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February 25, 2016 3:47 PM Subscribe
What is the current state of ADHD diagnoses?
I have to do something about my life, which appears to my untrained eye to have a possible and/or strong ADHD component. I've been interested in getting tested for years, but I've also heard conflicting stories about whether it's actually useful, even a real thing, too expensive, and other impressions gathered over the years.
Until recently I had a therapist for the previous 3 years who was more about mindfulness and talking, but not particular strong in helping me unravel more than my feelings about my patterns. I'm open to more therapy, prescriptions, and so on, I'm just trying to figure out a smart place to start.
I have to do something about my life, which appears to my untrained eye to have a possible and/or strong ADHD component. I've been interested in getting tested for years, but I've also heard conflicting stories about whether it's actually useful, even a real thing, too expensive, and other impressions gathered over the years.
Until recently I had a therapist for the previous 3 years who was more about mindfulness and talking, but not particular strong in helping me unravel more than my feelings about my patterns. I'm open to more therapy, prescriptions, and so on, I'm just trying to figure out a smart place to start.
2nd
posted by cotton dress sock at 4:16 PM on February 25, 2016
posted by cotton dress sock at 4:16 PM on February 25, 2016
Mod note: Folks, I understand the desire to preserve privacy, but at this point if you're just going to memail, please skip leaving a comment to that effect. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 4:20 PM on February 25, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 4:20 PM on February 25, 2016 [6 favorites]
I've been interested in getting tested for years, but I've also heard conflicting stories about whether it's actually useful, even a real thing, too expensive, and other impressions gathered over the years.
If you are imagining that getting a diagnosis is some sort of convoluted hellish process, I can only tell you that that was not my experience.
Here is how it went for me:
1. I went to the psychiatrist I was already seeing for depression meds and raised the possibility that I might have ADHD.
2. He asked me some questions about why I thought so.
3. He gave me a one-page questionnaire which took five minutes to fill out.
4. He looked at the questionnaire and wrote me a prescription for ADHD meds.
I also found a therapist who specializes in ADHD treatment. But, dude. The meds had such a dramatic and immediate positive effect on my work that I'm kicking myself for not doing this years and years ago.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:30 PM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
If you are imagining that getting a diagnosis is some sort of convoluted hellish process, I can only tell you that that was not my experience.
Here is how it went for me:
1. I went to the psychiatrist I was already seeing for depression meds and raised the possibility that I might have ADHD.
2. He asked me some questions about why I thought so.
3. He gave me a one-page questionnaire which took five minutes to fill out.
4. He looked at the questionnaire and wrote me a prescription for ADHD meds.
I also found a therapist who specializes in ADHD treatment. But, dude. The meds had such a dramatic and immediate positive effect on my work that I'm kicking myself for not doing this years and years ago.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:30 PM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
Therapy plays a part, but I strongly recommend you find a psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD in your area, and talk to that person. Prepare however you're able - if you can get through a book like Driven to Distraction and keep a notebook handy so you can make notes about how you relate or don't to it, plus note any questions you have etc, that's a fantastic way to start.
This is not a mysterious, specialized diagnosis. You talk to a doctor about what's not working for you in your life, bring your notebook with your bullet points and lists, they give advice and suggestions on how to proceed. Then you proceed.
Most people need medication at least temporarily so they can get out of their own way and learn skills and strategies and onboard those coping skills that they'll use going forward. Some people can go off, some people can ramp down, something this goes back and forth due to age and circumstances.
Expensive, obviously, is going to depend on your insurance situation. If you don't have it, or it doesn't cover the psychiatrist, you might ask what their cash price is as it is often negotiable.
I'm not sure why the surge in private responses. There are many threads here asking the same question as yours and people have answered publicly there, so you might look through those in case this is somehow a secret thing that we can't talk about in public now. But lots of people, including the person I'm married to, have gone the basic route of speaking to an expert and pursuing treatment. It's really that simple to get started.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:35 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is not a mysterious, specialized diagnosis. You talk to a doctor about what's not working for you in your life, bring your notebook with your bullet points and lists, they give advice and suggestions on how to proceed. Then you proceed.
