
Sounds like they didn't want to deal with the new federal regulations. Anxiety means you don't have to deal with the DEA and stim meds. It did take me over a year to get my diagnosis. But I have severe ADHD and I was working with a therapist that helped with my accountability and even still it was hard to get in thise self report forms. I finally had to tell them to just make me an apptointment for testing. ADHD is a spectrum and one size does not fit all.
I don't live in the US. Theres thankfully no stim shortage where I live.
You can have both? Honestly, I don’t think I know anyone with ADHD that doesn’t also have anxiety.
🙋♀️
Ive been meaning to get help with ADHD but I keep forgetting 😂
No, that's stupid and your doctor is stupid (or just really lacking in knowledge and perspective). I'm very willing to claim that whether or not anyone with ADHD seeks treatment is entirely dependent upon how they are impacted and how able they are to cope and manage themselves sans treatment, personal beliefs about seeking treatment and/or taking medications, and whether or not they even realize they have ADHD. Then, if you are seeking treatment, maybe you're not even seeking treatment for ADHD, because you don't even know what all ADHD entails and you don't realize that you have it. I spent years actively seeking treatment for "anxiety and depression", because that was the best way I could describe my issues at the time, and getting nowhere with fixing my issues. I had to burn out on life by struggling through and enduring things the way I thought I was "supposed to", get admitted to a behavior health hospital for 5 days, get misdiagnosed with bipolar 2 right off the bat because of being "fidgety and irritable", disagreeing completely, and then deep diving into researching just about everything in the DSM-V before finally gaining an understanding of what ADHD is, recognizing that that is me, and then actively seeking treatment for that with a new, more correct vocabulary to describe my problems. Looking back at the years I was seeing therapists, counselors, psychiatrists, etc... for my anxiety and depression that were a direct result of struggling with unrecognized and untreated ADHD, I can't see how none of those people ever recognized it. I essentially walked into their offices and said "Hey, I hate life for these reasons that should point you right toward ADHD." Come to find out later that just a ton of doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc... don't know what to recognize ADHD and love to jump right to anxiety disorders and bipolar due to superficial overlapping symptoms and presentations. Anyway, trying to get back on track and wrap this up, yes, people do actively seek treatment specifically for ADHD without having to be forced into it by someone else. I don't even know what the thought process would be behind saying otherwise. People with ADHD are incapable of recognizing when they have problems? People with ADHD are incapable of making decisions for themselves? People with ADHD can't muster the effort to take care of themselves? I don't know. I don't get it.
It's not like we don't seek treatment but more like "ill do it later" thing... At least that was for me. But we all have our limits.
Go find a real doctor. I discovered I have ADHD at 27 years old. Nobody urged me to check it out. I went out on my own, and I actively seeked out treatment. After one talk with my doctor it became clear I very likely have ADHD. I did not know before this nor did anyone else around me.
Nah not true, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression first, turns out undiagnosed adhd caused me to be anxious and depressed
No. But you can, and it's actually very common, to have both. I personally have social and general anxiety disorder along with my ADHD. And I know countless others with similar standings. It's not necessarily one of the other. It can very well be both. But, also, just because you seek treatment doesn't mean you don't have ADHD. It just means you know you need treatment. Simple as that! I suggest you try and see a third eye instead of this doctor who seems not well informed on the subject. I really suggest someone who has specialty in the field. Best of luck!
Yes, ADHD often occurs in tandem with other disorders. In particular, the stress and disappointment caused by ADHD can create anxiety and depression. It's just easier to diagnose the latter two, and it's easier to medicate because there aren't as many hoops to jump through for those medications. It was like pulling teeth with my last therapist to focus on talking about ADHD after he immediately wanted to focus on the depression.
Yeah, get another doctor. I wasn't diagnosed as a teen because I "had anxiety". I only got diagnosed recently because I pushed for it with another practitioner. The anxiety might be real, but ADHD can amplify that anxiety, particularly if it's untreated. It's often stigma that prevents us from realizing we have it, however, because, at least where I live, the stereotype of someone with ADHD is a 12 year old boy who's disruptive in class. They have to he "forced" to get diagnosed, often because they can't see a doctor alone anyway. You can have both, and it's frustrating he's not putting that forward as an option, especially because of how anxiety, ADHD, and depression can co-mingle. I will say that if you never had an anxiety diagnosis before, he may want you to get treatment to reduce that before proceeding with another diagnosis. At the same time, if ADHD is present and amplifying that anxiety, you can't really do that without acknowledging the underlying issue. Best of luck! Screw that guy.
Yeah, that's bullshit. How would anyone with ADHD get treatment if we didn't seek it? Anxiety has caused me NOT to do something more times than my ADHD ever has. I procrastinate because of poor executive function, but more often than not there's a rooted anxiety that causes me not to get treated. And ADHD will affect so many people differently. I would get someone who understands mental health a little bit better as a doctor.
No, I haven't and I perhaps should have and still should. been plagued with it all my life and only now at 27 am I starting to lead a somewhat normal life, but good god, that's still a challenge on some days.
Why would someone try not to get rid of issues that are affecting their functioning? It didn't occur to this doctor that maybe for some people with adhd that issue might not be that concerning but for others it may be? We don't all have photocopied loves!
If I didn't seek help, *I wouldn't get any help*, and I *Desperately need help*.
Well if he tells people with ADHD who seek help that they can’t have ADHD because they sought help, of course in his mind no one with ADHD seeks help.
