Is it worth getting a diagnosis of ADD in middle age?

[Anonymum40]

My husband aged 51, suffers terribly with anxiety and recently I've realised he probably has ADD having read up about it.

Is it worth persuing a diagnosis and would this affect the medication he might be given by the doctor? He has been given beta-blockers in the past for stress and anxiety.

Just wondering if anyone had any experience??

@RavingAnnie - yes, via Psychiatry UK website. I was able to select that I wanted an ADHD specialist and took one of the earliest appointments available.

I have wondered about this. For years I am sure I fit the ADD categories and lurked in some facebook groups.

Then my daughter was diagnosed autistic and some questions were raised by friends who work in the area if I was. I still think I fit ADD better but there could be overlap.

Doctor didn't really take it seriously (I'm v bright/ high achieving academically so come across well - but work/health/fitness/home wise failing all around.)

It really irks me that people think this is just some behaviourial thing that you can casually take or leave. A label it is not. It has defined my entire life and I never knew why until recently. There isn't one part of my life it hasn't impaired - mental health, relationships, addiction, money, jobs, friendships, physical health, day to day coping, energy... all of it. It is never not there. I am so thankful I now know, and am medicated. I have a similar journey now with my DS but I'm glad he has options open to him that I never did.

@dogsonlead, you've summed it up perfectly. I was actually shocked and upset at how much this has impacted on me and for how bloody long.

I started putting it all in a spreadsheet - childhood, teens, twenties, thirties and forties with headings of home, education, work, physical health and listing of stand out incidents against diagnostic criteria and was utterly shocked. How could Mum not see there was something wrong early on? Why was I shamed by so many instead of them asking me if I was OK/needed help? Or if they did how would I have even responded?

I think more than anything I need some validation. I'm not lazy, I'm not a shirker, I'm not useless - I have sodding executive functioning problems, I'm always firefighting and in constant hypervigilance, my short term memory is crap but I can remember things going back to childhood. I need this fixing via medication. I'm just sorry I didn't pursue this years ago.

Sorry for the essay but sometimes when that stream of consciousness pours out I have to go with it.

Good luck, everyone.

I really wish there was a way to self refer for assesment. Without going privately.

I went private got a diagnosis in a few weeks

The gap between what's accessible if you have money and what is accessible if you don't is so huge isn't it. I guess in so many areas.

The first question here is a great guide to getting referred on the NHS. You probably need to be a bit pushy than you would idealy like to be.

aadduk.org/faq/

Just found this thread - I have been referred for assessment to a private service under NHS Right to Choose. In essence it means that the NHS pays for your assessment to be done privately, and then once you are established on the right meds they enter a shared care agreement with your GP.

Quicker than NHS, even if you are lucky enough to live in an area with an adult ADHD service, and a darn sight cheaper than private, as in free.

I am 57. The first time it occurred to me thatI might have ADHD was a couple of years ago, in a procrastination support group. Then someone else suggested it on a thread about binge eating - 2 problems common in people with ADHD. Then a colleague told us he had been diagnosed, I read his blog, and recognised myself. Then I joined a fb group for women with ADHD, and when I read their posts it felt like they were living my life and reading my mind.

At this point, I don’t know for sure if I have ADHD. I need to get around to completing those forms before I can make an appointment for my assessment. And I don’t know how much difference medication would make, and in any case I am retiring early anyway.

But I think the understanding and validation would make a big difference to me. It would explain why, no matter how hard I try, I always slip back into disorganisation, start 100 things and you’re lucky if I finish one, and am constantly on the last minute with stuff because I was busy doing something else entirely irrelevant.

I mentioned it to my doctor (about adhd and autism) after my daughter was diagnosed autistic. I was there due to binge eating/depression/chronic fatigue (ME diagnosed yesrs ago no cause.) But was dismissed.

I went to a good uni, am articulate and present myself well even when spending weeks not leaving my room/showering etc - which I think goes against me with the doctors.

I would love to see if adhd meds would help with concentration and regularion around food (although maybe my size would be a contraindication.)

I really don't think I will get anywehre with my dr. Ive been in every couple of years for help with exhaustion/disordered eating/depression and variously been offered antidepressants/anti anxiety/iapt/gym for 12 weeks.

Now years later I'm bigger I get the impressjon they think all my problems are due to my size (which certainly compounds things). Im wary of looking like an anxious patient who keeps thinkign theres soemthing wrong with them rather than someone whose desperately not functioning and trying to work out why.

Hence wishing I could go independently.

My DH was diagnosed about 18 months ago. He went privately. Was prescribed some meds. Can’t remember the name, but I can tell if he’s been taking them or not. He is much more rational and level headed when he’s on the meds and a bit of a grumpy bastard when he isn’t (there are side effects, so he tends to dip in and out of taking them) I think having the diagnosis has helped us both understand him better. He is extremely high functioning, so from the outside I think most people think he is extremely intelligent and very work focused.

I think it has been helpful to get a diagnosis. For starters I don't have to waste so much time thinking - How the heck did I forget that??? or Why did I put THAT in the fridge??? The mystery is solved. Diagnosis and understanding isn't a cure but an explanation and an opportunity.

For those of you in England, there is something called NHS Right to Choose. If you can find a private ADHD assessment service which has a contract with any CCG in the country, then you can ask to be referred to them, even if your own CCG doesn’t have a contract with them. Your GP may not know about this, or may claim that they have to get CCG approval, but as things stand, they don’t.

I’m using Psychiatry-UK, which is a purely online service. They have become busy lately because loads of people have found out about them! But still a lot quicker than waiting 2-3 years for an NHS referral.