Hello, I'm glad I found this place, this is my first post here. It's long I hope you guys don't mind.

For about 6 months I've been reading through this forum off and on. I am now convinced that I have ADHD but have never been able to properly talk it out with someone, not as well as I can type it. In ways I am still somewhate unsure that I have it, especially after speaking to my doctor, but I'll come back to that. First I'm going to explain the symptoms I have, If you want to skip that by all means scroll down and just reply to my questions at the bottom, I know how hard it is to concentrate for people like us, and I know the symptoms are discussed more than frequently already on this message board.

*******Skip this if you don't want to read my long explanation of why I think I have ADHD********

I'm a 20 year old Canadian male and I share a lot of the symptoms people have on this message board. I can feel the scattered state of my mind at all times. One of the more accurate descriptions for me was someone here that said his mind is constantly "branching in thought". I'll be trying to actively concentrate on something, but sure enough I'll jump from thought to thought to thought to thought.

I have a horrible time being on time for my job, or any appointment for that matter unless I'm really looking forward to it. My memory is often absent, I have trouble putting names to faces, or remembering names to begin with. I really think it has to do with the lack of attentiveness to begin with that leads to my poor memory. By that I mean I won't remember something because at the time I was supposed "store the memory", my mind will be thinking about something else.

Throughout my entire school life I heard the same thing from all my teachers: 1. Assignments and homework always late or not finished. 2. Very smart but not living up to his potential. 3. Very disorganized. 4. Distracted in class. Number 1, 2, and 3 I got on almost every report card. My teachers and parents tried everything to get me to stay on task be it at school or at home when I'm supposed to do homework, nothing worked. I've never in my life been able to read a novel from beggining to end, no matter how much I tell myself to before I start.

I'm very impulsive. I often cut people off when driving even though I should realize the other car is too close for me to pull out. I make purchases that I tell myself I shouldnt make but it doesnt seem to matter at the time.

I'm very fidgety. I always pace, if on the telephone I can be seen doing fast laps around the dining room table.

I'm incredibly disorganized.My room always deteriorates into a disgusting mess only a couple days after I spend time cleaning it. My school books were always torn, unordered, messy and incomplete.

I often make promises I later realise I won't be able to keep. I never realise it at the time I make the promise. Because of this people see me as unreliable and irresponsible.

I can be very moody and short tempered. There will be days that I think everything that happens happens to irritate me. Maybe this has to do with depression more than ADHD. But when I get in those moods I can react very irrationaly without realizing what I'm doing. Other times I'll seem to be completely dissinterested in the people in my life, and I can tell it offends them.

Something I've noticed more recently since I started working full time, is that someone will be giving me instruction on how to complete a task, and I'll leave them sometimes with no idea on what I'm supposed to do. Last year when we started inventory count at my work, I was told to count boxes of nuts and bolts. I was so bad at counting, I lost track every time, I skip numbers, I had recount over and over, and it took twice as long to do it as other people, and it wasn't even accurate. Sometimes I'll be loading bags of top soil, maybe just a dozen or so, and I'll have to count maybe 2 or 3 times over to make sure I have the amount the customer asked for.

I'm horrible with direction when driving. I get lost easily in the town where I've lived all my life. People will try and tell me how to get somewhere, and it will just go over my head (or maybe through it). It's like to get where I need to go I need to be able to map out in my head each move I'm going to need to make, but somewhere in that process I lose track

People would describe me as a scatterbrain, or an air head. I'm very bad at being social with people. I say dumb things often, or tell people things about myself or something that I wish I wouldnt have told them. When I think about it now it seems like I communicate some of the random thoughts that go through my head. They make sense to me in my mind but to other people they must seem very weird.

There are other things but obviously I cant list it all, hell I don't even think I can think of all of them on one day.

**************Start reading again******************

So after I've made a habit of noticing the things I just listed, I decided I'd ask my doctor. My plan at the start was to write all this down for him, to show him that I was taking this seriously and wanted him to as well. But as is my way, I procrastinated and it never got done. I told him what I thought anyway, not nearly as well as I've typed it out just now though. His reaction was that I have trouble concentrating on things because I'm disinterested. He told me that If I found things I was interested in I'd be able to concentrate on them. I just nodded my head in agreement. He told me that I could go to a psycologist but that it wouldn't be covered by Health Canada and would probably cost me up to 600 dollars for a few sessions.