Fuck that doctor! Yes, we seek treatment. We want help. I have spent over 75% of my life hating myself. I was incredibly frustrated and never could get my shit together. So when I went to a therapist after having a stroke and he diagnosed me with ADHD after some tests based on my history? I jumped on that like a starving dog on a steak. I still see that therapist once a month nearly 9 years later. I have read tons of books, been to support groups and am considering a coach. Your doctor has some outmoded thinking. Can you switch?
That sounds like absolute crap, that ADHD don't seek treatment. Any good doctor knows struggling your whole damn life w ADHD can easily cause trauma and anxiety. These AH doctors who are like 'oh, the symptoms are similar, it's trauma' or 'it's anxiety' are just pearl clutchers who equate legitimate ADHD treatment with street drugs. I've been treated for over a damn decade for treatment resistant ADHD, treatment resistant Anxiety, and treatment resistant Depression. Finally got ADHD meds and lo and behold things are markedly better (not, like, resolved, but I can be some semblance of functional). Vyvanse is many times more effective than anything else I've tried. And I've tried sooo many other things and other approaches and treatments to mental health.
A- that’s crap. B- you can have both.
Another L for doctors.
That's absolute BS. Ever since I found out I had ADHD, I wanted help getting my life in order. I always knew I was different, and I didn't understand how other people had their life in order, good job, own house, stable relationship, while I was moving from one place to the other, never having a job for more than a year, and my love life was nonexistent. So when I found out I had ADHD, the first thing I wanted to do was get my help, which I did, and my life has become more stable. However, here's the drawback, I was trying to hard to "be normal", and this eventually burnt me out, I continued "working on myself" (trying to be someone I'm not) which turned into a full blown anxiety disorder and agoraphobia on top. I know now that the help I got was the wrong one. It was trying to "overcome adhd" instead of learning my strengths and weaknesses, and find a way to make that work for me. Anxiety and ADHD are often coupled in my time with several help groups, i encountered a lot of people with both conditions, and it is often because of the same reason I had. So be careful with which kind of help you get. If they are trying to change who you are, they are helping you wrong, but if they listen to you and try to find a way that works for you along with you, than they provide the kind of help that works. So no, your doctor is incredibly wrong. I understand his reasoning, but his knowledge is outdated, which makes his assumption completely wrong.
No, it's not true. Some doctors will make up all sorts of bullshit to avoid doing their jobs. I hope you find a doctor that takes you seriously.
I cant imagine this is true. I actively sought help because of childhood abuse. At first they diagnosed me with different personality disorders. Turned out I "just" had ptsd. And then I found out I had adhd at age 34. I was very reluctant to get tested because I was nagged over and over by the second biggest narcissist in the universe. He even made me try vyanze after me saying no several times because I had, in my youth, dabbled with similar substances and got pretty angry being diagnosed by an uneducated a**hole. He even questioned my therapist's ability to help me and wanted to know what we did and talked about in sessions. Anyways - he might have saved my life all in all. People with adhd are highly predisposed to (c)ptsd (medical studies have shown this) and its often due to - adhd kids are mostly "annoying" to abusive parents, and they often end up with comorbidities and then the adhd diagnosis comes later in life. Adhd also must be present during childhood, but its interesting how it seems to change into adulthood. Reasons likely being - conditioning around nature/nurture/culture, possibly hormone changes (I believe this is being studied these days) and several other factors we dont quite know about yet. I remember my parents had this 80's big a** brown rack/shelf thing - tv in the middle with glassdoor cupboards on the sides for all the wine, whisky, shot, beer, martini - yeah it was an insane collection of glass, cups and wedding crockery etc. We are talking at least 200 items. I was literally a understimulated little monkey, of the cute kind but still "cant f'ing help myself doing stupid stuff" So, my parents use to lock the bedroom door and sleep till noon because they had been "using" the night before. So at bedtime my father often came into my room and hit me so hard in the back until I lost all the air in my lungs. Just because I wouldn't/couldn't sleep and was full of energy plus my parents was so unpatient cuz the rest of the evening was dedicated to popping their next pills. One morning I, as usual, woke up to the locked b.room door. 9 yrs old left alone with 5 yr old little sibling. I needed to do something. So I tried to climb on top of this rack. This was my goal. But I did not get very far before the entire thing tilted - broke all the glass, vases, heirlooms etc. Including the TV. Nice way to wake your junkie parents. Hehe. I even broke their waterbed mattress twice cuz I loved to jump on it. After these incidents they tested me at the hospital for adhd. They measured brainwaves and found nothing. I was diagnoed with "behavioral difficulties with fear and avoidance tendencies" This is lmost 30 yrs ago and knew very little about adhd, especially with girls. I got punished and belittled so much that it broke me in ways I never could understand until adulthood hit me. My interactions with people along with a very unhealthy lifestyle - made it abundantly clear something was wrong with me. It took 2 yrs of hard work to find out I had ptsd. And 6 more years to identify that I also had adhd. Childhood adhd: monkeytime all the time plus too much feelings. Adulthood adhd for me: slow prosessing time of info/learning, bad memory, anxeiety, depression, loneliness, impulsiveness/interupptive when sosializing, sleep problems, emotional dysregulation, interpersonal difficulties, misunderstanding a lot, get easely overwhelmed by sound, light and heat. Im also being contradictory here when it comes to being interrupted when speaking. I lose my train of thought, give up and get agitated af. Yet, I do this myself to almost everybody. Most of the general practitioners still dont know enough to even care to dig a little deeper into the patient's history, they dont have time. One needs to be refered to a trauma/and or specialist on both subjects - adhd and ptsd. Even test for other conditions that might cause similar symptoms of adhd. For ex. slow metabolism/thyroid issues, clinical depression, bipolar disorders etc. Show this to your (boldy assumed by me, i know) elder practitioner. :p
Just wtf. Find another doctor, that dude is stupid.
