Basicly i have been trying to get diagnosed or even just speek to someone qualified would be great but my gp seems to have it in his head that because i do not get grades below the national average i cant have adhd despite the fact that i under achive repeatedly below my pradictions?!

have just signed up to a new gp practice so we will c what this one has to say

what do u guys think?!

also i found this http://www.chesapeakeadd.com/pdf/adhd/suspect_gifted.pdf which seems to discribe my probs quite well should i take it ??

This is standard GP BS.

Next time you go take along some solid evidence to back you up. Take a copy of 'Driven To Distraction' and mark the page where the psychiatrist author explains that he has ADHD.

How good grades do you need to be a doctor?

Get a list of famous brainiac ADHDers together that must have PhDs or similar. Print that off and take that as well.

And print off that document you linked to.

Remember to take this all with you!

Are you at university yet? If you are, your disabilities officer is probably a better bet.

Could also get the NICE guidelines printed and take them to your GP.

Anecdotally, I got a string of A*s at GCSE and As at A-level, then got diagnosed at university. Probably a bit easier because school reports are full of markers.

Go look at the NICE stuff. Underacheivement alone won't give a diagnosis, and even a diagnosis doesn't necessarily mean treatment is a given.

Thanks for your quick replys guys !!

Dont think ill be able to get a copy of that book in time have sorted out an appointment for the day after tomorrow. will definatly take that article too. can any one recomend any other things to take along ???

melquíades (http://www.addforums.com/forums/member.php?u=31237) when you say to take along the NICE guidlines what specificly do you mean to take as from memory they are quite a few pages long !? do you mean the diagnosis criteria ?

also i am going to make a list of symptoms all through my life to take with me..


thanks
sam

Your GP doesn't know what he is talking about. I've been formally diagnosed with ADHD and I have a PhD.

There have been times (high school) when my grades were terrible but there have also been times (college, grad school) when my grades were very good. It depends on many factors including what sort of compensatory strategies you use (or don't use), whether the class is run in a way that plays to your strengths or your weaknesses, etc, etc, etc.

Whoops! My previous post boo-boo alert.

I guess I read your original post how I wanted to.

Anywho..........get your school reports and take those.

Thanks for your quick replys guys !!

Dont think ill be able to get a copy of that book in time have sorted out an appointment for the day after tomorrow. will definatly take that article too. can any one recomend any other things to take along ???
melquíades (http://www.addforums.com/forums/member.php?u=31237) when you say to take along the NICE guidlines what specificly do you mean to take as from memory they are quite a few pages long !? do you mean the diagnosis criteria ?

Well, read through them first - that should give you an idea of what is expected and what you are entitled to. Then take the diagnostic criteria and tick off the ones you match. Might also be an idea to take the DSM-IV stuff on ADHD along (as those criteria are recognised by the NHS) if that's not included, for you as well as your GP.

Also don't get it into your head that it must be ADHD as it could very well be something else. Misdiagnosing in both directions is bad. That said, read up on coping strategies and ways of mitigating this and similar conditions - it will likely be 4-9 months before treatment, might as well try and use that time.

E: forgot to actually answer his question -_-

Yes, I mean the guidelines. Read p19 & 20 of this (http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG072NiceGuidelineV2.pdf) and the DSM stuff for ADHD. The books recommended by the others are quite useful too.

I get C's or better in college. Got mostly A's and B's in jr college. And I'm definitely ADHD

also i am going to make a list of symptoms all through my life to take with me..


thanks
sam

Very good idea. I didn't, and forgot to mention most things. I was lucky that the doctor I saw asked enough questions to prompt me.

There does not have to be a correlation between grades and ADHD. Just to give you an idea, I was tested at a high school level in elementary school. And I've been ADD as early as I can remember. (I just wish I knew it then!)

First of all, go to a psychiatrist and not a GP. A specialist in ADD/ADHD would be the best, but a reg. psych is going to be a lot more familiar with this.

You don't mention your age but I was diagnosed as an adult. I do not think my symptoms even arose until I was an adult. I was basically a straight A student throughout high school and college, and did very well in law school as well. So my grades are not at all indicative NOT having ADD.

Plus I can see how you could get good grades even with a bad case of ADD/ADHD at the same time. Simply, you have a high intelligence level. You don't need to concentrate much, it doesn't matter that you're inattentive, you just are smart.

And I didn't look at your link but I think there is something to gifted students having ADD.

But again, go into a psychiatrist with this information but an open mind. There may be nothing "wrong" with you that requires meds or you may have something else.

Thanks scarletta that was a great post! went to my "gp" yesterday (sorry) what with being in the uk and having free health care this seems the best route he has referred me to Childrens and Adolecent Mental Health Services or what he was calling CAMHS this seems like it will be good as it seems to encompass all of the health care system into one body for children ! oh and by the way im 16

you say you got through law school with out a diagnosis did you find yourself putting in extra hours etc ....

i seem to have hit a brick wall as i kindah struggled through gcses and now i have got to a levels and seem to have hit a brick wall where my intelegence no longer seems to out balance my inattention! as well gcses end at 16 and alevels at 18 not sure how it compares to ammerican system ?!

