Hi polter,hi bertie!
Well i should pre-empt by saying I'm not in the UK so the psychiatrist appointment was paid for so that changes everything imho. It seems that we sit somewhere between the US where a gp can prescribe, and the UK where it's nigh on impossible to even get a referral.
To reiterate what i said on the "adult adhd awareness month" thread, a random conversation with a friend was the first time I'd heard of it. I walked into a book shop and found a copy of Taking Charge of Adult Adhd, by Barkley and read it all that evening. It was scary that all the things i considered my most heinous flaws were covered in such detail and that there was a whole book about them
I made am apt with our female gp as she hasn't laughed at me when I've presented with a couple of confusing things in the past (which both turned out to be illnesses), and she listened very carefully. Bizarrely she has had 2 other 40-something women this year ask her about this, and they are both really happy with their (drug-aided) outcomes. I found someone who works in our public system but also sees private patients, and i thought his cv pretty good. Gp wrote referral and i saw him 6 weeks later.
We spoke for an hour, he asked about specific aspects of my childhood, learning, relationship with family and others; to money and work. .and eventually i did a DSM questionnaire. It didn't seem that long (20 questions? ) but every single one seemed to have been written especially to expose my worst failings 
He went through the statistics of how useful various medicines and therapies, and his experience with"my group" (there's more of me out there!) And I'm starting on lowest dose Ritalin. Not till tomorrow, Saturday, because i might feel odd and want a few hours to see, before having to drive /be responsible for the kids etc.
So that's all so far. Unfortunately i got some terrible news yesterday but that's on another thread, so am concerned that maybe i should wait again till I'm less shocked, distressed. It would be hard to know if any symptoms are side effects or just reasonable reaction to circumstances.
Thanks for reading, of course I'll let you know what it feels like when i start.