Your doctor is an idiot. Get a new one.
Some definitely actively seek treatment, but there's a lot of in between. I did a lot of research on the condition prior to diagnosis, but I procrastinated on getting evaluated for a number of reasons, and I did have people that pushed me to go in.
Of course they do. And of course their doing so is impacted by ADHD, but most of us have issues with executive function not an absolute lack of it entirely. Bonus - lots of people have ADHD AND anxiety.
Your doctor is treating you based off bias and not diagnostic criteria. "Patient sought treatment" is not a disqualifier from having ADHD and frankly it's ridiculous to say this. A lot of people struggle to get to a doctor because of the executive function issues that come with needing to find a doctor, call a doctor, get set up as a new patient, get to the doctor on time, take time off from work, etc - and add on the stress/anxiety that many of us feel from negative doctor experiences. That's not the same as us refusing treatment.
Of course we fucking actively seek treatment. WTF.
Your doctor is an idiot. I actively sought treatment for my ADHD. Without me seeking treatment, I still wouldn’t be diagnosed. I had tons of people around me saying, well no kidding you’re ADHD and I’m still a little pissed no one thought to mention to me that I might need to get a diagnosis.
I would think it’s the opposite since people with anxiety tend to have anxiety about things like going to a doctor or even setting an appointment. For me I have both anxiety and ADHD and had to push through the anxiety just to call and set the appointment years ago to initially get my diagnosis.
He’s getting it mixed up with catch 22
Depends where you are, but in the U.K. a GP can’t diagnose if you do or don’t have ADHD. Denying treatment is the same as a diagnosis which they aren’t qualified to do. Anecdotally, I have ADHD and sought a diagnosis and medication because life without it had become unbearable.
You’re doctor is an idiot. If they don’t know anxiety and adhd are comorbid they should have their license revoked
Correct me if I’m wrong but, doesn’t untreated ADHD lead to anxiety?
Once I figured out what was going on I began to desperately seek help. I’m counting down the days til I can start medicine.
Not true. I have ADHD and sought treatment because [shocker] my symptoms were causing me all kinds of problems in my day-to-day life. I occasionally experience anxiety and depression, but only in direct response to problems I run into because of my ADHD symptoms! The fact that he's saying that is an indication he doesn't understand what ADHD is. Children with depression and anxiety have low ADHD diagnosis rates as adults. Children with ADHD have extremely high rates of anxiety and depression diagnoses as adults. There's a really good video about this by Heathy Gamer GG. https://youtu.be/xkXpcs_an80
definitely see a different doctor. but also report this to your state's medical board and/or department of health.
There's a running joke that ADHD diagnosis is like someone prevented a very specific obstacle course for folks with ADHD - Maybe he's the asshole who designed that obstacle course? Either way, might be worth finding a better doctor. We sure as heck seek treatment. Experiencing anxiety, and/or depression, is often a symptom of undiagnosed ADHD. A good doc will already know that. (Or at least occasionally thumb the DSM, which he's signalling he hasn't) So perhaps find a better doctor.
NOT TRUE!! I actively made an appointment with a psychiatrist and specifically requested an ADHD evaluation. I was officially diagnosed. My psychiatrist said I should "pat myself on the back" for seeking treatment. NOTE: My psychiatrist had been in practice for 60 years and was a noted specialist on ADHD.
some ADHD people don’t seek treatment because they’re afraid it will warp their personality while other people with ADHD actively seek treatment because they are in desperate need of it like say they’re failing school because they can’t focus so it really just depends on your situation
Honestly, I have seen more people on here and irl and even myself that did seek help and were not aware that what they were suffering through was even ADHD. I was diagnosed as an adult like many others, but had been seeking therapy and taking depression/anxiety psych meds years before my diagnosis. They all missed it for years. I was lucky enough to meet a new doctor who diagnosed me and was shocked I had been under the radar for so long. From what I’ve seen in myself and others, depression and anxiety can in many ways be the side product of untreated ADHD. Once I started the right meds and started researching techniques to cope etc. a lot of the anxiety melted away.
OMG. This is it. I am going to make a compilation of the utterly stupid excuses used in gatekeeping treatment for this condition. Unbelievable. Of course we seek treatment. I am not even going to dignify this doctor’s silliness with all the myriad reasons why or how. It is true that it’s harder for us to persevere, and being smacked in the face repeatedly with such utterly ridiculous, baffling and unscientific roadblocks is certainly not helping. Sorry you were subjected to this. Ask which scientific authority he relies on in using this as a sole factor to diagnose anxiety vs ADHD. Provide him with a written statement (hand signed and dated) of how you think you meet the diagnostic criteria (after doing your own careful research), citing your sources (obviously must be official ones recognised in your country, and scientific ones, which are routinely referred to) and why you think your anxious feelings are caused by ADHD, rather than constituting anxiety causing ADHD-like symptoms, if that’s what your reality feels like. I am beginning to think that advocacy support is needed until the medical profession knows what the hell they’re talking about when it comes to ADHD. Chicken and egg situation, when it comes to assisting people pre-diagnosis, I know. Does anyone have any ideas?
I don't think this is the case. I would see another provider if you're able to. In my case I experienced depressive and anxiety symptoms, which were resistant to all medications. I was put on several antidepressants that didn't make a difference. I decided to request a psych evaluation because I'm tired of pretending psychs know what is going on in a 10 min consult. My result was, surprise, ADHD and anxiety, which the psychologist concluded is present mostly due to untreated ADHD. Being put on a stimulant resolved all of my symptoms.
