I don't even know for 100% sure I have it but the last time I tried to talk to a professional they basically just wrote me off because my grades were good as a kid, I understand part of the diagnostic criteria is symptoms presenting themselves in childhood but to be honest I got by just fine without studying or paying very much attention.
Does anyone have experience with this
It's a huge pain now. Go see your family doctor and ask for a specialist. However, the specialists are reluctant to give the good stuff because the DEA will investigate any doctor who prescribe over a certain amount of scheduled drugs per year. Then they'll make you jump through hoops like getting a heart's rhythm study done where you have to wear a little box for several days. Also, I hope you live somewhere where the specialists aren't completely full, I've been on a waitlist for the past 6 months.
read the exact symptom list out to your doctor, even if you don't have that symptom
insist they treat you because you have every symptom
threaten them with a law suit if they refuse, given that you've listed every single symptom
do this with 2/3 doctors and eventually get diagnosed
Yeah, my first psychiatrist brushed me off too. It did not do good things for my mental health, to phrase it mildly. Fortunately, the next one actually gave a shit about what I had to say. Sometimes you just have to get a second opinion.
My BF and I both had very good grades before getting diagnosed. But so much else about our lives suffered. It sucks when people only care about external indicators of success, such as grades. Like, you’re doing fine on paper, so it doesn’t actually matter that your levels of stress and quality of life are terrible.
This reminds me of one of my favorite reddit comments ever:
The coping mechanisms are often in themselves harmful - e.g. requiring high levels of anxiety to overcome procrastination.
If you handwave away the executive function difficulties because a patient appears to be coping "well enough", you're making them brute-force their way through life with a disorder that makes every activity harder, for no good reason.
This is maybe like saying someone doesn't need diabetes meds because they haven't actually gone blind yet. ADHD treatment is hugely effective and very cheap, but some healthcare providers are keen to dismiss the problems it causes because a patient's life isn't falling apart enough to deserve medication.Didn't know that this is actually a thing. Manage to coast by basically on intuition for most of school and at work, but I procrastinate everything until I fall apart from anxiety. Just put that down to me being a lazy piece of shit.
That sounds a lot like me before I was diagnosed/medicated. You’re not lazy :meow-hug:
I read an ADHD book last year, Delivered From Distraction by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey, and one of the examples they used (it was at the beginning of a chapter . . . best I can do, sorry, I got it from the library) was of a good-grades teenager getting a late diagnosis. So although "good grades with ADHD" may not be the standard presentation, it is nonetheless a literal textbook case. Check out additudemag.org , too - they may have similar stories, testimonials, or dealing-with-doctors recommendations, if your doctor is the kind who'll be persuaded by evidence.
Yeah, this is exactly how my ADHD presents too.
I would absorb information if it was talked at me, and I was usually the student who was trying to raise my hand and answer questions or butt in whenever I saw the teacher get something wrong and so on, so I always ended up doing great on tests. I suppose the worst effect my ADHD had in the classroom was my tendency to be disruptive.
But I also couldn't make myself do homework or reading at home. So anything that required self-study and time management I really struggled with. I'd always end up in a cycle of "I'm not allowed to do things I enjoy because I have responsibilities to take care of," but then still procrastinating and not being able to force myself to get started on those tasks and feeling like a lazy piece of shit until the last minute panic set in.
Edit: It feels worth mentioning that I did get my ADHD diagnosis as a kid, but never got medicated while I was in school because my parents were of the opinion that "all kids are hyper and have short attention spans, that's not a disorder, I don't want to prescribe him drugs and have him grow up into being a drug addict."
So they refused to put me on medication growing up, and it wasn't until years after I stopped living with them that I had finally talked with my doctor about going on medication after I reached a breaking point from tolerating and struggling with my symptoms.
It took a little while to dial in the correct medication and dosage, but now I'm able to feel like a functioning human being. Would recommend.
I’d always end up in a cycle of “I’m not allowed to do things I enjoy because I have responsibilities to take care of,” but then still procrastinating and not being able to force myself to get started on those tasks and feeling like a lazy piece of shit until the last minute panic set in.
:yea:
When I got assessed for ADHD they had me do a computer test. I took the test once for a base line, then they gave me ritalin and had me take it again. and apparently the results came back "lol this kid is ADHD AF".
So you could look in to, like, actual testing.
(I’m pretty sure they don’t call it “ADHD” anymore, they call it ADD with certain characteristics which may or may not include “hyperactivity”.)
I think it's the other way around in the dsm: ADHD hyperactive and inattentive types
Of course the dsm is made up, so none of this classification has been proven to relate to etiology of adhd
Without going into too much detail, that story wouldn't make any sense unless I also changed major details about my life right now. I'm also not a good liar and while I don't think it would be immoral I'd still like to leave it as a last resort
I got by just fine without studying or paying very much attention
Tell them this — you did well enough in school despite an inability to focus or pay attention.