I also told my mom that I thought I had ADHD and listed a few symptoms. At first she instantly agreed with me, probably because she was glad I opened up to her, I rarely do. I say that because soon after she came to me and said it was her opinion that what I was describing is caused by my exessive computer use. I didn't discount that idea, I can understand where she's going with that, I just have no idea of knowing if it's true. What I feel in my head though tells me that I have a problem.

Anyway, that was the end of my "real life" persual of treatment or at least diagnosis of ADHD. But I wan't to try again. I have recently decided to go to college in Toronto, and am worried ADHD might seriously get in the way. I understand that it is very hard to get diagnosed in Canada, and even harder to get treated, especially as an adult.

I need help knowing where to go from here. My location is in Southern Ontario, two hours from Toronto, and I am not aware of any ADHD specialists in my area. What should my next step be? I'll warn you guys that I'm not very good at getting off my ***** and joining support groups or something, even when its something as important as this. My doctor seemed very reluctant to even consider ADHD to explain my symptoms, so at this point I'm not sure if he's going to lead my in the right direction.

If it truly is as severe as I think it is, I would like to get treatment before I go to college. Adderal XR was recently re instated in Canada, and I think that is definately an option as long as I can find a doctor that can give me the right advice and direction. I'm alot more weary about Ritalin. I'd want this doctor to also provide me with some sort of "natural" solution like brain exercises or something of that nature, along with medication.

What steps do I need to take. Where can I find ADHD specialists in my area? Does anyone know if there is a way to have Health Canada cover my meetings with a specialist? Do they cover Adderall if I'm ultimately prescribed it?

I know there is a Canadian section so I'm going to post a link to this thread there as well.

Thanks guys.

The first step would be to determine if you have ADHD. Don't worry about anything else but accomplishing goal number 1.

Well, I'm about two hours away from Toronto down London way. I can give you list of Psychologists. Yes, it would be about $1000 Canadian although some do it a little cheaper. How to pay? Any way you can. If your parents have a health plan through work, it may cover a good deal of the cost. If not, find a way.

By the way, welcome to the forms.

Here's an idea: Use your school's resources AS SOON AS YOU GET THERE. Most post secondary institutions have health services available to all students free of charge, including psych services. Most are well trained with such disorders as ADHD and will be able to help. Or at least refer you to more free help where you can get a proper diagnosis.

If I were you, I'd copy your post over to Word and change it around so it reads a little cleaner/easier, and go see the health people at your new school the second you get there. Your list is, uh, similar to one I put together a few months ago, when I didn't know what to do anymore and felt ridiculously lost. It helped my doctors put together a diagnosis, and it could help yours.

Here's an idea: Use your school's resources AS SOON AS YOU GET THERE. Most post secondary institutions have health services available to all students free of charge, including psych services. Most are well trained with such disorders as ADHD and will be able to help. Or at least refer you to more free help where you can get a proper diagnosis.

If I were you, I'd copy your post over to Word and change it around so it reads a little cleaner/easier, and go see the health people at your new school the second you get there. Your list is, uh, similar to one I put together a few months ago, when I didn't know what to do anymore and felt ridiculously lost. It helped my doctors put together a diagnosis, and it could help yours.


That's an excellent idea! :)

luc0

Recogonizing that something is not right is the first step. Get to your doctor and talk it over. As was previously suggested, print out your posting and take it with you to your doctor.

It may take a while to get a proper diagnosis, but the symptoms can usuallt be treated right away.

good luck
Me :D

I am in Canada too. Welcome to the forums.

My doctor refered me to a psychiatrist, which IS covered by the medical plan. The psychiatrist had me tested, and is doing the follow up work with me. The advantage to a psychiatrist is that they can prescribe if necessary (pyscologists can not) and that they know a lot more about AD/HD meds than a family physician does.

Best wishes.

I'm in the middle of getting tested right now. It's not cheap - about $1500 but most of it is covered by my parents' health plan and my school health plan. Sometimes its required that you have a referral from a doc and there's always waiting lists.

If a person in Ontario is _OSAP Eligible_, then ADD testing is FREE thru the Ontario's Bursary for Students with Disabilities (BSWD) program.

If anyone needs more info on how to get this funding, please email me.