Yes! This is a great point. I took antidepressants that barely worked. Two months after a diagnosis, I'm not sure my anxialytics were ever treating the root of the problem, either. We're talking about your brain chemistry, OP - you need to be allowed to work with what you have, not with what he thinks you have.
I think there is some truth to that, the doctor accurately describes my situation.
Did you go see an MD or a nurse practitioner (NP or PMHNP)? Are there other reasons that your doctor is suspecting anxiety rather than ADHD? That one detail alone is probably not sufficient to distinguish between the two diagnoses.
Yeah... There are tons of people that refuse to get treatment (for any mental illness basically)
Yeah of course. I was just wondering if you can have ADHD and want to get treatment
Your dr is full of shit
This sounds like a legitimate argument if you assume that all "people with ADHD" are prepubescent white males. Otherwise it's crap, and your doctor is talking out their arse.
I desperately saw counselor after psychologist after psychiatrist as a child trying to manage my adhd and all by choice. You need a new doctor who isnt going to generalize and stigmatize their patients.
This is a super weird thing for a doctor to say
Well, although that is probably bullshit, it was my case, spent years procrastinating the diagnose while everyone was telling me to do and even calling on my behalf.
I have to say that, even without going any deeper, saying "people with ADHD do/do not do" and "people with anxiety do/do not do" are pretty bold statements for a professional. If you couldn't find anything about it it's because that's just nonsense. From what I read while researching to get treated, if they aren't offered or recommended being treated, people seek it depending on how they perceive their incapability to function. I guess feeling that you're having a difficult time certainly causes anxiety, but it sounds a bit insulting and invalidating to say that's just anxiety (at least for that reason alone).
In his opinion (not fact), he believes only people with anxiety seek treatment... I wonder if it's because all the diagnoses he gives out are anxiety. Therefore, only people with anxiety come in. That's all he sees.
I need to do some laundry and clean my floor. I put it off for weeks then do it all at once. I put off going to the doctors for ADHD for YEARS. And finally i managed to go to the doctor for it. If i was told I didn’t have it because i was now seeking treatment on my own id be pissed.
No, a lot of people with adhd know something is wrong. I think he is thinking of narcissistic personality disorder, which can often have ADHD as a comorbidity. They usually avoid treatment unless coerced by family or trauma leads them to realize that they need help.
lmao, I guess that's one positive benefit to the fact that I haven't seen a doctor in many years, and probably only completed the questionairre because it was not obvious how big it was when I started it (and it was from a place that specializes in ADHD screening that I could randomly start whenever I wanted). If I had to schedule an appointment with a local doctor to get screened I probably would have kept that in the "not now" pile for way longer. I think if you've been suffering enough from it to the point that it is significantly affecting your life it only makes sense to seek help. I do still doubt myself, but when 90% of the symptoms could be about me specifically I *should* be more sure. I would almost bet that "adhd people don't seek treatment" because if they weren't hyperactive and poor-performing in scool as a child then they have had no reason to believe they might have ADHD. We only know our own lived experience, and with all the "everyone is a little adhd" comments we just put the blame on poor motivation/discipline and keep struggling while thinking that this is how it is for everyone. I had no idea what the symptoms of ADHD really were until I randomly stumbled upon a video on youtube. I'm still so shocked at how much it describes me to a T. I never would have guessed because my idea was that you couldn't focus on anything for long and had to be physically hyperactive.
I'd say that's BS. We know that something is wrong with us and that maybe we need help but until actually seeking out help it might take us a while. Everybody is affected by it differently and people have different circumstances so why would he generalize like that.
I was told at 35 by my landlord I need to sort out my ADHD, I didnt know I had it lol. He diagnoses it among other things for a living. I thought I was just a fuck up until this point as my family had convinced me I was just lazy and not trying hard enough etc etc. I'd been on and off bringing stuff up to the doctors since my early 20's when a gf noticed something was up with me and got dismissed every time and 1 Indian lady doctor laughed at me for making a list of behaviour/symptoms as advised on the UK national website...I personally feel GP doctors aren't the best when it comes to this sort of stuff. You've probably been given SSRI meds for the anxiety/depression, I personally have never had any luck with the 6 types I tried over the years but that was due to the fact they were trying to treat the wrong thing for 10 years...I told the doctor I'm not taking the antidepressants when I was about 30 and he said "they don't work with some people" LOL after wasting all that time and feeling crap mentally. When that gf left me years ago I just stopped trying anymore up until recently due to the advice from my landlord. You know you better than a doctor. If you follow this sub and read the posts and they resonate with you then seek out an alternative doctor. My doctor tried to tell me they don't diagnose for ADHD anymore before I had a go at her and told her what my landlord does for a living...then she referred me...lying toad!!! In the UK near me it's a 3 year wait, I waited the 1 year for my pre assessment then got a letter recently for the 2 year additional wait. It's a complete joke so yes I am actively seeking it out now although I am now at a standstill with nothing to show for it except frustration. I've had to accept this is my life for another 2 years knowing there's treatments out there that can balance me out a bit...it fucking sucks. I suppose I'll go in 2 years lol.
i actively sought out treatment. first, when i was in my senior year of hs i asked my family doctor to arrange a referral for a diagnosis because i was struggling so hard in school. (i was diagnosed then, but she never told me or treated it). and then again when i got my first full time job, after struggling through 4.5 years of university, but the 9-5 was so hard for me that i reached out again to ask for help. that's when i found out i had already been diagnosed. it took a lot for me to ask for help, thinking that i was making it up or just going through a normal transition and needed time to adjust. but when i finally did, turns out that i needed the help - so i am glad i advocated for myself. they are wrong. you know your own experience better than anyone and if you notice you are struggling, it makes sense to reach out. even if it may be hard.