Most people need medication at least temporarily so they can get out of their own way and learn skills and strategies and onboard those coping skills that they'll use going forward. Some people can go off, some people can ramp down, something this goes back and forth due to age and circumstances.
Expensive, obviously, is going to depend on your insurance situation. If you don't have it, or it doesn't cover the psychiatrist, you might ask what their cash price is as it is often negotiable.
I'm not sure why the surge in private responses. There are many threads here asking the same question as yours and people have answered publicly there, so you might look through those in case this is somehow a secret thing that we can't talk about in public now. But lots of people, including the person I'm married to, have gone the basic route of speaking to an expert and pursuing treatment. It's really that simple to get started.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:35 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Not from my own personal experience, but a close friend of mine recently got an ADHD diagnosis as an adult and speaks very positively about the experience (and the changes she has experienced since going on medication).
posted by rainbowbrite at 4:49 PM on February 25, 2016
posted by rainbowbrite at 4:49 PM on February 25, 2016
An ADHD diagnosis in my early 40s was about the best thing ever to happen to me. As I've said before, before being diagnosed I just thought I was crap at life. What have you got to lose by getting tested? If it turns out positive, yay! — you've got another bit of your life under control. If negative, at the very least you've eliminated one possible cause.
posted by A Friend of Dug [sock] at 5:08 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by A Friend of Dug [sock] at 5:08 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best answer: but I've also heard conflicting stories about whether it's actually useful, even a real thing, too expensive, and other impressions gathered over the years.
In case you haven't already, go read this askme from 2010 and its associated meTa, which are fascinating and full of anecdata about the usefulness of diagnosis for a ton of people.
posted by rtha at 5:46 PM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
In case you haven't already, go read this askme from 2010 and its associated meTa, which are fascinating and full of anecdata about the usefulness of diagnosis for a ton of people.
posted by rtha at 5:46 PM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Getting tested for ADHD was one of the 2 or 3 best decisions I have made in my life. I really, really, really wish I had done it sooner, but I'm mostly just glad I did it at all.
but I've also heard conflicting stories about whether it's actually useful, even a real thing, too expensive, and other impressions gathered over the years.
There is so much bullshit out there about ADHD. I think that's because it's both overdiagnosed in some populations and underdiagnosed in others.
Getting tested is pretty simple. I wrote about my experience here. So you might as well just start there, and work with an actual medical professional.
Concerta (the form of ritalin I take) has been pretty much a miracle for me, but if you are nervous about drugs, you can work closely with a psychiatrist to make sure you do it right.
As for it being real: yeah, it's definitely real. It's in the DMS-V, and treatment really can help people.
Seconding the old thread rtha linked to. That's the thread that got me to find out if I had it.
posted by lunasol at 7:30 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
but I've also heard conflicting stories about whether it's actually useful, even a real thing, too expensive, and other impressions gathered over the years.
There is so much bullshit out there about ADHD. I think that's because it's both overdiagnosed in some populations and underdiagnosed in others.
Getting tested is pretty simple. I wrote about my experience here. So you might as well just start there, and work with an actual medical professional.
Concerta (the form of ritalin I take) has been pretty much a miracle for me, but if you are nervous about drugs, you can work closely with a psychiatrist to make sure you do it right.
As for it being real: yeah, it's definitely real. It's in the DMS-V, and treatment really can help people.
Seconding the old thread rtha linked to. That's the thread that got me to find out if I had it.
posted by lunasol at 7:30 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
There's some division about the diagnosis in the profession, so I would seek out someone who does diagnose it through word of mouth or the Psychology Today search. It wasn't any more expensive than any other mental health visit, as long as I stayed in-network.
I personally found it useful. When I can get a prescription for meds they are very helpful, and just knowing that I do have this problem means that I can seek out tools to help myself.
