How does doc determine you had ADD?? | ADHD Information
for myself, the moment i read about it. it was a 'eureka' moment.
so i kinda worry about people who think they "may" have it. to me if you think you "may" have it - you probably don't.
it is just my opinion tho!
but i worry a lot about people who genuinely don't have it - getting a diagnosis and prescription for it. it just can lead to abuse and/or addiction and you really DON'T want to go there!
look back at your childhood - really and be honest. have you ALWAYS been ADD. if not, it is probably just temporary stress in your life right now. that's all.
in a funny way one of the weirdest ways to be sure is if you take the stim does it make it you fall asleep.
i know that sounds odd - but if yes, you are almost definitely (in my opinion) ADD. some adders will take adderall for the first time and they just can't keep their eyes open. they crash. sleep for hours. i don't think that a normal would have that reaction.
it doesn't exactly rule it out either btw if you do feel energised either i don't mean to imply that at all... but at least the first result, to me, is far more definitive.
stims make almost all people feel good - except those with high anxiety.
they make people more productive and more focused in general. so it easy to think "ah, i feel so much more energised on these stims - therefore i must have ADD".
not true.
i just wouldn't "dabble". if you go to a good psych they should be able to tell. but at the same time i also feel that YOU should know. i think most ADDers know what they are - it just takes them a while to find the name for it!
what is it that makes you feel you might have ADD?
and don't be scared about getting diagnosed --- it is not a frightening process!
good luck!
How does a psych doctor determine if your have add?? Written tests/blood tests/talk??? It seems to me that there is no absolute way to prove you have this. Aren't a lot of the symptoms similar to a lot of other conditions??
Just curious, I want to get tested but have been thinking a lot about how the testing is done.
I first took my son in to the pediatrician, who spent 5 minutes with him, tested his hearing, asked a few questions. Then the script. I could've had him there to get the meds for me, for all he cared.
Our next PCP offered us to a psychological evaluation. This was more thorough. He did the questionairres of his dad and me, two teachers, and himself. He also asked us both (me and my son) a lot of questions, and took a family history. Then, he did a newish computer test that evaluated attentiveness, and took about 20 minutes. Each of the methods could stand alone, but all three are used to com to a conclusive diagnosis.
We also had the PCP do a thorough physical evaluation with labwork including the zinc and magnesium levels, which are sometimes low in ADHDers.
Some here will suggest a neurophsych eval. The others can chime in on that arena.
It was one of my daughter's teachers that pointed out to me that she seemed to be having a focus problem. I later took her to a psychiatrist that specialized in ADD. He spoke with her at length and then gave her some actual tests involving attention, listening, writing, visual, mathematical etc. and that is how she was diagnosed. It wasn't scarey at all and I'm glad we found out because she is now on a 504 program in school and is doing great. for myself, the moment i read about it. it was a 'eureka' moment.Me too. No doubts. My Dr. interviewed me for about 15-20 minutes and made me see a shrink for eval.
The shrink said, yup, no doubts.
I could have told him without all that trouble.
I for one can sleep on stimulants of most kinds. Coffee in horse-killing doses doesn't keep me awake. However, Ritalin made me speedy at first. My Dr. said he sees this reaction in most patients who take Ritalin. People react differently to meds. I no longer feel speedy at all.
[QUOTE=The Resistance!]I for one can sleep on stimulants of most kinds. Coffee in horse-killing doses doesn't keep me awake. However, Ritalin made me speedy at first.[/QUOTE]
When I first talked to my doctor about ADD, he asked me how much coffee I drink per day. My first thought was "how did he know I drink coffee?!", until I looked down at the cup I was holding in my hand. :p
I told him I average 6-10 cups, which was actually rather conservative. He said that it wasn't surprising, that self-medication with large amounts of caffeine is common among ADDers, and it's one of the things he looks for when he's doing a diagnosis.
I had some speediness and insomnia from both Ritalin and Wellbutrin when I started on them, but not anymore. Stimulants do a good job of getting me going in the morning, which is nice, because I utterly despise mornings. But if I'm tired, they're futile. Either I fall asleep, or I take more in an attempt to stay up, get a bit jittery, and...fall asleep.
I wish there was a blood test because as much as an eye opener it was hearing the doc felt i had it, i still have moments when i think to myself, im just lazy and a loser, meaning bad luck, bla bla bla. In my case, i went in to a new doc becasue my original one was "too busy" and i told him i was done with drugs, i was sick of the anti depressants they had me on for 10 years, and he listened to me for over an hour found, ADHD runs in my blood, (both kids have it) and urged me to consider adderall so anyway i looked into it and symptoms etc. and took the meds, noticed a great difference, how ever short lived and came here and i do feel i have ADD but i have moments when i think its a bunch of crap but once i miss a dose for a few days, or my kids do, holy hell you can see the difference. So if they ever have a blood test i will be the first in line!!
chris r
I WAS REFERED TO A PSYCHOLOGIST AND A NEUROLOGISTGlen!! I wanted to thank you for posting the link for the ADHD test earlier today. I took it, and was way up there for scores. I don't know if this is good or bad, but helps me understand why I feel so inadequate in so many ways when it comes to learning, paying attention, and remembering, of the top three things; why life is so harder for me than my brother. I don't think he caught it, at least not the way I did. I do know that I've spotted some of my difficulties along life and have managed some really great coping skills to avoid total doofdum. I just cannot figure out, if it's genetic, which parent I got it from?
I have a lot to ponder now.................. 
Personally I realized something was up when I tried a friend's strattera prescription for a few weeks, and I was suddenly calm for the first time in my life. Then I found out my mother had been diagnosed (my mother struggled through so many diagnoses through her life, and it wasn't until she got ritalin that things finally began pulling together). After hearing her talk about how she goes through her day and what made the doctors think she had ADHD, I realized I was my mother's child in more ways than one!
When I finally got someone to give me an evaluation (24 years old and two degrees from Stanford, people aren't likely to believe you have it), they did a clinical interview (two ADHD specialists) where they asked me a lot of questions about family, background, symptoms, childhood, etc. They ended the session early actually, after 45 minutes (it's supposed to take 1.5-3 hours) and were like "We'd like to schedule a battery of tests for documentation". Then I went through about 6 hours of cognitive tests. The tests told them everything they needed to know, and I got my official diagnoses afterwards. Though even before I took the tests, they told me it was clear that I was VERY ADD. So for me it was all psychologists. Most people don't go through the tests I went through; I just happened to have a need for documentation.
J
jlady -
the first step you've already taken. You've seen some symptoms listed and said "aha - that sounds like me".
A good next step is taking the tests at www.oneaddplace.com. They have a couple of long, comprehensive tests that are very similar to the one that my psychiatrist gave me. I took them first and was amazed and shocked at how very ADHD I was!
Then I printed out my test and took it to my MD. He referred me to my present psychiatrist who took about 2 hours with me to ask many questions and set up blood workup and history to rule out non-ADHD illness. Once that was done he prescribed me dexedrine and we set up regular therapy sessions.
Hope that helps!
I took a Ritalin today, found I didn't have anything to do when I thought I was going to be VERY busy, and went straight to sleep. :-)