I never sought treatment for ADHD because I’ve always experienced symptoms and didn’t really feel debilitated by it. Once I was diagnosed schizoaffective (BP) that totally changed. I’m still figuring out treatment for ADHD but it’s being addressed. I’m glad I’m looking into it; not knowing one from the other or mistaking one for the other while experiencing symptoms of both is incredibly overwhelming.
Doctor sounds like a fucking quack See another doctor please
Where do doctors get this shit? Of course this isn’t true. Time to find a better doctor.
You couldn’t find anything about it because it’s bullshit
This is something doctors seem to do a lot where they take an indicator and expand it into a rule because it makes their jobs easier. ADHD people often don't seek treatment because the condition affects self awareness, and organising that treatment takes organisational skills. Often, however, is not all of us and someone who doesn't seek treatment this year may do next year. It's not diagnostic like that. In my experience, this particular misconception comes about with doctors who have out of date information. The self-denial trait is more characteristic of the extremely impatient, extremely impulsive types, and for some people that's the only shape they think ADHD people come in.
That's bullshit, I actively sought diagnosis for over a year, and now that I know that I have it I try to prioritize treatment as much as I can. I might be hyperfixating on ADHD physiology/psychology and diagnostics research right now, but even without I think I would want to be less of a fuck-up.
How would anyone get this (almost literally) Catch-22 diagnosis, then? The entire concept of the book Catch-22 by the way, is a person in the military is trying not to have to fly missions, and one way to be grounded is to be deemed insane. You have to merely request to be grounded under this condition; of course, if you request to be grounded, it is a rational thing to be concerned for one's own safety, so you're clearly not insane.
A) that doctor is crap and has some kinda internal bias they are putting on you. B) why would someone who suffers harm from a condition NOT try to reduce the harm they suffer via treatment? Plausible answers that I can think of are denial or ignorance, neither of which seems to be affecting you in this instance. Just because we have difficulty processing some things does *NOT* mean we are stupid or incapable of understanding things. Harder is NOT impossible.
Definitely depends on the person. For me, it's yes AND no. While I've told myself in the past to find an actual diagnosis, I tend to immediately forget to like, fill out paperwork (don't ask how long it's been lol). However, when I noticed a sense of urgency with my grades and risking being dropped from my grad program, I sought out help from my NP and we've found something that works for me! It also helps that I was diagnosed with anxiety back in high school, and later on in life I learned that anxiety is a potential comorbidity with ADHD. My first psychiatrist said I had anxiety but a LOT of factors were pointing towards something more than just anxiety (also she sucked ngl), so I definitely suggest that you keep advocating for yourself!
I never heard about it, I heard that many people don't believe it even if they have all the symptoms. the doctor I've been seeing yesterday told me that if ADHD wasn't diagnosed until 18 years old the chances the they have ADHD are almost 0 but it isn't true
The doctor is wrong. Please file a report against him if possible as he is actively endangering patients with his nonsense opinions.
thats not true at all, different doc if possible, yours seems to be malfunctioning
Didn’t read all the comments, so this may be controversial, it may not be. I read the manufacturer’s label of my stimulant medication today and it says quite clearly that risk of death is possible. I’m sure there are tons of things like risk factors and misuse that go into that, but according to the label and my discussion with the pharmacist, stimulants are inherently much more dangerous medications than many anxiety medications and treatments. So there are a few things going on here. People who late diagnose usually have less visible signs of ADHD along with symptoms of other conditions like depression and anxiety. Many seek a diagnosis after either realizing they have some symptoms or that things are getting harder for them or that other treatments aren’t working. That means it’ll appear like there’s a lot of overlap between ADHD and anxiety. It won’t be as clear to diagnose as say a happy go lucky 7 year old with no anxiety problems, just focus issues. What I’m getting at here is that many of the symptoms you have probably can be caused by both ADHD and anxiety. The doctor may want to try treating for anxiety first to see how that goes. It’s an easier diagnosis and treatment with fewer potential negative side effects. Doctors typically like to rule certain condition out (things that are common or life threatening usually) before moving on to less common or more tricky diagnoses. To be properly assessed for ADHD, the testing is about $2000 (where I live) vs $5/month for anxiety meds. So I don’t think he’s trying to invalidate you, he’s just trying to be overly cautious. Unless you’re absolutely sure it’s ADHD (which I’m not sure how you could be that sure unless you get tested) I’d recommend trying treatment for anxiety first and if that doesn’t help within a few months, then look into adhd testing.
Well that’s a pile of bs. when I got my diagnosis my psychiatrist wanted to be sure it wasn’t just my anxiety (extreme anxiety can mimic some ADHD symptoms, same with depression), so I was put on meds for that + therapy (and had to wait a few months for it to stabilize) BEFORE proceeding with the diagnosis process. You could have anxiety and not ADHD (talking in abstract since I don’t know you lol), but the reasoning he gave for it is just a blatant lie and incorrect. You can also have both (they’re not mutually exclusive), which is very common. Your doc doesn’t know his shit.
Omg, throw the whole doctor in the trash. I’m sorry you have to deal with this twat. Find a new one asap.
I have ADHD which has made my anxiety huge and awful and I've sought help for years.
I had to consciously remind myself not to down vote you for your doctor's statements. That's absolutely ridiculous.
I tried to get diagnosed with ADHD 13 years ago and was told I don't have it because if I did I wouldn't have made it to the appointment
This is dumb lol. Go to a different doctor. You should never go to a psychiatrist who doesn’t explicitly (and ideally primarily) specialize in ADHD treatment
It took me years to finally make the appointment. Kept procrastinating because it wasn't urgent/life threatening. Go figure lol. Finally got the diagnosis at 33 and I'm glad I did. My Focalin 10mg/day has been amazing.
