I'm seriously considering seeing the doctor about ADHD.

I've read some of the article here (http://www.aafp.org/afp/20001101/2077.html) and think I fit alot of the symptoms specifaclly the inattention.

I know you all can't diagnose me personally, but I want to know what you think on how the doctor will react to my situation.

First of all, to get it out of the way, I'm a 21 year old male.

I was not diagnosed with ADD or any other mental disorders (such as anxiety or depression) as a child or adolescent. This seems to be (at least from my reading) to be a large factor in the ability to recieve treatment in adulthood. But I, personally and obviously subjectively, believe this may just have been some oversight. I graduated high school with a pathetic 2.05 GPA. I failed too many classes just because of failure to do work. Most of my teachers also commented that I wasn't living up to my potential and all that.

My other concern is that I'm actually a fairly heavy pot smoker. I can't find any information on interactions with any add medications but if you have informations please share.

My main concern with this what the doctor will say. I know I'm supposed to be honest with the doctor and that the doctor has an oath not to say anything to people, but would it lessen my chances of being able to obtain some sort of medical treatment? If it makes any difference, I didn't start marijuana till I was 21 and have had problems since well before this. If I were to judge, I would say problems haven't increased since then, but once again, I don't know if the doctors would percieve this the same way.

My other fear in regards to this are the drugs rate of abuse. Will the doctor be more likely to see me as a potential abuser and if so, how much will this affect the odds of recieving treatment?

Any information would be helpful and I will answer any questions needed to clarify the problem.

I'm not a doctor, so don't know exactly what their decision calculus is when they evaluate someone. But here are a couple of general observations.

If the guy you see is a fairly experienced psychiatrist, trust me, he's heard all kinds of stories that make yours seem tame. So yours won't phase him at all.

About the dope, the issue is not so much interactions. But some ADD medications could be addictive. And if you have an existing drug dependency that's a warning sign to the doc. However many mentally ill people self-medicate and the docs have to manage that and the underlying disease in prudent way. Otherwise, they'd have nothing to offer the patient. It could be that your doc more closely manages your usage to help ensure you don't take more than prescribed. And there are also some new, non habit forming ADD drugs like Strattera that do not have the same risk profile for dependency that you and your doc may try. So it seems that there are some good managable ways for you to get help and get better. So be optimistic. It's actually a great time to be hopeful.

And at the end of the day, if you find a thoughtful, empathic practitioner, he/she will be on your side. So it pays to be honest.

Best of Luck,

SteveM

I told my psychiatrist that I self-medicated for 3 weeks with Ritalin (lowest, 5mg pills) that I "borrowed" from a friend. I also mentioned that I obviously know that it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but the slight improvement that I did experience during those days is what helped push me towards seeking a supervised treatment w/ meds.