Stigmatized & dismissed

[anonymouslyadd]

My university was able to diagnose me. Yours may have some tests to administer to you.

[betweendreams]

Tomorrow is the big day--I'm having my ADHD evaluations done at my university.

They told me it could "take a few sessions," which is cool and all, but they booked me for 2 sessions back to back.

How am I supposed to concentrate on talking to someone about my attention issues for two hours? Or are they going to engage me in some long paper test? Ugh.

[Assumption]

Glad to hear that you're finally getting assessed! I still have to wait another month. Hey, at least if you fail to focus for the whole two hours, they'll see you have difficulties with that?

My biggest fear is that I'll be TOO focused at my assessment, and that therefore I won't appear "very ADHD." I've been hyperfocusing over my assessment so much, with 1 month of hyperfocus to look forward to, that I think I'll be pretty intense by the time my assessment comes round.

[silivrentoliel]

my doc tried to give me the run around as well until i told him i had the phone number to the psychiatrist that had diagnosed me as a kid... i guess having that helped him believe me...

but in your situation, i'd find a psychiatrist who doesn't need a referral from your doc and get the diagnosis from them and leave her out of it.

[zoomman]

Hey betweendreams,

I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure "not graduating college" isn't on the list of symptoms for ADHD.

It's like you said, we can do it but we may have to work harder, like anyone with a disability. ( I graduated college, but I also only did it by studying 13 hours a day six days a week, and was only diagnosed after I graduated. So it is possible!)

Call your insurance provider, or look online, some providers list local specialists in their network.

And maybe get another primary. Someone that doesn't use leaches to draw out the bad humors.

[betweendreams]

So, a quick update here, things are hectic on my end.

I've had to evaluation sessions so far -- both times I was horribly late for. The second session I managed to leave *an hour* ahead of time and still go there 30 minutes late! (I don't live very far from there). Long story.

Anyhoo, the first session was more of a "talk therapy" kind of session--telling her about my background, current life conditions etc etc. She gave me a really big blue booklet to fill out as well as a questionnaire for me and one for someone else to fill out.

I forgot to finish them so I didn't turn it in to her on the second session Friday. Sooo, at the second session, she did this series of "intelligence" evaluation tests which were kind of stressful, exhausting, and half way BS.

My next session is tomorrow morning. I wonder what we'll do next?! She wants to have an additional session I think, where I have to pay an extra $21 (I already had to pay $108 for it--would've been +$550 without insurance) for her to do some personality/stress evaluation, to "see how I'm functioning." After last session, I'm getting tired of doing these "evaluations."

In other news, my battle with the doctor to get my prescription filled was an epic one. Basically, at the pharmacy, I was told I had to have some sort of prior authorization thing go through. The doc would have to notify the insurance of my right to the prescription etc. The pharm techs said this would take about "2-5 business days." I waited 5 business days, no news. So, I called the pharmacy and my doctor still hadn't faxed information to the insurance people. Called the doctor's office, the nurse said normally they get the authorizations out in "48 hours" but that she was "out of the building for the last 4 days" so she couldn't help that it hadn't gotten done (even though it was submitted over 5 days prior and it's not like she's the only person who works there..).

ANYWAYs, the doctor's office finally got my adderal prescription cleared with the insurance company. 10mg XR, generic (I don't know if that really makes a difference though?) I feel generally pretty normal so far taking it. A bit more focused but not significantly so, maybe because of the dose or whatever. I guess I'll talk to my psych lady tomorrow about it.

[CheekyMonkey]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like quite a process!

[Plognark]

Good news!

I'm curious how the 10mg XR affects you. I started on 15 of XR and eventually wound up having to take two of those a day (before I switched to Vyvanse).

[betweendreams]

Originally Posted by Plognark

Good news!

I'm curious how the 10mg XR affects you. I started on 15 of XR and eventually wound up having to take two of those a day (before I switched to Vyvanse).

So far, the 10 of XR seems to work decently well for me (at least, it's definitely better than nothing!). I feel a bit more focused and "centered" -- it actually seems to help with my social anxiety some too. Or at least, I am actually able to focus on other people around me, and on conversations, and be able to start/keep conversations. It's nice. I don't know if body weight has anything to do with how much you need (I'm only 61.5" inches tall and about 100-5 pounds) and it does seem to start to taper off/wear out as the day go on.

I had my last evaluation session with my doc on Monday morning. She made me complete some almost 600 question personality type test too. I'm so glad I'm done with all these evaluations! Now I just have to wait a week or two for her to call me back. Then, I'll schedule another appointment where she'll give me the results. Bah. I just want to know now.

[betweendreams]

I had my feedback meeting today for all the tests I've had to do...

annnnnnnnd

I was diagnosed with ADHD inattentive. I had 9 out of 9 inattentive symptoms and 3 out of 9 hyper.

Now I have to wait three weeks to be able to get into the psychiatrist I want to try medical management.

[betweendreams]

I should probably also add an another note to this. I was in a bit of a rush when I posted two days ago.

It is an extreme relief to finally have this pinned down, and know, after extensive hours of testing, that some other problem isn't going on. Of course, telling my mom about it was hard, but she was supportive overall.

I must also mention that the psychologist recommended therapy to help me cope with social issues. I used to be hyper active and internalized my hyperactivity when I realized it was causing social problems, so instead I somehow morphed into a scatterbrained, passive, day dreamer who is bad at social interactions because I am so passive and often forgetful of the friends I have. (Oops!) The counseling would also help me deal with organizational strategies/tactics, etc. However, considering I'm strapped for time and don't have the money to be paying for counseling consistently, I may have to pass on this option for the time being.

[Amtram]

Therapy is time-consuming, and can be just as expensive as psychiatrist visits, but you might want to see what you can fit into your schedule and budget. It's sort of like putting together a model car without the instructions - you might piece it together in the end, but it would go faster and come out nicer if you had directions.