Diagnosing ADHD in an adult

[LeslieKnopefan]

Over the past few years I have become more convinced that I have ADHD and always have done. I wasn’t naughty at school but I was always talking and distraction and after school have struggled to ever fulfil my potential as I get bored and distracted easily and struggle with deadlines.

I also have a lot of other symptoms but won’t go into them here.

I hear that getting diagnosed as as an adult in the U.K. is very tough. Does anyone have any experience? I’ve thought about going private but I’m not sure what’s best.

No advice for getting diagnosed in the UK, as I was diagnosed in Dubai at 34. It's life changing finally having the answers though, so good luck!

I've pm'd you op

It may depend on area to a certain extent, but when I tried through the NHS to get a diagnosis, whilst my GP was happy to refer, that's about as good as it got.

It took nearly a year to get my referral, I talked for about an hour to a psychiatric nurse, I never saw a psychiatrist. I had brought along about 20 pages of evidence I'd written of how I matched the DSM criteria, and although they took it from me, I can't say that they read it and given how quickly they got back to me (that afternoon) I don't think they ever did.

The upshot was that after this discussion, I was told that because I was functional (i.e. I had a job, a marriage and a home) I could not possibly have it. Never mind that those things were suffering badly as a result of not being diagnosed and that was why I was there.

I was told to take up yoga.

Between that appointment, and having big issues at work directly related to failings associated with ADD, and feeling I was never going to be anything other than useless, I ended up on anti-depressants for the first time in my life when what I really needed were stimulants.

Fast forward a year or so and I am seeing a private doctor in London. He hasn't formally diagnosed me yet, but based on all I said and my utter frustration over my wasted potential, was happy to give me a prescription for Elvanse (Vyvanse in the US) to see how it went. It has genuinely has turned everything around for me. It was never an anti-depressant I needed, that was just a sticking plaster that never addressed the cause of the problem to begin with. And now I am currently struggling with the withdrawals from Venlafaxine, which is one of the worst to get off from, but I no longer need it and the side-effects were just making things worse.

If you can afford it, I really would suggest going private. Not just because it's quicker, but because the NHS for the most part seemingly does not have the resources to be interested in adult ADHD except in dire situations. They'd rather pay to mop up the result of a missed diagnosis and unfulfilled potential with anti-depressants which seems counter-intuitive to me, but hey.. it's policy.

Good luck!

I was diagnosed 6 months after one of my children. Our fantastic paed did a bit of a chat with me and referred me to a psychiatrist she works with who specialises in adult diagnoses following child (as it is strongly hereditary).

As part of diagnosis, psychiatrist made me undertake compulsory counselling, to deal with both my diagnosis and child's diagnosis and because as she explained it, often adult ADHD suffers have an event/upset/breakdown in life when stress levels cause their already strained executive function to fail. It was life saving - both the diagnosis and drugs, and the counselling.

Yes, he did do several of the official questionnaires with me during our regular session before prescribing anything. My mother and husband also filled in questionnaires, and I have a son who is diagnosed too. I went to him as he is somebody with a great deal of experience and many, many published research papers, and is also NHS. Health insurance (which I am using) doesn't seem to cover official diagnosis appointments so perhaps this is why he did it this way. It is something I intended to ask about at our next appointment though - maybe he did diagnose me and I didn't realise.

I got diagnosed with add through the nhs, most of them just don't know the procedure but it's becoming more common so I would research and see who your local consultant is x

Oh, totally!! After all, I wasn't on the medication at the time, and like most adults who (possibly, ha!) get diagnosed later in life, I've perfected the art of looking like I've processed something when in fact my brain is a million miles away

To the OP - it may just be I had a really rubbish NHS unit. I have heard of others being told it's all in their head by the same unit (with similar devastating emotional effects) for both ASD and ADHD so maybe my case isn't typical. There are so many damned good NHS doctors out there after all - and they can't all not diagnose unless you're in a ditch (my nurse's words.. seriously..) The paed who diagnosed my DD's ASD was amazing, knew all about masking, knew all the tricks to see round it and talked me through them too. If only I'd seen an equivalent to her as an adult!

I am going private. It's been a massive fight to get in the waiting list for the Asperger service. I can't face it again for ADD so am going private.

I've just taken an online test which suggests I should speak to a doctor as I have quite a high score. Had never occurred tome before but my husband was reading about it today and thought it sounded like me.

Seems to make sense having read more. I'm already on the spectrum with Dyslexia but the reason I'd be interested in help is to do with focus and anxiety.

Looks like it might not be an easy journey. Plus I'm nervous of taking drugs for it.