ADHD evaluations in the LI/NYC area?

November 26, 2012 6:15 AM

Does anyone have any recommendations for ADHD evaluations in the Long Island/NYC area?

After noticing long-standing recurring patterns of negative behavior, doing research and reading books like Driven to Distraction and Women with Attention Deficit Disorder, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that I might very well have mild to moderate ADHD, inattentive type. My next step, obviously, is to find a place to do an evaluation and see what's going on. However, googling and checking places like CHADD's resources list hasn't turned up too much about places to get evaluated as an adult in the LI/NYC area and I don't want to just pick a place at random because I want to get this done right. I also don't have a primary care physician I could ask for a recommendation either.

I've thought about just going straight out to the NYC Hallowell Center (and if anyone here has had any experience using them, please let me know). However, I'm concerned that if I am diagnosed with ADHD *and* it's decided that I need to be medicated for it, any problems I have with medications (and hoo boy have I been reading some wonderful things about side effects) is going to be a huge problem to deal with since I'm about a hour away from the city by train on LI and can't just pop in there. However, if the best place is in the city, I'll go there.

For Long Island, I'm willing to go as far out east as Stony Brook. Nassau I'm willing to go out to the Queens/Nassau border, though not over it, because I don't like driving in Queens/Brooklyn and they're not as easily reachable by train as NYC. Again though, if the best place is somewhere out there, I'll find a way to get to it.

Thanks in advance!

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (4 answers total)

If you are willing to go to NYC I recommend Dr Walter Molofsky at Beth Israel Philips Ambulatory Care Center on Union Square East btwn 14th and 15th.
posted by elizardbits at 6:44 AM on November 26, 2012

The Hallowell Center is good, and quite used to diagnosing and treating adults. I went there for counseling for a while after my diagnosis (received elsewhere). Were I in your position, I might go there for diagnostic testing, but I'd look somewhere closer to home for ongoing treatment.

The reason I no longer go there is because they don't take insurance, and as someone with ADHD, dealing with the paperwork of reimbursement on an ongoing basis was overwhelming.
posted by ocherdraco at 6:57 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

I also had a good experience with the Hallowell center. It is very convenient to get to by subway from Penn Station.

If you have any issues with side effects, I would imagine you would just call. IANAD, but I can't imagine that you would have side effects severe enough to need to be seen by your doctor immediately that day, while not severe enough to necessitate a trip to the emergency room.

Since I personally experienced some pretty terrible side effects from medications as a kid, my doctor told me to keep in mind that most stimulant medications are very short acting, so even if I had unwanted side effects, most of the effects of the medication would be out of my system within 12 to 24 hours. I was basically in the exact same situation as you, so I made sure to discuss with my doctor my concerns about side effects and I made sure she was aware that I was an hour away by train.

You can always go to the Hallowell center for diagnosis and treatment for a while, and then when you have found a medication that works for you, switch to someone local.
posted by inertia at 8:31 AM on November 26, 2012

2nding the Hallowell Center
posted by spec80 at 9:35 AM on November 26, 2012