I say go for it. If you get a diagnosis and find that it's not helpful for you, then you can forget it and move on. There's not much to lose here.
posted by bunderful at 7:32 PM on February 25, 2016
I personally found it useful. When I can get a prescription for meds they are very helpful, and just knowing that I do have this problem means that I can seek out tools to help myself.
I say go for it. If you get a diagnosis and find that it's not helpful for you, then you can forget it and move on. There's not much to lose here.
posted by bunderful at 7:32 PM on February 25, 2016
whether it's actually useful
In the thread rtha linked above, I was less than a year out from my diagnosis.
Now, at 31, I'm in medical school, feeling fulfilled in my studies and doing well. Without my diagnosis, and the subsequent strategies I learned and tools I gained, I guaran-fucking-tee you I would not be anywhere near this career path, and would probably still be flailing around, doing work I was not suited to that was poorly paid, and convinced I was a fraud.
So, yeah, anecdotes are not data, but for me, to call my diagnosis "useful" is the understatement of the decade.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:42 PM on February 25, 2016 [8 favorites]
In the thread rtha linked above, I was less than a year out from my diagnosis.
Now, at 31, I'm in medical school, feeling fulfilled in my studies and doing well. Without my diagnosis, and the subsequent strategies I learned and tools I gained, I guaran-fucking-tee you I would not be anywhere near this career path, and would probably still be flailing around, doing work I was not suited to that was poorly paid, and convinced I was a fraud.
So, yeah, anecdotes are not data, but for me, to call my diagnosis "useful" is the understatement of the decade.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:42 PM on February 25, 2016 [8 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks everybody, this has been super helpful. I've been going through the 2010 thread for the past 12 hours and making bookmarks of the descriptions I relate to. It's pretty eerie how many relatable accounts there are.
I have had "Driven to Distraction" for a few years, but dropped it after a chapter or two because the scenarios didn't match my experiences. This is where I started wondering whether it was a factor to me, and I started therapy afterwards, which as I mentioned before didn't really scrape the surface of my productivity as much as I'd have liked. Unless the book switches gears the 2010 thread matches me much more closely.
My legitimacy question is well illustrated by a random conversation I happened to have with an old friend late last night where I told them I was going in this direction and he said that I just needed to "apply myself." Yes, I know this is a lame thing and I told him he sounded like my parents who have been saying things like that for 40 years. But still, there is a doubter's undercurrent of "just try," the same as "cheer up" in depression experiences.
An additional complication is that I don't have insurance right now, but I should be able to pay my first ACA payment in the next couple of weeks, so I can start making appointments then. I'd kind of like to get started today, so I'll do some research into psychiatrists who can do this on a cash basis.
posted by rhizome at 11:41 AM on February 26, 2016
I have had "Driven to Distraction" for a few years, but dropped it after a chapter or two because the scenarios didn't match my experiences. This is where I started wondering whether it was a factor to me, and I started therapy afterwards, which as I mentioned before didn't really scrape the surface of my productivity as much as I'd have liked. Unless the book switches gears the 2010 thread matches me much more closely.
My legitimacy question is well illustrated by a random conversation I happened to have with an old friend late last night where I told them I was going in this direction and he said that I just needed to "apply myself." Yes, I know this is a lame thing and I told him he sounded like my parents who have been saying things like that for 40 years. But still, there is a doubter's undercurrent of "just try," the same as "cheer up" in depression experiences.
An additional complication is that I don't have insurance right now, but I should be able to pay my first ACA payment in the next couple of weeks, so I can start making appointments then. I'd kind of like to get started today, so I'll do some research into psychiatrists who can do this on a cash basis.
posted by rhizome at 11:41 AM on February 26, 2016
If you are imagining that getting a diagnosis is some sort of convoluted hellish process, I can only tell you that that was not my experience.
Here is how it went for me:
1. I went to the psychiatrist I was already seeing for depression meds and raised the possibility that I might have ADHD.