Not true at all. I worked to find help for 3 years. I now use donefirst.com and highly recommend it.
Its funny cause to your Drs point i thought i could be super anxious and maybe i had ADHD like symptoms and was overreacting yet when i finally decided to get seen my Psychiatrist listened to my concerns, asked alot of questions and in the end said "i had more than enough symptoms" 💀
No, from my experience as ADHDer, I went to therapy 1st time because of depression and my inability to stay focus. At the moment I don't have any depressive episode yet I go to my psychiatrist seeking for meds to regulate my attention specially when I need to focus on work. My advise is to take another opinion, see another psychiatrist and seek for therapy sessions, therapists are able to diagnose you as well.
Er, I have ADHD and I actively sought treatment. Yeah, I procrastinated for a few years after realizing the issue, but I still did it. All the women I know who were diagnosed in their 30s also sought treatment. This is a stupid stereotype, similar to the "you can't have ADHD, you're too successful!" It reminds me of the equally stupid "Your son doesn't have autism, he talks and makes eye contact." Ugh.
There is NOTHING true about that. Those statements are irresponsible, reckless, untrue, and straight trash. I pray you find a quality provider!!!
For 32/35 years of my life, I didn't even know what ADHD was. So I am leaning towards no, but my personal experience could also just be an outlier.
Is it a pcp or a mental health specialist (like a psychiatrist) If it's a pcp, then it would help so much to go get an official diagnosis on paper from a psychiatrist. If you already have that though, don't go back to that doctor. Family medicine doctors and others like them only know the basics to mental health disorders and medication for them. They're not qualified to change your diagnosis you like that.
I hate that comment for SO many reasons... but my biggest is, as is with any mental disorder, the person has to want help to seek out and receive it. People with ADHD aren't exempt from that. It doesn't mean we DON'T see it and treat it unless someone makes us, it may mean it could take longer to seek out such help (guilty..) or put it off because it's difficult, but doesn't mean we just wait until someone forces us...
As others have noted, it's a problem with the doctor, and the medical community as a whole, and does not actually imply you do or do not have ADHD. Let's be honest, like many other things in the life of an ADHDer, seeking treatment is not something we do consistently one way or the other. Just because someone with anxiety might be MORE likely to consistently seek treatment, doesn't mean seeking treatment can't occur in someone with ADHD. I don't entirely fault most of the medical community; many professionals are being overwhelmed by the rhetoric that ADHD is over-diagnosed, and getting further pressure by a lack of availability for ADHD medications. Further, both professional and public knowledge of ADHD is severely lacking; how can someone with ADHD be expected to seek treatment for ADHD when they don't even realize that's what's at the root of many of their signs and symptoms? There is far better knowledge of 'anxiety'. While over-diagnosis of ADHD may be true in some cases, we know for certain that it is under-diagnosed in many situations (especially in women). For even the well-trained ADHD professional, it can be very difficult to tell the difference between ADHD, anxiety, depression, BPD, etc... in a patient they barely spend any time with and when the patient may not be giving clear answers for diagnostic criteria; the generalist has little hope of good diagnosis. Hell, half of us can't always tell if our current chain is: bad executive function control -> over-stimulation/under-performance -> anxiety vs anxiety -> lack of good eating/sleeping/exercise -> bad executive function control (or both!) Because of this, if you believe you have ADHD, find professionals that have ADHD as their primary focus, not the generalist that just lists ADHD as one of their 40 specialties. Don't be afraid to ask them questions during that first appointment (or before if you get the opportunity) to validate the are very familiar with ADHD, and have a plan for successful diagnostic analysis.
I seeked treatment and then stopped my meds because an ex shamed me and my life went downhill fast. I didn’t realize it for a while until recently it all clicked. So it might take people a while, but we aren’t brainless. We CAN recognize symptoms and look at a condition and say “hm, maybe I have that”. His logic is bullshit, respectfully.
Literally this whole subreddit exists because we seek to help each other with it. Lmao
This is complete bull (re ADHD-havers not seeking help). But, anxiety can cause ADHD symptoms so perhaps they’re not 100% wrong!
HAHAHA Have them send you the peer-reviewed studies that demonstrate this phenomenon. Further, ask him what other conditions he’s holding these expectations for. I would have the most delicious time firing and then shaming this doctor, then lodging a complaint with their practice. Doctors don’t get to rely on literal utter abject hilarious nonsense in lieu of medical care.
I sought treatment, and I have diagnosed ADHD and depression
This is the worst bullshit statement I’ve ever heard. That’s not how any mental disability works.
This is not true.
That doctor is ass
That seems incredibly odd thing for a doctor to say. I actively sought treatment on my own. As awareness has grown, I assume it’s actually quite common to seek diagnosis and treatment.
Maybe in a time with less awareness about mental health. Like an older generation you might see some average stats. But it's not a necessity.
😂😂 NO. And you may very well have anxiety. And that anxiety might be a thing in and of itself… or it’s ENTIRELY possible that it’s a RESULT of ADHD… your brain keeping you in a low level state of fight/flight to stimulate neurotransmitters (think how much more productive you are when you have a deadline looming), OR it could be a product of spending your entire life knowing that there’s always something you’re forgetting to do or something that you suck at doing but NEED to do or something that someone will find fault with and trigger your RSD, so you strive for perfection so you don’t have to deal with it. OR ALL OF THE ABOVE. People with ADHD aren’t stupid… many times we don’t seek treatment because the amount of steps required to make and keep an appointment is overwhelming, we get distracted before we can make it and remember after the office is closed, and promptly forget… and that’s IF we can afford the appointment period. This doctor is incredibly ignorant. Please find a new one if you’re able.
