For those of you who weren’t diagnosed until adulthood (I’m in my late 40s), what was the diagnosis process like? Are you just given a written test, or does someone evaluate you more thoroughly? Do they try to understand your symptoms, or is it more of a checklist? If anyone has personal stories they’d be willing to share, I’d love to hear them. I’m also just curious about what to expect during the appointment. Who do I make it with? A psychiatrist?
I also wonder if there are other related conditions or learning disabilities that I might have, such as dyslexia. Do I need to be proactive in asking for multiple diagnoses? Or will they be able to evaluate me for anything/everything?
I was diagnosed about 7-8 years ago, and I was in my early/mid 30s at the time. I was referred to a specialist by my pcp, and they started out by asking me some questions about my symptoms and whatnot. The final thing I had to do was take this computerized test thing that involved looking at a screen while doing some simple stuff. There were cameras that tracked my eye movement to determine how long I was appearing to focus on what I was supposed to be looking at (versus anywhere else on the screen or in the room). Afterwards, we talked about what meds/dosage to start out with. For the first 6 months or so I was going in almost monthly to adjust my dosage and/or switch meds entirely. Once we found something that worked, I started going in every 2-3 months to check in. Overall, not an unpleasant experience.
Mind if I asked what meds you received in the end? I’m 36 and was put on Lamictal for bipolar… I’m almost certain it’s ADHD but I guess the VA refuses to listen or help me.
Dude, I’m Bipolar, and the VA does drag its feet. Find other service members who have been prescribed ADHD meds and see what they did. I don’t use the VA, but my psychiatrist and therapist diagnosed me with Bipolar and said it wasn’t ADHD, even though I had plenty of lifelong impairments. I stayed with that doctor’s office for eight years, and I was on and off meds for bipolar, and nothing worked. It wasn’t until I ended up in a mental hospital that I finally said enough was enough. I was finally fed up, and after they shew-ed me away for the final time, I finally decided to find another doctor and get a second opinion.
Well, I still have bipolar disorder, but now I’m medicated for ADHD. It changed my life. Now I never have to worry about my bipolar symptoms because keeping up with good habits like sleep, eating, and working out is a breeze on ADHD medication. This keeps my bipolar at bay, and I still take meds. I can’t tell you how awesome my life keeps turning out now that I’m medicated. Fight for this! They don’t understand what we are going through or they wouldn’t stop us from getting damn relief.
Thanks for this. Getting to the point where I’m going to give up on the VA. The freeness of the VA care is nice. I have tricare for life so I may as well try to utilize that and see if I can get an outside source to make an opinion. I strongly believe I have ADHD, but no one will listen. I can tell they look at me like I’m some drug seeker. I could see if my history pointed to that; but it’s like they don’t even consider my past in fixing my future.
Vyvanse is what I ended up on, and it worked wonders. I actually had to stop cold turkey a week ago while my doctor figures out why I have high blood pressure, and it’s been a pretty rough week. I kind of forgot how much of a help the Vyvanse was for my daily quality of life.
@murrman vyvanse is a pretty good med.
The computerized test sounds very interesting. Has anyone else experienced this? Maybe it’s just because I like gadgets and tech, but the idea of being able to test something physical like this sounds very cool to me.