Sam

Have your doctor log onto this site for the screening assessment tool. It is very accurate in my experience:


globalmindscreen.com.au it is also free

THis site is open to anyone: http://www.mindsite.com/survey

It is run by Harvard- and also generates a reliable assessment.
If all else fails just bring out a list of the DSM criteria and point out where you fit. Don't hold back.

Sam, law school was hard but I do well in very structured settings, which that was. Plus, we had a requirement that we could not work our first year. So literally everyone was studying probably 12 hours a day (well, maybe not that much). But I also lived right across the street, so I could easily be in the library a lot without distraction.

If things are "catered" to me, I find them a lot easier. It's when I have to make decisions, motivate myself, do things that don't need to be done right away- well I procrastinate, become distracted, can't concentrate, etc.

Barliman, I took the mindsite test and it only had me positive for two things! Panic disorder and separation anxiety disorder. My doctors have diagnosed me with panic disorder, but also generalized anxiety disorder, major depression, and ADD inattentive.

The questions for ADD ask only about your experiences before age 7. Well I don't remember much of that time! Plus I wasn't diagnosed until an adult and think perhaps I didn't develop it until later in life too.

The separation anxiety only occurred when I was a little kid, I certainly do not have that now.

Have you tried the test?

Barliman, I took the mindsite test and it only had me positive for two things! Panic disorder and separation anxiety disorder. My doctors have diagnosed me with panic disorder, but also generalized anxiety disorder, major depression, and ADD inattentive.

The questions for ADD ask only about your experiences before age 7. Well I don't remember much of that time! Plus I wasn't diagnosed until an adult and think perhaps I didn't develop it until later in life too.

The separation anxiety only occurred when I was a little kid, I certainly do not have that now.

Have you tried the test?

Yes, I have taken the test. I had forgotten the specification about age 7 thogh- I automatically corrected that when I did the test for reasons I will expand on:

Mindsite does cover the areas that are formally required to diagnose ADHD. Bear in mind that the formal diagnostic criteria for ADHD require in particular onset before age 7, as ADHD is supposed to be a lifelong condition, or to improve by adulthood if you are lucky. Global mindscreen was built by that group of Western Australian doctors who have made so many waves with their high sensitivity toward diagnosing and treating ADHD.

A number of important qualifiers exist here on the point of diagnosis and presentation in adulthoodthough:
Barkely says that the ctiteria should recognise all ADHD appearing by age 13- and that fewer yes answers are required for adults that children than is stated in the DSM.
The real crunch is that ADHD may not be diagnosed in childhood- or the symptoms not understood for what they are. In my case I did not think I had ADHD as a child- I was a star student after all! When I looked into it though I realised- that as a baby I was very restless- as toddler I was such a handful that I was sent to kindergarten a year early as respite for my mum- and I had a carry over of hyperactive baehviour until age 6.
At age 6 though a teacher recognised my intelligence and natural persistence - and I learned to enjoy being teachers pet. However I was always a daydreamer, always disorganised, always losing things, falling over, being bullied etc ( probably why so much of that stuff had been repressed) It took me about 18 months to realise the extent to which I had forgotten my childhood issues.

ADHD symptoms will also be minimised if you are broght up in a family, which is organised, where good nutrition is provided, where academic performance is the norm, where your parents are well engaged and provide a stable and supportive framework for your academic career, and are an organising influence in your life.

Thomas Brown ( ADD, The unfocussed mind in adults and children).- mentions that ADHD is often unmasked as the child matures and the supports of childhood are progressively removed. That was ceertainly my experience.

It can be hard to realise just how many symptoms of ADHD you have. That is where reading the books comes in handy. I recommend these books to my patients: Thomas Brown: AHD The unfocussed Mind in Adults and Children. Gabor Mate "Scattered Minds" Ed Hallowell: Driven to distraction, and Sari Solden " Womewn with Attention Deficit Dosorder".
By the time you have read these you will unerstand all the presenting features - and probably recall a lot more of your childhood.

The thing is, I really don't have many memories of before i was 7. That's only like 1st grade. I know I was not a defiant, rambunctious kid. But I don't remember much about how I was. I suppose I should ask my mom. I DO remember the separation anxiety I had before then , though, big time. I think my memories of that overwhelm all the memories because it was such a problem for me as a kid.

I took a few other online Adult ADD tests, and I came up with Moderate ADD. Which I think is more accurate.

Maybe I'll check out your books, thanks!

i was diagnosed when i was seven. however i always got awesome grades a's and b's my whole life except for math i seem to have that math disorder that is common to go with adhd.. i cant get over a 54 in any math class

This test seemed wayyy to long just been doin it now got as far as opositional defiant disorder and lost interest but have left it open to come back to :D

I can see what you are saying about the b4 7 thing but it is just there that is a criteria i think :-| i think as you know you have had these probs all of your life you can almost disregard this part of the question and answer as if it were now.

correct me if i am wrong someone

also thanks scarletta for your answer about law school too.

That was probably where I went wrong with the test. Since I couldn't remember I basically said "I don't know" for all the ADHD questions. And the anxiety and depression questions, I misunderstood. I thought they were talking about severe episodes every day for months, rather than episodes sporadically for months. I might take the test again and see if it changes.

I too, have that math problem! In college, I only took 2 credits (the bare minimum) and I think i got a C minus or a D, which I"d never had in my life! I literally never understood the concepts or what the hell the prof was saying. LOL