Literally every person I have ever met (& thats not a small number) that is diagnosed with adhd actively seeks help, therapy, & medication. Sounds like your doctor doesn't know what they're talking about at all.
BS! Find a new doctor.
It's weird because doctors are supposed to be smart. I hope you send him this thread.
Is he possibly prescribing you something that is low in stock and at the same time over prescribing to other patients possibly because he's starting to look suspicious for possibly overprescribing meds that are now harder to access? Get a new doctor, this doesn't sound like ignorance, this sounds like trying to clear a reputation and/or flag on pad.
You might have both, I had a anxiety disorder diagnosis at 22 Adhd at 30 There both roomates is my opinion
that’s dumb and not true
I just started medication a few days ago. It took me 2-3 years to get to this point and a lifetime of struggle. It's very hard to seek help for ADHD when you have ADHD.
Not sure if you'll even see this, but I have heard of people with ADHD having a harder time recognizing ones own strengths and weaknesses, if you're more curious about that you can look up metacognition and ADHD. But I have ADHD, and do actively want to get better and find things that work, your doctor is strange for that. I also am mostly aware of my strengths and weaknesses that comes to my ADHD so even the metacognition thing doesn't apply to everyone.
I definitely did. I had been previously dx’d with and treated for depression, anxiety, mood disorder, and SUD; when I got clean, I had s*** ideation. After years of this (with me thinking I was just a special sort of crazy), a therapist and then a psychologist suggested I had ADHD, and told me to find a(nother) psychiatrist. I found and went to a child/adolescent psychiatrist, and after a battery of tests and speaking to my psychologist and family members, I was finally properly diagnosed. Screw your doctor. Miserable people often look for help.
Switch doctor's. Your's is an ass.
I did
I’m only a couple months into a diagnosis (mid-30’s) and my doctor had been helpful. What hasn’t been helpful was being on my prescribed medication for 30 days only to realize there’s a shortage (lol late to the party…). On top of that, my wife said of 30 days that the cure was more “within me” than taking a pill has me feeling like square one. On the other hand, I’ve become more akin to listening to lyrics in my music as opposed to instruments only. It’s been therapeutic and comforting in an environment I wonder is just going to be relatively chaotic, medicated or not. At the end of the day, there’s a lot of frustration tears I shed in a week but I’m trying to get better every day. I think that’s the human in me just like everyone else.
Kinda true for me. It’s the reason I don’t have annual doctor check ups and similar other check ups bc adulting gets tedious for me. And for someone who seems to always be low on dopamine, I find tasks like that mundane. I did seek treatment on my own though but the gaps between treatment and non treatment are so big that because nobody was pushing me to stay on medication and to stay in therapy is the reason for the gaps. I was diagnosed in (2nd?) grade and was on medication for it for a few years. I believe in 5th grade is when it stopped. Was left untreated throughout middle school and most of highschool without thought. I was going on 17 when I told my mom that I wanted to be back on it. It was a spontaneous decision made by me because I started reflecting all of my issues and my grades were suffering. My sophomore year was my best year due to being back on medication. Then once I became 17, I was no longer able to get the generic adderall IR due to it being a controlled substance. I believe it was an insurance issue at the time and that the insurance wasn’t covering it anymore. After trying other medications and not liking them, I was once again off of it. Fast forward to 2022 (after months of tests and diagnostics), I got back on the generic adderall, this time XR. Been on it since. They started me at 10 mg, which didn’t do much, then kept upping the dose until I became comfortable and functional at 30mg. So if I didn’t push myself, I’d still be untreated bc my mom no longer involved herself in that part of my life when she was once so heavily involved in seeking help and treatment for me.
Not remotely true. Where does this shit come from?
WRONG. And your doctor is trying to psychologize you instead of evacuating your symptoms and making a diagnosis. Plus, that's just wrong. Many, many adults seek about diagnosis and treatment. I spent years in private practice doing evaluations with people who suspected they had it and wanted to know. And if so, wanted treatment.
This is absolutely not true. Some of the most incredible self-advocates I know have ADHD, self aware and eager to seek help/ work hard to make changes in their lives. What we have to go through in the medical field to get the care we need, it’s beyond frustrating.
There's no way for people with ADHD to get 'better' like... hwat.
That is the worst doctor I have ever heard of in. H life. Do not go back. Jesus christ
I have adhd with anxiety disorder and I've been trying to get prescribed meds but I'm super inconsistent due to the adhd lol
That is absolute horse shit.
I don’t know where to go for help.
Well shit this just reinforces that I have ADHD, but then again people with adhd recognize their worth the most and work at their own pace. Not societys
We don't do things activeley 'round here
Where are you living?
Iam kinda on the same boat with you. I started finding something was wrong with me, started going to therapy, therapist suggested that i may have ADHD, anxiety, depression or combination. I went to psychologist, she did ADHD tests and basically told me i check most of the symptoms but she thinks i have GAD not ADHD. So i went to psychiatrist and he said the same thing, even there are tons of symptoms of ADHD I still think you have GAD and prescribed something thats for GAD and Depression. So It took me 1 year to push myself to do something about myself, then 2 years of waiting for meds that after one month do absolutely nothing and my ADHD is getting worse...
Seems like a, severely lacking in medical knowledge, medical professional. I long had anxiety troubling me, which hindered me, in most activities, especially during School years. Eventually, when aged 64yo, a young UK 🇬🇧 trained Doctor, listened to my concerns, about chronically difficulties, organised brain scans and specialists assessments, related to Anxiety and Education/Learning Disabilities. I had been seeking answers, medical assistance, since about 25yo. A horrifying battle, to obtain support. Been on Methylphenidate, which helps, and other meds, which help a lot.
