the doctor thinks i don't really have ADHD after all. he says i was just agitated coz of the incoming internship, which was kinda true.

he agrees i have impulse control problems, that i am hyperactive and have problems maintaining concentration. but he doesn't think it's causing "significant distress".

and therefore, it's not ADHD coz to diagnoze ADHD, you have to have "significant impairment".

all of my classmates study an average of 25+ hours per week i can only do 8-12 and still manage to pass. if i could do 15 hours at least, i could get to the top 20 of the class. isn't that significant impairment? isn't it significant that if i don't have good friends to help me with projects i would never be able to pass them.

anyways i feel misunderstood. i don't blame him. he doesn't have that much experience with patients who have ADHD, the lesser with adult ADHD. he hasn't even read DSM IV text revision and i have.

having had this experience, got me thinking of going into psychiatry for my residency training in the future. we really need doctors who can think of out the box.

i wanted a psychiatrist to validate that i really do have ADHD. this is a big deal to me. but i don't hope or expect that to happen and i don't care anymore. i can't even understand why i'm making a big deal out of this in the first place.

That sucks! I am sorry you are having a rough time! I wish I had something better to say, perhaps you should get another doctor's opinion.
-Britawn

nah. psychiatrists here in my place have very limited experience with adult ADHD. going to another doctor would only worsen my frustration. i don't need that.

i know i don't even need medications to cope with this. coping is out of the question. i am well adapted to my behaviour. i'm just tired of being frustrated of my mediocre performance. and i'm tired of lowering my expectations.

i just gotta live with this for now... when i' finally become a doctor and can have options of medical management, things will get better for sure. it could help make my residency training better or at least less frustrating.

thanks listening brit. :). means a lot

-edward

Well Edward
I had to go for a smoke before I posted to this one

Now remember that I seem to have a slightly slanted view to ADD

You have just been told by a Professional that you are not one of us, but alas you are one of them, a Linear Thinker

you are upset because you are not an ADDer

Wether you are or aren't it makes me proud to know you as it seems you feel at home with us and want to be one of us as opposed to one of them.

I vote that we make you an Honourary ADDer until such time as you find a Doctor who will give you a correct evaluation

__________________________________________________ _

:D Disclaimer Its early in the morning and I am not making light of your situation, but I just didnt know how to respond to your situation. It seems to be the reverse of the norm that I have seen here and I just wanted to let you know you have earned a place here at the forums, in MY Home away from Home, as a fellow brother

My 2 Can-ADD-ian cents worth

Don't get down on this....... You know what's up, do your reading learn as much as you can and do what you need to help yourself. Just because a Dr. who you know doesn't know much about ADD says he thinks you aren't ADD, it doesn't make it true. I'm sure you already know this.... ;)

The way I see it, meds. can make an ADDers life a bit easier but it's not all you can do to help yourself. You'll find the right answer, it just might take a little longer.....

{{Hugs}}

Paula

thanks garry. yes he is a professional indeed. that's why i consulted him. he is also very smart and i know that.

but he has never had an adult patient complaining of ADHD. from our conversations i can conclude that i was his first patient who came in complaining of ADHD. i went there knowing i have symptoms of ADHD but i also knew that these symptoms aren't causing me that so called 'significant problems' like most people with ADHD have.

it takes me 1 whole day to write history papers. i manage to pass them on time, coz i had to not show for my other classes just to make myself sit and do it. i can't do like other people do it.

i don't know. it's hard to explain. i give up. just wanted to rant anyway

Hi Edward. Im a member of some other support groups, where , when I came in at 18, was told I had a 'high bottom' I mean, what is a high bottom? Pain is pain is pain is pain. I know that feeling of going to a doctor only to get frustrated. I spent ten years asking what was wrong with me, was even told by one woman doctor, whose machines read my blood sugar at 28, that the machine must have been broken and that i was hysterical. ( I simply asked her to re do the test, I guess that made me hysterical) You have a good handle on this, Im impressed with your actions and thoughts, and as you know frustration is a normal reaction here . When you open your first practice, I want to apply to work for you.

