I did. Several times in fact. I went when I was very young because of my poor grades. He made me take an IQ test. He said I had trouble following directions and a below-average short term memory despite doing well on the IQ test in all other areas. He said nothing was wrong with me and sent me home.

I later when to a psychiatrist for something else. She was very good and eventually became, "very concerned" about my inability to follow through on some tasks. However, I went off to college about a month later.

In college, I had difficulties and knew something was up. I went to one of their counselors. I told her I was having difficulty doing my homework and going to class. She told me it was my fault and just go to class and do my homework.

I went back a year or two later for the same reason, and I told her I felt anxious, not getting my work done, and didn't know what to do, so she sent me to a biofeedback program. That didn't really help.

I'm so ****ed that all the signs were there, and I went seeking help, but nobody would help. I'm ESPECIALLY ****ed at the psych in grade school who should have caught all the symptoms of ADD. My other psych who I went to for a completely unrelated matter started to catch on to it - and we never talked about anything like schoolwork or distractions.

I am also ****ed at the counselor who blamed me and tried to make me feel guilty when I first tried to get help in college.

I haven't been this mad in a long time.

Oh yes, but I had some much larger issues going on way back when I started treatment of any type. Then I had all those years of being told that I was "depressed" :rolleyes:...yep, its enough to make ya angry for quite some time.

I went to a school psychologist in grad school and I told her I think I might have ADD and depression. She said, we don't deal with ADD here, and for the depression, just go and exercise. That'll make you feel better.

Another thing that kind of makes me mad though is that I am studying special ed and none of my professors picked up on my difficulties - I even talked to some and said, you know what, I think maybe I have ADD. But no reaction. Aren't they supposed to be more sensitive to this than other people???

I was told I was depressed too, but antidepressants just made things twice as bad. A few years ago I saw a psychiatrist and was diagnosed with Asperger's, but there was no followup, other than her writing to my doc telling him to put me on Prozac. I saw a few psychologists through the jobcentre (a government-sponsored company here that helps people find jobs and refers people like me to NHS psychologists for evaluations), and by approaching autism organisations, and one of them gave me some tests for dyslexia-spectrum disorders and wrote in her report that I had some AD/HD difficulties, so I followed that up by getting a referral to a psychiatrist again, and thus was diagnosed with AD/HD and put on Strattera.

Oh goodness YES!

I started having issues as a teenager. Went to docs, went through cognitive ...IQ...therapy...yada yada....no diagnoses. Just a screwed up angry teen.

Fast forward to late teens , counseling...no diagnoses...

1994 , age 24 ...finally I went , after my oldest sister, got her diagnoses of ADD, and I finally got diagnosed with ADD.

1996, meds working well for ADD, still something missing.
Dx mild clinical depression. On the anti-depressants...one year...and off I went.

2 more kids, 12 years later...
FINALLY....Bipolar II diagnoses..and well fit nicely in the box. And finally getting treated with the meds I have needed since I was heck, born!

Now time to clean up the huge mess created by being undiagnosed, misdiagnoses..and so forth for 36 years....


Hope ;)

It is unfortunte that ADD is only just coming to light now. That left a lot of us, including me, in the dark for years! I went through a depression, but I just thought it was just 'normal' teenage stuff. But I know my depression was about my inablity to match my skills with my wants.

I know you're angry, and you have every right to be. It's really too bad that your doctors weren't able to assess you properly, but I assume that they can only go by what they were taught/learned etc. Let me make it clear, saying this doesn't diminish your experience whatsoever. But I hope that you're taking your diagnosis now and making your life the way it should have always been.

Yes. Two different mental health counselors while I was in high school. One of them lectured me about not respecting my parents. The other was kinder but no help.

Two different college counselors at two different colleges. Both of them told me I needed to plan a study schedule and stick to it. I made the schedule, but did not stick to it.

My medical doctor, who tested me for thyroid problems (none), advised me to take vitamins and that was it. I never took the vitamins. Couldn't remember to.

Finally, after I started hearing some things about ADHD, I went to the Employee Assistance Program at my work - when I called, the guy taking my call listened to me describe what I thought were symptoms of ADHD and said "Well, it doesn't sound to me like you have it."

I was almost demoralized enough by that to give up, but I insisted on a referral and finally found somebody to take me seriously.

Yes I have been to both pyschologist and phychtrist - been to a diagnostician too


I have all sorts of diagnosis - to many to bother realling or counting but anxiety was among them learned Valium wasn't my thing. Been diagnosed bi-polar also. . . they missed by a sister.

My mother is (was) a psychiatrist. She never caught it for perhaps two reasons; (1) ADD wasn't well known when I was growing up - although my mother claims to have known about the emerging research then. and (2) she's really one of us, so didn't see much "abnormal" in me. Then 30+ years of sufficient self-medication to survive and move forward. After which John Barlycorn snuck up and did what he does - so I ended up with a (really good) therapist for "depression". After my liver started failing she got me to the point that I recognized and accepted alcoholism and got on a stable recovery path. TWO YEARS AFTER THAT I went back to her and told her I was so frustrated about not being able to concentrate that I was headed for relapse (or worse). Next session she had an ADD screening form (major epiphany, trumpets, marching bands). Went to a psychiatrist (of sorts) for confirmation -- aced the TOVA test so he told me "can't be ADD, try harder, here are some organizational tips I used in college". Fortunately someone else in his office with the ability to prescribe recognized what was going on and did the right thing.

I could get mad at my mother for missing it, but work pretty hard not to. (Anger over past events is a major threat to the whole recovery thing. Resentments are the #1 cause of relapse.) It is a bit weird, at age 54, wondering if I really do have a reading disability, what a reading disability is, and how to find out more.

I certainly wonder how my life would have been different if the ADD had been diagnosed earlier. I get told to suck it up, count my blessings, and move on, fairly often.

-u

For years.

Pathetic, eh?

I don't think it's pathetic at all. I think it's amazing how many layers and versions we can have of ourselves. How our views of ourselves can be so subjective. (Really makes me wonder how we dare to infer motives and mindsets in others).