A casual community for people with ADHD
Values:
Acceptance, Openness, Understanding, Equality, Reciprocity.
Rules:
Encouraged:
Relevant Lemmy communities:
lemmy.world/c/adhd will happily promote other ND communities as long as said communities demonstrate that they share our values.
Shout out to all my spiritual siblings who skip days to stockpile meds because we live in a nightmare world.
This is one of the benefits of being on non-stimulant meds, the hoops to jump through are way less (I still had to fight insurance for a prior auth, which took nearly a month). I use an online Psychiatrist (Talkiatry) and have been really happy with my doctor. I also only need to see him as often as we think is medically necessary since atamoxetine can be refilled. It's been shown in trials to be as effective as methylphenidate and works well for me so far.
The diagnostic piece though is indeed hard, but I can sort of understand that. It's a pathway to drugs with a high probability of abuse, and no sure fire way to diagnose. So from a liability and care viewpoint I get why psychologists do due diligence in evaluating people (especially adults) for ADHD. It still sucks if you need help, but in theory you only have to deal with that process once to get a diagnosis. Also, as many people have pointed out, many PCPs are willing to fill scripts for controlled substances if needed, especially once you are on a stable dose that you know works. Like many things, the start up is the hardest and it gets easier once you hit steady state.
The shit that pisses me off is the 4 week refill time because over the span of several months the refill date and appointment date get out of sync. Just make it so you can't fill more than three times in 90 days or whatever and it would accomplish the exact same shit but with way more flexibility.
maybe i got lucky, but my psychiatrist is private practice, and she lets me skip every other month and i just text to remind her to fill my meds. she's great.
oh, and offered to see me quarterly because she is encouraging me to find a therapist and i told her my budget is too tight to add another bill.
..yeah, i think i got lucky.
Germany here. It’s kind of similar here. The system is rigged against us.
My strategy is to use medication to enable me to build a support structure and learn techniques that help with dealing with symptoms. E. g. meditation, physical exercises that help mind-body connection, CBT, routines, etc. So that when I’m without meds, I can fall back on skills I acquired and trained.
What I also do is hoard medication. Ask for a higher dose or more pills, than I actually need. That way I can miss an appointment and still have enough for the next month or so. I even hide pills in different places around my apartment.
Also in Germany, undiagnosed.
There is an ADHD clinic close to me - They sent me a bunch of forms to fill out. Not form-fillable PDFs. They expected me to go to a print shop, print it, fill it out, scan it, and email it back. About 8 months later I ended up just learning how to write texts into PDFs because I kept forgetting and postponing. Now to wait "up to 24 months" for the first appointment, what a joke.
There is a private clinic that is more streamlined: GAM Medical. You have to pay out of pocked, but honestly, even without a high paying job, it's easier to get the money than it is to jump through all those hoops. My insurance (GKV) costs me € 1100 per month, but I still pay a few 100 out of pocket for meeting their psychiatrist once and paying for my meds.
It's not perfect, though. They too seem to miss the point that it's hard for us to keep pushing and prodding for the next step. I wish it were just a series of automatic appointments. It's slow, you'll have to keep pushing, mailing, calling them for the next and the next and the next step, but in like 6 months, there's a good chance you got your diagnosis and your treatment, be it therapy, meds or both.
I got pretty frustrated with them, but unlike every other option I tried, they delivered - eventually.
You could, in theory, also use them just to get diagnosed. Then, it would be easier to find a psychiatrist for the prescription, because at that point, that's a lot of money for very little effort for a doctor. Could even have insurance pay. Extra work, though.
Hehe I just had my first session with GAM Medical, heard of them last week, went really fast.
Do it like I did: fail so hard at life that lose your job, lose Bürgergeld welfare, and are in danger of losing your apartment. Have a mental breakdown and go to a psychiatric hospital crisis center.
Do yourself a favor and buy a used brother laser printer. The toner lasts ages and they support universal PCL printer drivers. I bought one new 16 years ago and never bought new toner for it, only paper. It cost less than 100 € back then. Still prints.
