Went to see a psychiatrist for the first time today. He thinks I have Major anxiety and not ADD. Yes I agree I have anxiety but I believe it is caused by my ADD. Does that make sense to you all? He perscribed Wellbutrin 150 mg to add to my Effexor and after two weeks I can wean myself off the Effexor because it was making me worse. He says if the Wellbutrin doesn't work then we will dig deeper to see what else it may be. He says if it is anxiety the Wellbutrin should help. Wish me luck.

Well good luck.
how do you feel about his diagnosis,you seem hesitant in your post?
or am i reading it wrong?

There are many people here, myself included, who were first diagnosed with depression or anxiety or something else but later found out that their real issue was ADHD

How much experience does this psychiatrist have diagnosing and treating adult with ADD?

Sorry my post was very vague. I'm just concerned right now about the diagnosis.

I went in with two pages of my personal symptoms which he read and quickly said that what I have is severe anxiety. That everything I am feeling is being brought on by my body triggering the fight or flight hormones in my body and my mind creating upsurd thoughts in reaction to the hormones. He says it's physical not mental. Only becomes mental because my mind has to create a fight or flight scenario in my head to respond to the hormones being set off in my body all the time. He claims that is why I am having bad dreams. He says I am having anxiety attacks in my dreams too.

I told him that I had a couple of months to research my symptoms and I am convinced it is ADD. He says no if it was ADD it would have been detected when you were young. Typical response with doctors who are unaware I think. He said that he would put me on Wellbutrin and see what happens. If it doesn't take care of the anxiety then it has to be something else and we will dig deeper at that point.

This morning I woke up with a horrible anxiety attack. I had taken may first dose of Wellbutrin yesterday. Is this normal???

I'm going back to see him in 6 weeks so if I don't feel any good results I will stand my ground on the ADD.

That is always the risk of seeing a new doc, there are many dx that are similar to ADD, and each doc is different, they will not necessarily agree with a previous dx. You can always go back to your previous doc, and if not, find a new one. Your local CHADD chapter may help with a list of ADD current docs. Good luck.

That sounds like a difficult position to be in. I know my first counselor diagnosed me 12 years ago with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, the second one 10 years ago diagnosed me with PTSD, the current on diagnosed me with depression with anxiety, but something seemed to me to be missing. In my case I had been diagnosed as a kid with ADHD and my daughter had just been diagnosed with the same. The ADD specialist (psychologist) said it is ADD. Kind of confusing I know. If I understand correctly Wellbutrin is sometimes used to treat ADD too, so maybe you'll get the results you need anyway. But if this doctor doesn't seem to hear your concerns, I agree with whoever it was that suggested you keep looking. Obviously diagnoses is as much art as science at this point in learning about the human mind. Good luck to you!

Scattered

Thank you everyone. I will not give up. So far I do feel alot better on the Wellbutrin. Here in Canada we don't have the slow release so I do find that I peak in the morning and feel like I'm coming down the rest of the day. I also haven't been able to sleep real well, so I'm hoping that will get better with time.

Have a great day everyone.
Mary