Private adult ADHD/ADD assessment - any recommendations (London)?

[Rivvit]

My teen DS was diagnosed with ADHD last year, and after reading about presentation of ADHD/ADD in women, I'm starting to suspect that I might have ADD and I'm considering getting assessed.

I'm early 50s, with a lifelong history of disorganisation and severe procrastination, chronically behind and underachieving in my career and forever winging it with panic-induced hyperfocus as deadlines loom. However I don't have typical symptoms of hyperactivity and tend to get borderline scores on general ADHD screening questionnaires, so I'm nervous about getting an assessment in case the verdict is that I don't have ADD after all and I'm back to thinking that I'm just hopeless at life.

I'm fortunate to be able to afford a limited sum for a private assessment, but all of the clinicians I've found who specialise in ADHD in women are beyond my budget and I'm struggling to know how to choose between the ADHD clinicians I can afford. I have looked at Psychiatry UK but they currently have a long waiting list and aren't taking private bookings for adult ADHD assessment at the moment anyway.

Does anyone have experience of any of the clinicians at The ADHD Centre? Or can recommend any other private clinics for online assessment of ADD/ADHD in women?

Due to the waiting lists, I’ve gone with the ADHD Clinic. The appointment is next week. I’ll report back. Or at least try to remember to!

My diagnosis choices are probably ADHD or hopeless at life too. I score reasonably highly on hyperactivity in screeners (and higher on inattentiveness). But you don’t have to have any of the hyperactivity to have ADHD - two of my colleagues (both women) have diagnoses of the inattentive type.

In thinking of myself, I keen thinking they seem to have the less crap (to everyone else, not themselves!) kind. I feel like I’ve got all the characteristics of properly annoying ADHD.

Following with interest as am also at the stage of wondering if I should get a diagnosis but mine is slightly complicated by the fact that 18 months ago I was diagnosed with CPTSD which turned out to be pretty unhelpful so I’m a bit burnt by psychiatry 😬

I’ve read ‘women and ADD’ by Sari Solden which is brilliant and have just started her ‘Radical guide for women with ADHD.’ Both are really helpful for understanding how having these difficulties affects your self esteem and how women often end up just feeling like it’s their own fault.

Try ADHD Surrey
i got my ADHD dx here. Lovely man too.

Thanks for the recommendation @Redheadredemption I spoke to him today and he sounds like such a lovely guy. He is booking appointments for October now so am going to see if I can get something a bit sooner.

Harley Psychologists did mine very efficient

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. Unfortunately ADHD Surrey is the wrong side of London for me, and Effra Clinic have closed their waiting lists at the moment due to high demand, so am still looking.

@ShijoKingo, your comment on HRT is interesting. I do think there might be a hormonal component to my "boom and bust" cycles of high-energy productivity followed by paralysis and procrastination. Unfortunately HRT is not going to be an option because I can't take it for medical reasons.

@rainbowninja, thank you for the Sari Solden book suggestions, hadn't come across these before. I'm now reading "Women and ADD" which is very good. I really relate to some of the stories and scenarios, but not at all to others. Does anyone else find the same? I can't work out whether this is common due to the range of ways that ADD/ADHD can present, or whether I should take it as a sign that the diagnosis doesn't fit.

For example, I was academically high-achieving at school and university (very motivated by academic success and found it relatively easy to study subjects I enjoyed when the "boundaries" of what I needed to know were clearly defined by a syllabus). But I have struggled hugely with making my way in a career where I need to be very self-directed to initiate and complete projects, to the point where I am clearly "behind" similar-potential peers in terms of career progression. So the scenarios involving educational difficulties don't really resonate, though I think there were more subtle signs of difficulty as a child (introverted, would spend much of my leisure time reading voraciously, avoidant of stressful situations like making appointments via phone call, a few sensory issues).

But I really relate to ADD/ADHD stories about overload, procrastination, the burden of trying to achieve and maintain an organised physical environment, not understanding how other people can just sit down and get stuff done without a massive effort to "get in the zone"...

Hi @Rivvit,

glad you are finding the book useful and yes I am similar, some of the case studies have had me practically in tears as I realise that there is a name for what I have experienced and others I can’t relate to but I guess it would be fair to assume that even one condition can present in many different ways as we are all unique after all!

Interesting what others have said about the link with hormones. I was recently diagnosed as ‘estrogen dominant’ and realised that there is lots of overlap in symptoms - inability to concentrate etc. I saw someone at the Marion Gluck hormone clinic and she was great. Put me on a gentle hormone cream but also said to try and eat 2 portions of cruciferous vegetables a day (tough when you don’t have the organisational skills to do it 😂).

Dr Liam Parsonage (at the priory in north London, or private practise) does assessments for adults, I can really recommend him

Haven’t booked an ADD assessment yet but just thought I’d add that I have a biomedical screening tomorrow with The Key Clinic, hoping to get some answers from a holistic perspective. I already know I have a zinc and B6 deficiency and sounds like this is common in people with ADHD. Happy to feedback if anyone interested.

After doing a fair bit of research and looking into recommendations made to me on here I have decided to go with I AM Psychiatry U.K. www.iampsychiatry.uk (not to be confused with Psychiatry U.K!)

They do a pre-assessment and require you to send through a lot of information about your symptoms and how you were as a child (because you'll have always struggled with ADHD it's not something you develop). They take a look at your supporting evidence and tell you whether it's likely you would have adhd and would benefit from an assessment.

I don't mean to discredit the ADHD Surrey clinic, but it looks like the man's experience is mainly as an ADHD pharmacist. Dr Iqbal is a psychologist with a lot more experience in treating ND issues and could probably offer more support and advice than the Surrey one. He gets glowing reviews on Google as well. I've not looked into the others recommended in this post.

One thing I will say is that my husbands friend is an NHS Dr in a hospital and diagnoses and treats adult ADHD. (I didn't want to be treated by anyone I knew) He said that he's found a lot of private ADHD clinics are piping up and are there basically to take your money and then happy to just give you medication but it may not be the right treatment / diagnosis for you. I'm not saying that's the case for any of these. But just good to be aware and consider all credentials and experience to find the right Dr for you before booking.

Funny you should mention the Marion Gluck clinic. I had an initial online appointment with her a year ago. I still keep forgetting to get the blood tests she requires for further investigation 🤦🏼‍♀️

Hi @adhdforme, good luck with the psychologist you have found. I had also concluded that I was a bit suspicious of services that were offering quick appointments with no pre assessment.

Ive just done the DUTCH test to check my estrogen metabolism. Not sure what it’s likely to tell me but will report back if it’s helpful. Quite a feat for someone with suspected ADD as it involves several saliva and urine samples at specific times on one day 😬

I went with the Dyad clinic in Harley street. There is a shorter waiting list for the slightly more junior doctor if that helps

How are you getting on @Rivvit?

I’ve managed to book an assessment next week with Dr. Katie Bebb. Only communicated via email but seems very friendly and happy to report back.

Hello! I just wondered how everyone was getting on on this thread?

I had an initial ‘screening’ and was told that my scores didn’t meet the threshold for ADHD but was told that that can happen in female presentation of ADD. Psychologist suggested I could have traits of both ADHD and ASD and that they can then compete against each other. The upshot of it was, it’s more complicated than I thought!