Thats OK
Rant away

Remember you can be anything you want to be in this life
If you want to be ADD thats your right and privilege

I wouldn't want to be any other way

I know this is Edwards thread Chrissy

but I have to ask

What is a "High Bottom"

my mind went seven different directions on that one

Oh Gary.....lol... :D :cool: :) ;)

Edward... tell your professional (under your breath of course) to lump it. THe more I am in this condition the more I am convinced nobody is better qualified to treat me than myself.

A high bottom meaning, I didnt go to prison, etc. Though..........nm

Is that what that means Chrissy? When they said that to me I slapped the doctor and told him to leave the condition of my "Bottom" out of it as that was no one's business but mine! Then I stormed out....

I feel kind of bad now... ;-)

Well you felt used, he didnt even buy you dinner or flowers........... did he even CALL? lol

grab your phone book, health plan book, or whatever, and find a doctor that specializes in adult ADD.... my gp sent me to one; i am ADD, but, according to the doc i am "mild" ADD (because at this point in my life i have learned so many coping mechanisms, that those not close to me wouldn't even be aware that something was off; they just think i'm weird or quirky at times)
just because a doctor is a doctor, doesn't make him/her a know-it-all.

My guess is, you are probably "mild" as well. (and check back report cards, talk to your mom and other family members, because the work-up includes behaviors you had as a child)....

Call me dumb but im still confused

laughing but still confused

and still dont know what a High Bottom means

Ok like when someone says"Oh well you may have to let them hit bottom" ? Im a recovering addict and alcoholic.

Hitting Bottom is what they call it when it gets so bad that the person gets help and gets into recovery. Some are a "low bottom drunk." that usually means they have lost family, home, been to jail, had a handful of DWI's until they totalled the car, became homeless, etc. High bottom drunk usually means something like the wife threatened divorce and you camwe into treatment with your family job and house still intact. Why explain something in a few words when you can write a paragraph....LOL

Ok now i understand

It was never put to me in those terms before

thank you for my enlightenment

:)

Great shot :D

thanks chrissy :).

here's another one

LOl feels like Im there, fun time?

wish you were there too :).

ya it was fun. we decided to hit the beach instead this time since disco was getting kinda monotomous :).

You know Ed, you consistently down yourself, but you are doing such wonderful things with your life. I don't, by any means, doubt your diagnosis, or your frustration. It just seems to me that you know the truth, and we here are pretty certain you are right too. So, why let some doctors living in the dark ages, comfortable in their dogma and "prevailing wisdom", who clearly aren't listening to you as a patient or keeping up on the literature make you feel stupid. You are clearly anything but stupid.

Technically, you can be very much ADHD these days and not qualify for a diagnosis if you have learned to effectively cope. At least if my read of the "disorder" as a pathological expression of an otherwise adaptive human trait caused by a very pathological human society. No amount of anyone trying to convince me will change my mind about the fact that people living the way we do now is not normal for us.

For what it's worth Ed I think I'd like having an ADD doctor. Seems to me you might be more likely to notice something out of the ordinary someone else might miss. Seems to me, even if it didn't just jump out and grab you, some part of that back of your mind would nibble away at you until for reasons you weren't entirely sure of yourself you figured out what the problem was through intuition as well as logic. Hey it has happened to me as a tech I don't know how many times. One time me and another guy, who had ADD ( I didn't know I had it at the time) were working on a test problem in school rated for four hours. We were in and out of the lab having solved the problem and done the write up in under ten minutes. The problem took up five. We didn't know it was rated for four hours. It was a particularly nasty feedback problem with a ground that left visible signal just below threshold voltage. Most folks would see the signal there and how close it was to threshold without realizing it was too low and move right on past it. I have no idea how me and this guy figured it out. We just did. We were finishing each other's sentences and handing each other tools before we asked for them and the whole bit. It was like we had a parellel cable connecting our brains or something. Anyway, we set a record that day that stood until the day the school closed. We also ****ed off the rest of the students in our class who thought they had an early Friday. :-)