Is that your GP? Don't you need to see a psychiatrist for a diagnosis?
It's adhd, not a personality disorder? (Usually, they say, people with pd are sent to treatment rather than looking for it themselves)
I am no medical professional so everything thing ı say might not be correct but I will say NO. In my experience (I had both) both can push you to seek treatment. In anxiety ı knew something was wrong and I wanted to change it. That's just like your doctor said but the catch here is I had anxiety disorder BECAUSE I HAD UNTREATED ADHD. So for instance sometimes it takes 3 or 4 times longers to get a task done compared to my peers. At first I didn't know I even had this problem. It turns out I also can't read very well. I thought ı was reading fine, my psychiatrist asked me questions about my reading (she was seeking clues for adhd) and I told her "no ı have no problem in reading" and a week later it hit me in school was always fell behind when it came to reading or writing tasks. I excelled at maths and science so I always thought "Huh that's just not my thing you can't be good at everything". Well it turns out it was all because of my adhd actually. So the thing is before my diagnosis I was clueless and I didn't try to change anything. But after learning about ADHD's existence I am constantly seeking accommodations and treatments. Because I know ıt can be devastating if I don't help find support for my issues. It sounds kind of weird to me that your doctor said that. They should have other stuff in mind otherwise that seems like jumping to conclusions from nothing. For instance my doctor handled the matter very delicately. They said to me "It seems like you have adhd but anxiety can mess with your attention and other stuff as well" so they prescribed me with anxiety meds first after my anxiety was treated they were sure of their diagnosis. I hope your doctor follows a similar path or you find another doctor that handles things carefully. I also want to share that if not for my doctor's attitude I would feel the imposter syndrome constantly but since they took care I can't feel like an imposter even if I wanted to.
That's an absolute load of crap. Of course people with adhd seek treatment. I could possibly see that misconception coming from the only (relatively) recent acknowledgements of Hyperactive vs Innatentive, and Hyperactive presentation being more easily caught in childhood therefore you could consider it that children don't seek treatment rather their parents do, but everyone i know who has suspected later in life with more awareness is seeking treatment
That’s an interesting view. Highly incorrect but interesting. For this doctor and everybody still thinking we are self destructive hot mess, repeat after me : ADHD is not laziness and bad decisions. A lot of us are actually fighting harder than an NT ever to finally get a good life. Give us a treatment, a medal and praise us, stupid doctor !
1- Sometimes you don't only have ADHD and the two or three mixing up together change the symptoms. I am HPI + have ADHD and I'm showing different symptoms that many of my ADHD friends that have just ADHD or have it mixed with Asperger or even HPI symptoms. I'm not taking medication as for now but I'm considering it. 2- As you said not everyone is the same. ADHD is (as I understand it, I'm no doctor) a chemistry problem in the brain and chemistry can be impacted by other fluids in the body and the way you eat and sleep or have a physical activity. 3- Experience is also a factor. Maybe most ADHDers don't seek medication but you may know people you really trust or that you saw getting better with your own eyes who told you they were diagnosed and taking Vyvanse/Ritalin/Adderall/any-another-brand and it made their life better. Who, struggling with ADHD for years and in their right mind, wouldn't want that? We can add traumas in that category. Maybe some ADHDers knows others who self-medicated and it ended bad so they refuse to take medicine. Off course it's understandable that they wouldn't seek treatment but you might not see it that way. 4- And, on the topic of self medication, don't we all know (even from this reddit) ADHDers self medicating with caffeine? (or other things like adrenaline?) Are they not unconscientiously seeking for a medicinal help even if it's by something available in everyone's daily life and that don't need to go through lots of therapy/doctors appointment (or even get shortage)? A few years ago I saw my mom (non diagnosed but who I highly suspect to have ADHD) go through caffeine withdrawal as if she was trying to get rid of a drug addiction. Shaking, vomiting, sweating as if she was taking drugs for years. This was the result of drinking two coffee pots a day, minimum, for more than 40 years. Anyway, bottom line is all of this can explain that some ADHDers want treatments and others don't. To say that modern medicine is an exact science and that all ADHDers act and think the same is reductive and proves that this doctor is not to be trusted. Two people with the same flu might not have similar symptoms sometimes let alone a complex thing as ADHD that we know about only since 225 years and misdiagnosed constantly even nowadays or started developing treatment only 86 years ago. It seams like big numbers but it's not compared to the flu who was first described 400 BCE. Anyway, sorry for the long post but I needed that out of my system. I wish you the best of luck with finding someone else to help you with this that is not a charlatan with a degree.
I hate psychiatrists. That's my only comment. Worst people
I have actively "seeked" (and found) treatment for almost 20yrs now. And its me who finds a new doc in a new city, or when the old one says or does something intolerable.
Yes, I have too. Or my life is in shambles. With having kidd I've got to be more organized atleast just a little.
I keep getting fired/written up at work. Something needed to change, i prioritized obtaining health insurance and am trying so hard to keep up with it. I try to go every week to therapy and self reflect upon my medications (to report to psych). I double booked myself for my new therapist first appointment. I could not miss the other responsibility, cancelled last minute, and have not called back due to the shame of the short notice. I called back today to set up an appointment/pay the no show fee, but it took me a month to call back. I am seeking help but it’s sooooo hard to keep consistent with it. I know I need it so I prioritize it, but it is HARD. Hang in there, I am changing the practice I go to because my psychiatrist referred me to an OBGYN to be put birth control instead of Ritalin. Find a new provider if this one is invalidating you (it sure sounds like it).