That was me too. I was able to focus on subjects I liked and have a great memory overall, so I did well on tests despite developing zero study habits, I'd always forget to do my homework at home so I'd always be doing it the period before it was due, I lost my planner within the first 3 weeks of the school year every year without fail, and I'd never remember to write anything in it or check it anyway. My backpack and locker and school desk were always an absolute disaster , I couldn't keep subject binders so all my important papers got crammed into one disorganized folder, I was constantly in trouble for never cleaning my room, and no matter how much I wanted to improve I absolutely never could.
My disorganization made college really hard but I managed to get through it purely with cramming and all-nighters to do an entire semester's worth of coursework or projects at once because I cannot remotely begin to start anything unless there's an urgent deadline.
Any decent psychologist should consider this too and recognize these behaviors as being consistent with ADHD
There was some ADHD discussion in a thread earlier this week you might find helpful/interesting:
https://hexbear.net/post/213171
:this:
One of my long comments in that thread outlines the steps I took to get diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, despite having done well in school and being successful on paper
We all have adhd, anxiety and depression these days
This a common ableist talking point and I’m disappointed to see it here, repeated non-critically
Not sure where you live but there's a ton of hoops you need to jump through to get a diagnosis and a prescription in the US, at least in my experience. I got passed around between like 4 different people and go through fairly rigorous testing before getting a diagnosis, and someone else needed to be the one to prescribe me meds.
I've never heard of primary care physicians that will prescribe adhd meds to adults because most are schedule 2 drugs. I guess if you're already seeing a psychiatrist for something else you could ask about it, but primary care won't do shit in my experience
The best ADHD med for me by far has been Strattera, and providers don't have much hesitation at all prescribing it because it's not even a stimulant.
Also, Adderall/Vyvanse and Focalin made me feel drained and unfocused at nighttime and on weekends, but Strattera is supposed to be taken every day (and has a 24-hour half-life) so it doesn't have that issue.
Edit: Although taking Strattera without an antidepressent is probably not a good idea
Note that Strattera can take up to 6 months after you start taking it to have any effect and can have some really shitty side effects like suicidal thoughts
I'm glad strattera works for you and for some other people, I have a huge grudge against it because when I needed to get a new psych after my insurance changed, the first one that would see me was some quack who told me I didn't have ADHD despite being diagnosed with it bc I graduated college and held a steady job, but offered to prescribe it to me instead of continuing my existing treatment that worked well with practically no side effects (adderall) and also implied I was a junkie. "Yeah how bout let's stop what had been working and now that you're distressed that you've lost access to having a functional brain, give you something that may take 6 months to work and will make you want to kill yourself on the meantime. Sound good you big faker?"
Note that Strattera can take up to 6 months after you start taking it to have any effect
That sounds about right. In my case, I was taking Vyvanse and Strattera at the same time and stopped Vyvanse cold turkey (which I def don't recommend, I was very depressed)
and can have some really shitty side effects like suicidal thoughts
Good point. It probably only works so well for me because I take Wellbutrin with it, and my experience taking Strattera without an antidepressant was not nearly as positive (focus was okay but I was depressed).
I’m glad strattera works for you and for some other people, I have a huge grudge against it because when I needed to get a new psych after my insurance changed, the first one that would see me was some quack who told me I didn’t have ADHD despite being diagnosed with it bc I graduated college and held a steady job, but offered to prescribe it to me instead of continuing my existing treatment that worked well with practically no side effects (adderall) and also implied I was a junkie. “Yeah how bout let’s stop what had been working and now that you’re distressed that you’ve lost access to having a functional brain, give you something that may take 6 months to work and will make you want to kill yourself on the meantime. Sound good you big faker?”
Wow that's shitty, a provider discontinuing a med that you already know works for you. I'm def not saying that everyone should take Strattera, I mainly brought it up because it's so accessible compared to most other ADHD meds. But, as you point out, that's not a good reason to push it on people for whom a different ADHD med already works.
I’m def not saying that everyone should take Strattera, I mainly brought it up because it’s so accessible compared to most other ADHD meds. But, as you point out, that’s not a good reason to push it on people for whom a different ADHD med already works.
Yeah, didn't mean to imply that I thought you did — it's a good option for people who can't take stimulants or don't like their effects and I'm glad it exists for those people. IMO unless there's a reason why someone can't take stimulants they should not start with it, and some shitty providers will use it to perpetuate the stigma against stimulants. Which isn't a problem with the drug itself, just with society.