Hi, Ed, I haven't been diagnosed either, and there is no doubt in my mind I am ADD. I have learned how to cope. I have a strong feeling that I'd be spinning my wheels getting dianosed, unless they did a brain scan. Or I find the right Doc.
I completely relate to the studying problems.
With your goals in mind I would suggest as others have, getting another doctor from out of town, only if he or she has lots off ADD experience. You have great big goals and if it turns out being medicated can give you a little help with it all it will be worth it.
Good luck keep us posted!

when i told him that i'm so clumsy i lose a ballpen (pencils@elementary) every few days, lost >10 umbrellas, forgot my Ex-GF's bday when we were still together etc - his comment was: "that's a bad sign, you're only 23 and you already have such bad memory" like it was something he didn't expect. i made it clear to him early on that i was consulting him to see if he thinks i am ADHD or not.

i was like uh-oh. i consulted the wrong guy lol. but at the end of our talk, wherein he talked 70% of the time, he gave me a prescription for 5 tabs of concerta.

i had five days of undistractable concentration. i was studying the whole day, like what medstudents normally do.

after our final exams. i had my 2nd appointment. he asked how my final exams went. i told him i expect to pass! lol. with that i think he must have made his conclusion, "this guy except for driving without license (lost my wallet 2 years ago) and losing 5 Peso ballpens every now and then... doesn't have significant problems.

duh!

anyways. i'm off to get my grades to see if i make intern this coming april. i'll post the result when i get back.

to E-boy: THANKS man. i needed that :).
seing that psychiatrist wasn't a very smart move, knowing fairly well how other ADDers had to go to 2 or 3 psychiatrist before they felt they were diagnozed appropriately. i could have saved some frustration had just looked for a psychiatrist with some experience on ADHD but i felt i had i to get some answers from a professional Fast. he was the closest one.

to Janine: tnx. i sorta put going to get a diagnosis on the bottom of my list now. i still gotta visit my kidney doctor (i could say nephrologist, but i prefer the 1st one), then work on getting my driver's license back (wish me luck!)... uhhh i got so much to do :).

to Gary: lol, yeah, i'm sooo upset coz i'm not ADDer. but seriously, i really do feel at home with you guys. and thanks for making me feel that way :).

Edwarddddddddddddddddddddddddddd!! i know in my bones you made intern :D And remember I get first dibs as your office manager!! (I have OCPD so Im more than organized Doc Edward:D )

wuhoooooooo! hey Chrissy :)

i just got back. and i passed!!! i'm so happy! everyone at home is happy with the news. i hope my friends made it too, especially that guy who always lent me his notes (me parasite hehe, i buy him snacks sometimes lol).

woooot! i'm treating my friends at the bar tonight. party time! again hehe. i'll post some pics

to Chrissy: lol. thanks for the offer. but don't call me doc yet :)

lol yw and np have funnnnnnnnnnnnn

Edward!!!! Wow! I could never go to med school! GERMS! OCD NIGHTMARE! I like your idea of working in psychiatry though. That's why I am thinking psychology myself. No icky med school required, it's very close to my passion in life, Anthropology, and I get to work with people who haven't actually been dead for thirty thousand years or more, which is always a plus. I find Mental illnesses left to fester untreated for thirty thousand years to be quite intractable. ;-) Okay crap joke... Seriously though, congrats!

Congrats Ed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

Hey E-boy, one of my goals is to get a degree in phycology.
My friends and students think I am good counsel, my best buddy is on my back about it, cause he knows I don't have~~~~~~~~~~follow thru

I like to work with troubled youth. I went to the teen jail place, and got to do a violin workshop with them. I enjoyed it. But the classes were large.

