To this short and sweet as I possibly can, I have an appointment coming on this Saturday with someone who I never met and doesn’t know me in the slightest on a doctor to patient level.
From my memories to old documents to what I’ve noticed about myself from the self-discovery/realizations to doing some bit of research, I firmly believe that I have ADHD.
The person I am seeing on Saturday doesn’t know that.
How can I get that person to know that and NOT dismiss the whole things as me having something else?
I really don’t like asking people for things like that because of personal reasons. Yet I need to calm my nerves and think of something that won’t get me overwhelmed and anxious.
So, thoughts and feelings for this? Helpful advice and tips?
Honestly, I’m thinking that I have ADHD too. Too much resonates with me. But i haven’t gotten myself diagnosed so I haven’t had the experience of talking to a doc about it.
If I were to talk about it, I think I would start with “I find that I have a lot in common with people who were diagnosed with ADHD. How would I go about finding out if I have it too?”
I think a big point to keep in mind is what is your end goal. Do you want to try meds and see if they help you? Do you just want to solve the mystery? Do you want to start therapy or something?
Ask yourself that question first so you’re prepared.
I second everything Kamiccola said, and I’d be sure to tell the doctor you’ve been diagnosed with ADHD before if that’s the case. Tell the doctor everything you tell us. ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯
I wrote a little note to remember that I must start off in that manner.
I made that document for myself on what I’ve noticed and remember about myself along with things that happened a while ago.
in my personal experience, it moreso depends on if your doctor is a good one or not. with my doctor, i straight up simply expressed to her i think i might have adhd, explained that my father acts pretty similar too, and legitimately the next time i saw her, she went “i have three adhd testing options for you depending on your insurance and what youre comfortable with”, and then Tadaaaaaa i was diagnosed with adhd and some other stuff i wasn’t expecting lmao.
aka, as long as you articulate your thought process and explain everything, if they’re a good doctor you shouldn’t have any worries. if they dismiss you, well, time to get a new doctor because that one sucks
also, i totally relate to how anti psychotics and anti depressants didn’t do much for you except bad side effects - i’m also bipolar but have a wicked high drug resistance and nothing ever really worked for me except reeaaally bad side effects which sucked. ngl, most of the time i don’t even think my adhd meds (adderall) are doing much for me lmao
Wow, the only medication I’ve taken for ADHD was Strattera and that was so long ago don’t even remember if it worked or not.
I was also taking Strattera and some other medication too. I have no idea what happened to me back then far as if it worked wonders or did nothing at all.
That infuriates me because I had something for ADHD back then, but I can’t even remember it is did anything or not, regardless if I had that medication along with another.
Maybe it did a “cancel each other out” type thing.
It wasn’t.
Honestly, I was given a school evaluation on my behavioral issues and mental health along with academics twice. One for when I was nine then another at twelve. I given another years later at seventeen, but I didn’t mention that one since I wasn’t viewed as having ADHD.
So, I the age nine, it was confirmed that I had ADHD with mild hyperactivity and a learning disability. Then at the age twelve it was mentioned once more then stopped when I was seventeen out of nowhere.
From seventeen to the age I am now, I had taken meds and therapy for bipolar depression and nothing worked for me.
It wasn’t even “oh, you’re not trying hard enough” or “give it some time to do it’s thing”, I tried my hardest and again nothing worked for me.
At that point, I couldn’t state if I had ADHD till years later which is now.
I just wasn’t sure back then, but I am definitely certain that it goes deeper.
Also, I feel like if I was started on medication and a proper therapy at nine and again at twelve, things would have most likely been different.
Sorry, for bombarding you with this.
I am just tired of not knowing what the hell is wrong with me and going in constant circles along with believing in lies I was told.
Since both have been diagnosed, stimulants used in ADHD may not be offered as treatment due to fear of triggering manic episodes in the Bipolar. So they may start with non-stimulants.
" Treatment is a question that has been looked at in the research as the overlapping symptoms that cause issues and distress to the patient may be worsened by traditional ADHD treatment of stimulants. There is concern that the use of stimulants may worsen mania and psychosis and further debilitate the patient [47]. A study performed by Galanter et al. suggests that youth treated with stimulants did not have an increase in mania or psychotic symptoms [48]. Furthermore, children in the first month of treatment who had ADHD symptoms and manic symptoms had a more robust response to stimulant treatment. However, the studies in adults are less promising. In a review of three cases, the use of stimulants increased psychosis in patients [49]. The authors concluded that patients need to be monitored for adverse responses to treatment. In the next section, the review will look at the clinical studies regarding the overlap of ADHD and BD."
I just read as much as I can with of that and it makes sense.
Like, when I was nine and then at the age twelve, I could have gotten medication and therapy, but didn’t get it till I was seventeen years old and it was for bipolar disorder with depression.
So, I took it as, my parents didn’t want their child taking medication and therapy because of the stigma it brings along with doctors not giving my parents the option to try something just to see if it works in order to better help me mentally.
The thing is when you disagree with professional help and it’s seen as something “crazy”, they have a harder time listen and hearing unmedicated you.
(Bipolar can hear voices like Schizophrenic patients can. I was introduced to that about 5 years back. It’s also one of the many things that wouldn’t get me labeled bipolar because I’m not prone to seeing or hearing things that aren’t there.)
So, if you can show that ADHD is more consistent an issue and the medication for bipolar never worked, then you’re in a good position to push for ADHD treatment and reassessing the bipolar diagnosis. If you can get the latter refuted, you won’t have to worry as much about what happens over time and having to switch doctors, whatnot.
Yeah…this is a extremely important tip to remember for this coming appointment.
Trying to be calm and concise when you’ve been struggling so much is hard and you just want to explain it in the best way you can, it hurts like hell when you can’t.
possibly, some medications just don’t play well with each other. i think strattera is like a less intense adderall? can’t really remember, since adderall is the only thing i’ve taken for adhd. hopefully your doctors take you seriously, and whatever they choose to put you on, it works!
also, just wanna chime in my personal experience that as someone with both bipolar and adhd, those diagnosis’ never conflicted. my doctors personally never thrust bipolar on me over adhd or vice versa, i legitimately just have both and they were able to separately diagnose them with no issue. though, it probably helped that bipolar runs in my family, so there was a verifiable pattern of it. anyway, point is, if you find yourself being diagnosed with both and need help with both, i just wanna suggest Latuda. it actually did work for me, in both good and bad ways, my doctor accidentally switched me to a higher and i mean REALLY HIGH dosage and the side effects were god awful, i thought i was dying. but the smaller dosages were fine and it was fine with my adderall. also worked fantastic for me whenever i had sudden manic episodes, it calmed me back down. since you also seem to not be super receptive to many medications, i just wanted to throw in that recommendation since it worked for me :]
