Disclaimer: I’m referring the the US medical system, but I imagine people in other countries may encounter similar things.
I cannot be the only one who has had this experience, but all my dealings with the medical industry feel like they were refined by a group of psychologists to exploit the weaknesses of those with ADHD.
The volume of calls, appointments, and paperwork I had to full out to get a diagnosis and prescription for treatment is completely unreasonable to expect someone with poor working memory and attention issues to navigate.
Then, to stay on medication, you need to schedule and make appointments with a psychiatrist every month, for the rest of your life, and if you miss a single one, you will run out of meds (and likely charged a fine), which will make it even harder to remember to make the next one. If you miss too many, that psychiatrist will refuse to see you again and you have to go back to your PCP to get a new referral.
Look, I understand that their time is valuable, but this system couldn’t be designed any other way to be more accommodating to people who clinically forget things?!
It’s like designing a wheelchair ramp that’s actually just stairs that are 3x as steep as the regular stairs. Also, if you fall to the bottom, someone takes your wheelchair until you can climb back up.
My anxiety, depression, and executive dysfunction prevent me from talking to a therapist and getting a diagnosis. I am so sick of this…
CBD gummies have worked miracles for my depression and anxiety. Depending on where you live, maybe give it a try for a week or two and see what happens?
What dosage are you taking, when, and what type?
These guys work really well.
https://wyldcbd.com/products/raspberry-gummies
They have different flavors, and for me the peach ones work really well
This is the state of U.S. healthcare, homie just prescribed peach flavoring.
I know this is accurate because I also live in this hellhole.
It’s great, isn’t it? I also got laid off at the end of January, lost my health insurance immediately so I had to cancel my gallbladder removal for the next week because I could no longer afford it.
ThE pRiVaTe MaRkEt WiLl SoLvE tHe PrObLeM
Just hold your breath, it will trickle down any second
I started with a 300mg per bag of 20 (so each gummy would be 20mg each). I would take one a night for a week, every other week (I’d stay sober when with my kids). After a couple of 300, I moved up to 2000 (100mg/gummy).
What brand?
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.
Adhd meds here are controlled substances too. It makes it so the prescription lasts only a month. But how many packs of meds you have on this prescription, is only set by your doctor. So I get 4 months refills and have to buy it within one month.
And yeah, med shortage over here is an issue too.
Usa person, i canget auto refills on meds never tried with adhd meds though. The ones that have auro refill have a final refill date and max refill number.
Like the person above said, I’ve only ever had them do that three months at a time, but it’s better than monthly, which is how I started.
I have to go in every year to get refills on my epi pens and my migraine meds. I have to have a doctor sign off on those and I don’t really know why. I am not on ADHD meds but I imagine that would be the same.
My old doctor used to require monthly check-ins to get my ADHD meds.
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.
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.
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
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.
Well fuck, my apologies then.
I feel your pain precisely. Also, most of the people who clearly have ADHD/autism or other, much-worse things are often the ones denying it’s a thing.
Shoutout to ADHDcentral. They tried to make the process as clear and accessible as possible. With automated reminders.
What is this? I searched this in Brave search and got like no relevant results.
I’ve never seen a psychiatrist - I was diagnosed by a psychologist and prescribed by my general practitioner doctor. My doctor doesn’t make me come into the office regularly, I can generally just message him for a refill. I realize I am extremely lucky (not that lucky - I can’t seem to tolerate stimulants), but I encourage people to try a different route.
I think state regulations might vary. Where I am, every three months I HAVE to have an appointment to get a refill prescription for my Adderall. But fortunately my psych is still doing virtual appointments, which is a lot less disruptive to my workday.
I’ve heard it makes reliably getting meds a lot easier if they arent stimulants, so maybe youve got that going for you? 😃
This was for stimulants, I haven’t tried non-stimulants yet, but I am also of a demographic that doesn’t arouse suspicion
I meant shortages, i hear its a nightmare (at least in the US). I’ve got a little over a month to go for an appointment for an initial evaluation 😞
It’s hit or miss. The instant release Adderall has been more reliably available than the extended release version, but they’re both often delayed by a couple of days. The longest delay for me so far was like 2 weeks for the extended release. I’ve been taking it for almost a year now.
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I’ve never had a doctor or therapist take me serious. If I had access to the drugs I could self medicated diagnose better.
I’m extremely happy with the process I’ve had, but I understand it’s very likely not representative of the rest of us here.
By and large, you’re right though. My wife has gone through similar struggles and hasn’t been medicated for over a year because of it.
“Zocdoc” is a great app to make appointments when possible.
Treatment for ADHD is meditation.
Sorry you got downvoted so much, because you’re not 100% wrong. Meditation can actually help with some ADHD symptoms, however
- Meditation can be especially difficult for those with ADHD, because it requires doing the exact thing their brain has trouble doing. If you are able to overcome that hurdle, it can be very helpful—exercising a part of your brain that is underdeveloped. But “just meditate” is useless advice for many people.
- This comes across as dismissive to the original post, which is about healthcare systems not just lacking accommodation, but full of extra challenges for the most vulnerable. There is much more to ADHD treatment than medication. For example, many people, especially those who went undiagnosed, have years of trauma to unravel, and therapy comes with all these same challenges.
yeah and getting it is hell. either you go for the pharma version, and there are so many hoops to jump through that you basically can’t if you have ADHD, or you try to go with the street version, which is really hard to synthesize and you end up wasting a day on ego death if you dose too high.