Older Brother printers are amazing. I've had mine since 2007.
I've been self medicating for decades with nicotine and THC. It works well for me. I guess I'm lucky.
THC helps a lot in very low doses (20mg or so) but I build a tolerance to it after 2-3 weeks, and also it makes me completely stupid. Its great for getting chores and shit done but terrible for my job. It also makes me really really wordy, which is kind of annoying for everyone involved.
Chances are someone did make it as hard as possible on purpose. US is the source of eugenics...
My anxiety, depression, and executive dysfunction prevent me from talking to a therapist and getting a diagnosis. I am so sick of this...
You really don't need a therapist. You just need a GP that'll do the questionnaire.
Depends on where they are. I legally need a psychiatrist to give me my prescription.
100%
It took me years to realize I had it, even more years to get a diagnosis (I was told I had "severe ADHD" btw") and even now, I'm out of medication more often than I have any due to logistical and financial barriers.
Damn. I don't know where you live but I live in VA and my pcp just refills my prescription every month. We check in via what are basically text mesages and I do telehealth visits every 3 months.
It's designed that way, because it has the same effect on everyone. People with ADHD are just starting with a lower capacity for it. The goal is to get as many people as possible to give up on getting what should be theirs in order to "save money". It's the same thing you'll see in certain software when you try to do something they don't like, for example, opening a link in an external browser, or contacting an actual support representative. Suddenly, this app is really poorly designed! It's not a bug, it's a feature
No, it's entirely a DEA thing. They have such a stick up their ass that must doctors and pharmacies are terrified of writing/filling too many controls because the DEA can fuck them in the ass for actually providing the meds people need.
As someone with unmedicated ADHD and a severe heart condition, I feel this rant deep, deep in my soul but more for my heart stuff.
You mean I have to call for follow ups every three months and also remember to fill my multiple medications every month or else I am sent on a death spiral? And you also mean to tell me that I can't take any of the typical ADHD drugs because it might hurt my heart?
Win win.
Yes.
You guys don’t have repeat prescriptions?
I just order mine on an app when I get a reminder and then pick it up from the chemist a few days later when I get a ping.
Your use of "chemist" makes me think you're out of the US.
Most ADHD meds in the US are "controlled substances" and that means our doctors can only prescribe up to three months at a time. After three months we have to have a follow-up appointment, then they can prescribe three more months of meds.
Plus the federal government decided that too many people were taking medications like Adderall. So their "solution" was to instate a cap on how much Adderall manufacturers can make. Which means there's now a national shortage of Adderall. And that shortage means folks with ADHD are frequently going without their meds entirely or are forced to call multiple pharmacies in the area to ask who has their meds in stock. (My health insurance through work requires me to use a mail-order pharmacy because it means cost savings for them. But that means I don't have the luxury of shopping around different stores to see who has my meds in stock - at least, not to fill the prescription through insurance and get the lower price. So if the mail order place is out, then I'm screwed.)
Our healthcare system is so fucked.
Healthcare shouldn't be political currency. Healthcare care is an inherently political issue, as each government has to determine the best strategy for them, but like many things in the US politicians see it as just another talking point and something that actually impacts people. This leads to policy being made by people who aren't knowledgeable about healthcare for people who have strong about healthcare but often aren't impacted by these policies and don't have a strong understanding of the topic.
While it would still be a horrible thing to have happen, I'm starting to think that having a bunch of LLMs run/control the government wouldn't necessarily be worse than what we have now (at least in the US).
My biggest fear living in the US was falling off meds and being unable to get back on them. If your life situation allows you should absolutely rely on friends or family for help. You don't need to do this alone, ADHD is a disability and you're allowed to need assistance.
you should absolutely rely on friends or family for help.
Aw, I wish. There are two types of people in my family. The first type is people who also have ADHD (unmedicated, at that) and/or autism. The second type is people who believe the first type are jUsT bEiNg LaZy.
There is no in-between.
Shoutout to ADHDcentral. They tried to make the process as clear and accessible as possible. With automated reminders.