Emma
:)

And it is available to a person even taking just one course!! (part time/evening, etc)

Sounds like you've gotten some good feedback on resources all ready. It sounds like you have enough symptoms to pursue finding out whether ADHD or some other condition is troubling you. Whatever it is you may need treatment and you're worth it, so I encourage you to pursue an answer for yourself -- it could make a difference for the rest of your life.

I'm very fidgety. I always pace, if on the telephone I can be seen doing fast laps around the dining room table.
BTW, had to laugh at this one! :D My daughter and I both do this constantly -- drives my mom nuts (and yes we are both dx with ADHD).

Welcome to the boards, LucO!:)

Scattered

Thanks for the replies everyone,

I'm very encouraged to hear OSAP has a program for testing, thanks QueensU_girl. I was planning to apply for OSAP anyway, so I think thats the route I'll take for diagnosis.

It certainly seems that ADHD is much less recognized as an actual syndrome in Canada than it is in the United States. And Canadian Doctors certainly seem to be more reluctant to prescribe medication for ADHD. I'd like to hear some more thoughts on why this is. I'm sick of people thinking I'm an airhead, and if medication can help me I want to be helped. On the other hand I usually tend to avoid medication whenever possible, as does my family. When I have a headache I drink water instead of taking pills.

Thanks friends

Anyway, that was the end of my "real life" persual of treatment or at least diagnosis of ADHD. But I wan't to try again. I have recently decided to go to college in Toronto, and am worried ADHD might seriously get in the way. I understand that it is very hard to get diagnosed in Canada, and even harder to get treated, especially as an adult.

If it truly is as severe as I think it is, I would like to get treatment before I go to college. Adderal XR was recently re instated in Canada, and I think that is definately an option as long as I can find a doctor that can give me the right advice and direction. I'm alot more weary about Ritalin. I'd want this doctor to also provide me with some sort of "natural" solution like brain exercises or something of that nature, along with medication.

Doctors are *REAL* touchy about patients prescirbing medication for themselves. Self-diganosis is frowned upon! Us people with ADHD are famous for being self-diagnosed. Most of us Adults are.

The second snare is the type of medications that work best for ADHD have been demonized. Plain and simple the U.S. war on drugs, abusive prescirbing habbits by doctors in the past, have led to the drugs that best treat us being described as evil. They aren't. They work.

I have made a rule that I never ask a doctor for medication especially around ADHD. The first thing that comes out of their mouths usually is "you want medication dont' you?" My reply is always "I want my symptoms treated." That usualy puts and end to that nonesense, but it will come up again.

We all would like a natural cure, but there are no studies that show that ther are any kind of natural cures for ADHD that work. There a very few cases in which environmental factors ar e involved, but the overrwhelming number of cases of ADHD are inherited and are a neurological disfunction of the Dopamine and Norepinepherine systems.

The two drugs that work best are Ritalin (methylphenidate, and Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine) Adderal is a combination of differing types of dextroamphetamine).


What steps do I need to take. Where can I find ADHD specialists in my area? Does anyone know if there is a way to have Health Canada cover my meetings with a specialist? Do they cover Adderall if I'm ultimately prescribed it?

What usualy happens for medications like Adderal is that provincial plans are now regualted to presciribing the lowest cost effective treatment. That means that generic equivalents are always the first choice. There are usualy some exceptions along the way. But all of those excpetions need special approval. To get special approval, you need to show that all the other lower cost alternatives have been tried and failed. This takes some persistance, but it is possible. In the case of Adderal, if that is the route your doctor choose, likely you would try Dexedrine first, then if that was inadaquate, another drug.

That said, most of the people taking Dexedrine are very happy with it. I've been taking it now almost a year and have no major problems with it.

Writing things down like you have been doing is a great idea. I have had to do that and have found my interactions with doctors much more sucessfull as a result.

The other thing I have found is that most doctors, know little or nothing about ADHD. I have had to be my doctor's information source for it. Its an odd situation to be in, where the patient has to educate the phsycian but frequently we are placed there. Despite the fact that my psychiatrist is a long time expert int he field of ADHD, he doesn't have Internet access and I am now hisi prime source of information from the web. Do as much reading as you can and beware of anyone who tells you they have THE cure for ADHD. There are tons of snake oil sales pitches out there around ADHD

Good luck...

Cheeers,
katatak