*Technically, you can be very much ADHD these days and not qualify for a diagnosis if you have learned to effectively cope. At least if my read of the "disorder" as a pathological expression of an otherwise adaptive human trait caused by a very pathological human society. No amount of anyone trying to convince me will change my mind about the fact that people living the way we do now is not normal for us.*

I think I just fell very hard for you E-boy. (Don't tell my sweetie.) Did you say you were single?

But seriously, can you stand on some rooftop and just shout that point of view until people GET IT? That it's not just us?????????

-end rant-

MRB, here I am, living proof that you can learn to cope with it and do many things. I am past 30 and mind you it was not easy but without meds I have pretty much learned where my weakness are or "places with no bridges as I call them". The way I describe it to the few other people in my life that know is trying to get across a body of water from one side to the other with no bridge to get across. Can't tell you how many times I've fallen in the water. It's been a monumental task at times but I have learned with each new situation how to go around the long way because basically that is the only way sometimes. That long way does get shorter the better you get at it though and the more you use certain techniques or remember what you did the last time in certain situations. New situations can always be frustrating but it is something I except and know about myself. I know I can fall into the water at any time but for the most part know lots of ways to go around. I find that in certain situations if I rush and try to take a shortcut I pay dearly. I'm hoping for my daughter that through me and professional help she can learn these techniques a lot faster then I did and her life will be a lot smoother. Sometimes I honestly would love to stand on a rooftop and yell that "IT'S NOT JUST US"!! Dee

Edward,

sorry I didn't see your post til now! But I wanted to say that I feel JUST EXACTLY like you do about the diagnosis... I did actually get diagnosed, but I had my OWN doubts during the whole way - maybe it's just stress, maybe it's just personality... I am doing pretty well after all (although significantly behind where I think I should be)

I was so afraid that the doctor would tell me that I don't have ADD.... lol! I actually got a second doctor to confirm it becuase I wanted to settle all those doubts - but when I first talked to him about it he said a few things which made me think that he is one of those "I don't want to overdiagnose ADHD" people, so I didn't go back ;) (too scared that he would invalidate the other diagnosis!! lol)

I've come to accept it a lot more since then - but at the time I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted someplace to belong. I felt like an imposter in the "normal" world, and I didn't want to be an imposter in the ADHD world as well...
For me at least it was in part about finding my identity, in part about belonging, and in part about explaining my behaviors.

I've decided though that even if I weren't ADHD, I still am DIFFERENT - I never really thought about people's brains working differently until I started doing tons of research on ADHD and LD's. I think I have a GSI who has an LD this semester, (lots of clues - he is very very smart but often says things like "hang on - I have to think" - he also has a speech impediment and his eyes are sometimes crossed... When he talks he constantly mixes up things he wants to say... plus when I told him that I had an LD he gave me this look that made me think maybe he has some experience with this...) anyway all i want to do is ask him about it, and he's become my favorite GSI since then! lol! I think that I would really really enjoy going to a support group - I haven't been able to find one yet though.

add or no add. you have added value after being part of this group now. :)
glad to have your posts!!
Paul

OK, Edward, I echo that other member who said NAH, y ou don't want to be a psychiatrist. All they are really trained to do is open the medicine cabinet and take out drugs. Medical school is too demanding to permit adequate experience with clinical psychology, psychotherapy, etc. In fact, the only real reason in my experience to see a psych is to get diagnosed (choose carefully). You can meds from you regular sawbones.

I have had so much experience with mental health experts and ADHD that I feel like I could write another book on this brain wiring. In my experience the big breakthroughs came about through mutual (peer) life coaching, and a professional coaching, as well as reading in the books.

One of the reason add books are generally good is because almost always the authors have ADD themselves.

Cheers from nnamelt.

Edward, I was never diagnosed either. Untill 3.5 years ago when Lilly needed ginnie pigs to study Stratera. I was told through out my life I was lazy, there was no way I could sit and study anything untill I started drawing and I lost myself in art. I wonder why that is ? If it's a passion of yours to be in that field go for it. if not it will be tuff.