2. He asked me some questions about why I thought so.
3. He gave me a one-page questionnaire which took five minutes to fill out.
4. He looked at the questionnaire and wrote me a prescription for ADHD meds.
This is also exactly how it went for me.
I've been diagnosed with a couple of things (autism spectrum, depression, anxiety). I have learned to handle my autistic traits. I had very successful depression treatment with a particular SNRI. I could, however, not shake the anxiety and sensation of things just swirling out of control. Sedatives did nothing but make me fall asleep, and didn't make me feel better. Any therapy felt like a message of "try jumping" when I have no legs.
Since I knew it was no longer depression causing me to have to reread pages endlessly when I -liked- the topic, I made an appointment with a psychiatrist to suggest ADHD medication might be worth trying. I filled out a questionaire (most of which was laughably 4 or 5, like I could imagine being another way). He looked at it and wrote me a prescription. I have taken it for a couple of months now.
I don't know if I strictly have ADHD - there seems to be a lot of co-morbidity - but it helps immensely with that subset of things that were just painfully impossible before. Anything that has to be broken down into steps can be done, instead of assaulting me with the need to do every single step all at once.
posted by solarion at 6:13 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Here is how it went for me:
1. I went to the psychiatrist I was already seeing for depression meds and raised the possibility that I might have ADHD.
2. He asked me some questions about why I thought so.
3. He gave me a one-page questionnaire which took five minutes to fill out.
4. He looked at the questionnaire and wrote me a prescription for ADHD meds.
This is also exactly how it went for me.
I've been diagnosed with a couple of things (autism spectrum, depression, anxiety). I have learned to handle my autistic traits. I had very successful depression treatment with a particular SNRI. I could, however, not shake the anxiety and sensation of things just swirling out of control. Sedatives did nothing but make me fall asleep, and didn't make me feel better. Any therapy felt like a message of "try jumping" when I have no legs.
Since I knew it was no longer depression causing me to have to reread pages endlessly when I -liked- the topic, I made an appointment with a psychiatrist to suggest ADHD medication might be worth trying. I filled out a questionaire (most of which was laughably 4 or 5, like I could imagine being another way). He looked at it and wrote me a prescription. I have taken it for a couple of months now.
I don't know if I strictly have ADHD - there seems to be a lot of co-morbidity - but it helps immensely with that subset of things that were just painfully impossible before. Anything that has to be broken down into steps can be done, instead of assaulting me with the need to do every single step all at once.
posted by solarion at 6:13 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
a random conversation I happened to have with an old friend late last night where I told them I was going in this direction and he said that I just needed to "apply myself." Yes, I know this is a lame thing and I told him he sounded like my parents who have been saying things like that for 40 years. But still, there is a doubter's undercurrent of "just try," the same as "cheer up" in depression experiences.
Yes, this is lame, on your friend's part. I'm assuming your friend is not a medical professional, and if they are, they are not your medical professional. So frankly, they don't know what they are talking about. That doesn't mean you definitely have ADHD, just that you shouldn't let your friend speaking out of their ass dissuade you.
The other thing is that if you do have ADHD, it affects the executive function of the brain. Which can make it difficult to impossible for a person to "apply themselves." For years, I wondered why I wasn't able to just make myself do certain things. It seems so simple! The answer: executive function.
posted by lunasol at 8:17 PM on February 26, 2016
Yes, this is lame, on your friend's part. I'm assuming your friend is not a medical professional, and if they are, they are not your medical professional. So frankly, they don't know what they are talking about. That doesn't mean you definitely have ADHD, just that you shouldn't let your friend speaking out of their ass dissuade you.
The other thing is that if you do have ADHD, it affects the executive function of the brain. Which can make it difficult to impossible for a person to "apply themselves." For years, I wondered why I wasn't able to just make myself do certain things. It seems so simple! The answer: executive function.
posted by lunasol at 8:17 PM on February 26, 2016
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posted by sparklemotion at 4:11 PM on February 25, 2016