ADHD medication for teen DD, how??

[harbourlightsbaby]

Teen DD has ADHD which was diagnosed privately a while ago. She is really struggling with her college course, finds it hard to sit and do course work and to focus in class, sit still etc. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the difficulties that she experiences because of her ADHD and she is becoming more and more frustrated by these difficulties. She spoke to her GP about ADHD medication as she would like to speak to someone about perhaps trying it, she says that the GP said she could either, go on the waiting list for the NHS, but the waiting list is long and she will have finished college before she is seen. Or she goes private, but then she would have to stay as a private patient for ADHD medication for the rest of her life (or for the duration that she stayed on medication).

Unfortunately she did not want me to go with her to see the DR so I was not able to ask any questions and of course DD didn't ask any. I was wondering what other people's experiences have been. Is this true? You either go on the NHS or if you go private you have to stay private. Apparently a private prescription can cost between £90 and £150 a month. That's a lot of money if you stay private for ever. I'm a bit confused by it all tbh!

Hi, a family member went from private to NHS. Got on waiting list for cahms but did a private diagnosis & meds in the meantime.
Cahms wouldn't prescribe based on a private diagnosis- so they were eventually re-assessed by cahms & are now prescribed via the NHS. They paid for meds privately for about 2 years while waiting to move up the cahms list. So in their case, it was possible.

However, your daughters age could mean assessment by adult cahms if she was 18 by the time she reached the top of the list - adult cahms can have even longer wait lists. My advice would be to do the NHS referral asap.There's a very useful thread on here with people who can probably advise better than me- i think it's titled adhd medications.

Many GPs will not take on shared care when medication has been initiated privately now. With a private diagnosis, the options would be to continue private treatment or request to be referred to the NHS. The latter would have a wait and, depending on the provider who diagnosed and the provider you have been referred to, they may want to reassess.

Ask if they do shared care. We did that but I’m in Oxfordshire. Private diagnosis but then the medication got handed over to the GP once the medication was working/the right one. Elvanse has been a game changer for DD16….been on it since she was 11 schoool days only

Get on the NHS list while you’re waiting. It seems ages away but it will come around
The damage caused by dds wait on NHS was heart breaking but in my personal opinion I was doing her no favours long term with a private diagnosis

My dd(16) has just been diagnosed through Right to Choose pathway. Our GP said meds will go through this private company until she’s settled, than the GP takes over.