Prediction: Someone who really is questioning themselves but stops when he feels like he's just following a crowd, especially with a comment like this.
Seriously, I'm so confused right now.
How expensive is it to get screened for ADHD? My family's Mexican, so I'd have to have been literally bouncing off the walls to have been taken to a shrink or wherever you're supposed to go.
Ask your general practitioner. Consult the DSM-V definition of ADHD with them, and then discuss what steps to take next. This may or may not lead to a full screening (even if you are diagnosed), but at least you can discuss treatment plans from there. I didn't get a full screening for a year after I was diagnosed, and I only did because it was a requirement to get accommodations from my university.
Edit: if your doctor is unwilling to help find a new doctor, and don't be afraid to do research yourself (don't diagnose yourself). The first time I went in to talk to my doctor he said that if I didn't show signs of ADHD by age 6 that it couldn't be considered ADHD. It turns out he was going by the DSM-IV definition, and that the DSM-V definition allowed for signs up to age twelve. I brought this up with him and began receiving treatment for it because he was willing to cooperate with me.
That's exactly what I did, until I read your comment. Thank you. I know I have a form of attention disorder, but society and comments like this tell me not to do anything about it cause 'everyone thinks they have it' and they're all idiots if they do think that. Because of this, I've never done anything about it, even though it's been affecting everything in my life lately, especially work.
Thank you /u/themangodess for making realize that I've just been listening to cynics who are themselves just following a crowd to try and be liked by the karma train.
I just don't like these kinds of pet peeves people have, because while you might be on a train with other people questioning if they have undiagnosed ADHD, you shouldn't hop off just because some of them might be hypocondriacs. At the end of the day you're an individual who thinks/knows you have ADHD and is questioning it, and that's a good thing. Getting to know yourself in any way is always a good thing.
I wish I could tell everyone in this thread who is thinking the same thing as you to just go get screened for it.
I was screened as a child and was found to be "borderline" ADHD. My parents never got treatment for me. I barely graduated high school because of massive anxiety and depression (both of which I've since learned are extremely co-morbid with ADHD), did much better in college because I met my hyper-organized girlfriend (now wife), but struggled for the past 10 years with getting work done, staying on top of bills that I had the money to pay, but would forget about, and sticking with anything I set out to do.
About 6 months ago (after a few months of studying ADHD, including watching all of Russell Barkley's lectures, all while at work I might add), I finally got diagnosed and got on Adderall.
It was absolutely life changing. Before I got on meds, I would wake up, go to work, dread all the shit that had piled up that I hadn't done yet, and hop on Reddit, and still not do anything all day. For a period of about a year I literally did almost no work at all. I was constantly afraid that someone would find out, and I'd lose my job. It also made me question everything in my life. I loved my job, and yet I couldn't bring myself to do the work. I beat myself up every day for being lazy, and told myself that tomorrow I would finally buckle down and get to work, but of course not never happened.
The first day I took Adderall, I hopped on Reddit like I normally did, and after about a half hour I thought to myself, "okay, I don't really feel like Redditing anymore," and I got to work.
Since that first day on meds, I have not spent more than a half hour a day on Reddit during work hours. I actually get shit done. Im better about staying on top of bills and other life responsibilities. I'm also the happiest I've been, maybe ever in my adult life. I feel like I'm finally in control of my life and that I really can accomplish whatever I set out to do.
What I'm trying to say is that you have nothing to lose by getting evaluated. Maybe you have it, maybe you don't, but what do you stand to lose by finding out?
For me, it was hands down the best decision I've ever made in my life.
Heh. I was always suspicious that I had ADHD but never checked because every time I mentioned it someone said things like "but everyone has those symptoms you describe" or indeed said I was just going with the crowd.
A couple months ago I found Dr. Barkley's video and decided to check for myself. I was meaning to ask for a recommendation from my uncle who is a neurologist, last month I ran into his wife, who has various graduations related to teaching and I felt might know someone to recommend. She looked at me and said "Oh, you're fine. I'm like that too, it's just that us intelligent people always have something on our minds", it baffled me to the point that I couldn't even give her a proper answer. Some time later I asked my uncle for a recommendation, said I wanted to get check for ADHD and he just gave me the phone number, told me that if I think I have something I should get it check out.
My appointment is tomorrow and I get the feeling this is a pivotal moment. Sometimes I feel like maybe I've been hiding behind this possible diagnosis for a long time and if it turns out I don't have it then I'll be out of excuses. If I do have it I'm going to find every single one of the fuckers that told me it was probably nothing and tell them how hard it has been this whole time, specially my aunt.
Will do! What is the EEG for? Is there a "hard way" to diagnose ADHD? This is part of the reason I never got checked, because I couldn't ever know for sure (and nowadays I've got a friend who is pretty sure he shouldn't have taken pills since childhood)
Hey, nice timing. I just got back from the appointment and she said that it's HIGHLY likely that I've got ADHD and a strong one at that but that she needs to run some tests to be sure, problem is the battery of tests is much more expensive than I'd expected, roughly about 1,2x my monthly income. But honestly, I can deal. I've tried not giving a shit about this but I very likely had to pay for it in quality of life so we'll see how it goes.
Right? Congrats on your diagnose! I'm so relieved that I wasn't imagining this whole thing and at the same time kind of pissed about those people that discouraged me to get checked over the years. I guess it's time to head over to /r/adhd :p
I was diagnosed as a child but stopped taking my medicine because of teasing from my siblings (young kids are jerks to each other). For years I convinced myself I didn't actually have ADHD and refused to mention it because of the stigma associated with over diagnosing.
It's funny that I stopped taking my medicine because I thought I would be made fun of for having mental illness, and I refused to start taking it later because I thought I would be looked down on because I didn't have a "real" mental illness.
I went to the doctor just over 2 weeks ago and told her exactly what I was experiencing and how it was hurting. She got me some medicine and we're testing to see what dose/formula works best.
It feels good for once to know things are going to get better.
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u/[deleted] May 30 '17
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