9 year old prescribed Ritalin, but no diagnosis?!?

[Boo2004boo]

Hi there,

For the past 3 years my daughter has had allsorts of problems at school. CAHMs psych prescribed 20mgs of ritalin straight off after mine and teacher's Conners indicated ADHD combined....and all along school and CAHMs have been leading to ADHD diagnosis....

I casually ask for CAHMs psych to put formal diagnosis in writing and his secretary tells me he will 'discuss' it with me at the next meeting with me and DD....now this just happens to coincide with my application to the loc authy for assessment, call me a cynic but....

Has anyone else heard of this?.
.p.s. he has since upped it to 25mgs....it is only prescribed for ADHD and narcolepsy as far as I can see and she doesn't have narcolepsy....also recommended start dose is 5-10 mgs,

ummmm why is the secretary passing on the messages? Ask to speak to him in person for a start. I know emails are hard to get for camhs but I would write to them instead as a paper trail putting it in black and white.

State in the letter that you are concerned your daughter is on medication to support her needs at 25mg of ritalin. State something like....although no full report has been issued from them are you and your daughter to understand that she now has an official dx of ADHD in order for this medication to be issued and that a full report detailing the diagnoses shall be received shortly?

Put the ball in their court for a reply.

I am confused by your post are you saying she has been on ritalin for 3 years without a dx or is this prescription recent?

start dose is normally 5/10 mgs for about 2 weeks then increase to 20mg etc. I was told a child can have up to 70mg so she is still on a relatively low dose if that puts your mind to rest :)

With or without diagnosis your request should be based on needs so the fact your daughter is on medication could be more important than a diagnosis.

My understanding is that according to NICE guidelines, practitioners aren't allowed to prescribe ADHD medication without a formal diagnosis. That may have changed in the last four years but it's how it was when ds was dxd and prescribed.