ADHS Private Diagnosis Recommendations

[AnythingConsidered]

My beautiful DD15 has been suffering since Mar 2020 with mental health issues. At first we, the school and GP thought it was lockdown related, but are now all aware that it is bigger than that.

She also believes she has ADHD and having done some research, I can see lots of similarities that make that highly likely. Though I can also see some Autistic traits too, but I have literally no experience, limited understanding and no friends with knowledge to support.

She has been referred to CAHMS and Single Point of Access for diagnosis but we have been warned that covid19 has pushed the already 18 month waiting list back by a further 6-9 months.

She has sadly received a £1500 inheritance and has asked it be spent on a private diagnosis before her GCSE's next year. I am so desperate to help her that I'm inclined to agree - but I'm wary of the stories about private diagnosis not being recognised by NHS and therefore impacting on any prescription requirements there might be.

Anyone have any advice on private diagnosis options, the risks, pitfalls, costs etc?

And even better recommendations for companies along or around the M4? Can literally travel anywhere from Cardiff to Slough

Any websites, books, guidance, videos etc that I can look at to help support her?

Arghhh, just seen the typo in the Title. I mean ADHD of course :-(

www.berkshiretherapy.co.uk/

Highly recommended by my DD and me.

Thank you @MelissaVonStressel

please google primitive reflexes not going dormant as this can also result in ADHD and ASD traits that can potentially resolve if they are because of infant reflexes not going dormant.
Do you have health insurance? Some companies can help.
I think you really need to consider what help she will get with a diagnosis. and how she will feel if she doesn't get diagnosed with what she think she has after spending her inheritance on this?
I am wondering if the money might be better spent on therapy to ensure she has coping mechanisms?

Thank you @ittakes2, we don't have private healthcare sadly, but you raise a valid point about what happens if she isn't diagnosed.

This is what me and my DD 15yrs is also going through we have been been on the waiting list for CHAMS but have been advised it can take 2-3 years to be diagnosed with autism/adhd which is mind blowing! I am also tempted to look into private diagnosis but have been informed it will cost me around £3000.00 and there is also a waiting list now of 7 months and then at the end its hard to receive any treatment plan from the NHS so you would need to pay private for any medication ect. Have you managed to get any help yet with your daughter? My DD is now being home schooled as she is unable to cope with school but this also has its challenges and unfortunately I feel all of this will have a massive impact of her education due to her GSCE being next year.

Hi! I just wrote a huge post and it got deleted
My daughter was diagnosed by Psychiatry UK. I think it cost £800 for the assessment + about £200 for follow up appointment, prescription charge etc. The actual medication itself is expensive. My dd didn't suit the first one we tried and had to move onto another which is more ££. I think I've spent around £600 on meds so far. I'm hoping that she will be settled and passed onto GP before I have to buy any more. I checked with my GP before going to this company and they said they would accept the diagnosis so I'm hoping that will work out!

If I had the money, I would get ADHD coaching for my DD once the medication is settled.

She has a very supportive school and is on course to get 2 highers (Scotland) this year after I honestly thought she would not be able to get any so we are grateful for that.

The assessment involved quite a lot of paperwork. We had to fill in lots of forms and questionaires, and get these filled in by school as well. I was really worried about her not getting the diagnosis as she had also pinned her hopes on it, but it was quite straightforward in the end. We had a one hour video call with the doctor.

What helped us was getting the NHS symptom list and noting down examples from DDs Life / experience for each of the symptoms. This way we were fairly confident that she would get a diagnosis (and that we wouldn't be throwing money away).

The prescription gets sent in the post and I found the best thing to do was to phone round pharmacies to check they have the meds in stock and that they are ok to dispense a private prescription. I've found they are generally really helpful.

I hope that's useful - I'm happy to answer any qs about it if I've missed anything out!