I’m an ADHD assessor that has ADHD - AMA

[DisabledNurseofTiktok]

This topic was incredibly popular on another social media site so I thought I would open it up here!

Im an Advanved Nurse Practitioner that assesses, diagnoses and treats ADHD. I have ADHD, and my daughter has ADHD.

if you have any questions about right to choose, assessments, treatments, or just ADHD in general ask away!

Do you work for the NHS or a private provider? How long are your waiting lists at the moment?

Do you think there is a risk that we are now over-diagnosing adhd or do you think we're just playing catch-up because it was under-diagnosed for so long?

Strongly suspect my dd has inattentive type is that the one that meds can help? I’m awaiting diagnosis for her she’s 13, already has AsD but wish we’d ask for adhd assessment first as meds I think would really help her.

What does the assessment consist of? What kind of questions? My sister got diagnosed and I think it was just one one hour appointment. Is that all it is?

I'm on an ADHD page, and it's very interesting how Elvanse (for eg) can have such different reactions in different people. Is it possible that some do not have ADHD and that's why the medication has no effect ?

Following. What could you tell me about the cross over with adhd and dyslexia? Does dyslexia make it harder to get an accurate adhd diagnosis?

Feel free to scroll on by, I expect I’m not the only one bored of your dismissive posts on threads that you claim have no interest to you.

My Ds has ADHD - I have a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder - it fits to be honest . There is a lot of trauma in my life but aware of co morbidity and genetics .

is it harder to assess an adult .( this is been looked at by Cmht right now )

perfect response!

What proportion of the people you see don’t end up with a diagnosis of ADHD. I’ve never heard of anyone getting as far as being assessed that’s ended up not having ADHD.

I work for a private provider.

Wait times vary between area and referral route (sorry I know that’s an extremely wooly answer but with all of the variables it’s not possible to give an average).

I believe ADHD is still massively under diagnosed along with autism, particularly in women and girls.

Medication can help both inattention and hyperactivity. Girls tend to have more subtle signs of hyperactivity - look out for hair twirling, picking or biting nails, rubbing their face, smoothing their clothes, or clenching their hands together.

Yes the assessment can be conducted rather quickly with an experienced clinician. Most providers use the DIVA-5 assessment which is widely available online and is a combination of questions and observation.

I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend.
i have two friends who never used to be late, lose things etc etc and since paying to get a diagnosis they use it as a constant excuse for everything and are behaving differently to how they were before. Would you say this is because they were masking? I find it very annoying.

How do you know if presentations aren’t caused by their environment, like lack of sleep, diet, excessive screen time, or by being exposed to abuse etc

My understanding from practice is that Elvanse is better for patients that exhibit dopamine seeking behaviours due to the effect Elvanse has in increasing dopamine, whereas methylphenidate simply releases the dopamine that is already there. There is a small number of patients that medication doesn’t work for, and in my opinion (this isn’t fact!) it could be because they have such a huge dopamine deficit there isn’t enough dopamine for them to release and therefore improve symptoms. I don’t believe it’s a misdiagnosis.

I don’t have any difficulties assessing patients for ADHD that also have dyslexia. There does seem to be a correlation with neurodiversity and dyslexia however! Why that is, I’m uncertain.

You should be aware that many women are misdiagnosed with BPD when they actually have neurodivergence. The best advice I can give you is to get assessed for both!

Thanks it’s interesting understanding how the meds work. I believe it’s very undiagnosed in girls seeing the struggles of my youngest dd. I suspect it’s amplified because although both DH and I are not diagnosed we both have all the markers so both our kids got double genetics. Our eldest excels nationally in her sport using hours and hours of training to manage. In her sports club it’s interesting observing huge numbers of kids using high intensity sport to manage how their brains are wired.

I've been told my dc can't have adhd because they can focus when they want too (I.e hyperfocus). Do you think such opinions are outdated?

I have personally given people a nil diagnosis but it is rare. That’s because by the time people get in front of an assessor they have been screened so heavily it’s likely they have ADHD.

My son has been diagnosed. How do I motivate him. He is using the diagnosis as an excuse to not do anything (he also has been depressed previously). I am to blame for everything

No you’re describing autism