I am 52 years old and was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of months ago by my primary doctor. She treated me for anxiety and depression for years with medications but had no luck. This led to the ADHD diagnosis. I am now waiting to see a physiatrist to confirm it after weeks of trying to find an appointment. I found this website through work and it has helped me drastically. Reading everyone's stories and struggles has greatly helped me deal with my own struggles. I read a post about supplements and checked my diet for potential deficiencies. I started to take a magnesium supplement after finding this was most lacking in my diet and my anxiety and depression have all but disappeared. While I still have issues with focusing it has been much more controllable. I wanted to post when I first found this site but I have never done well on social websites. The fact that I am posting now is a new beginning for me. I just can't thank everyone enough on this site for the information and inspiration you have shared.
Lynn
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Congrats! Sounds you're on the right track. (I was 47 when finally diagnosed). Finding the right Rx may be a trial and error process. They (Dr's) can't tell which ADHD Rx will work for you, nor at what dosage. Male/female, height, weight, age, etc, doesn't relate to ADHD Rx and how you as an individual will respond. Keep going. Once you find the right Rx, you may be surprised at how much improves your life in several ways.
One last thing, if the psychiatrist (or any other Mental Health Pro) you see makes you feel worse than when you walked in, or you can't talk to them, etc.....RUN! Find a different one. Keep trying to you find one that's normal, you can talk to, and that you 'click' with.
That’s awesome Lynn, my story and ago almost exactly matches yours, I too started the magnesium and have just started adhd meds, about a week in, and this have taken another step for the better. Good luck and keep pressing for a diagnosis.Regards
great advice about finding a good treatment provider.
it always irks me that family medical providers seem to have no problem diagnosing depression and anxiety and will continue to trial n error every combo of SSRI’s and mood stabilizers, etc…. for years… but when ADHD is identified, these same family doctors somehow think it is out of their scope and refer us ADHD’ers to specialist, n specialized tests, n long burdensome processes, etc. geez! i personally have never experienced this difficulty but as i read thru posts i see that it is very common.
if there are any doctors or PNP’s, etc reading this right now- can you please speak to why this may be?
Side effect profile, namely BP and cardiac. And potential dependence. No such problems with SSRIs/SNRIs and some other antidepressants/anti-anxiety meds. And here in the UK GPs aren't allowed to initiate stimulants. Only after formal so called shared care agreements.
Thank you for your response but that is incorrect. SSRIs and mood stabilizers have tons of known side effects. also, dependence does occur with SSRI’s n mood stabilizers too- that is why it us highly recommended to not just stop your meds on your own snd instead taper down slowly under a doctors supervision.
i am in USA- the rules in medical practice seem to be different than in UK. In USA, we have no rule about a family doctor not being able to diagnose ADHD.
Side effects with stimulants can be serious in a higher percentage of patients than with ssri/snri. That's the point I was making. And it's the cardiac effects and raised BP that are the reason GPs would be weary. Then, what you describe is not dependence but rebound depression/anxiety which can happen due to the short half life of ssri/snri so abrupt stop needs to be avoided.
Fluoxetine has a long half life for example and is the one ssri that can actually be stopped abruptly.
It's around longer and therefore reduces its level in your blood more slowly.
Dependence means withdrawal symptoms every time you try to stop, a buzz or other pleasurable sensation which turns into the opposite as the drug wears off, the return of the buzz when you take the drug etc, so craving develops and eventually obtaining the drug becomes the primary most important thing. This does not happen with ssri etc. It happens obviously with opioids. And some people do get dependent on immediate release stimulants.
I think with everything that GPs do there is a chance of over/underdiagnosis. With things such as ADHD where there are secondary gains patient pressure is also a big issue here. Specialists can hold up knowledge against that and are also more respected.
A GP here who would diagnose I don't have ADHD I'd easily force to refer me.
Or force into making a diagnosis and prescribe. Thus is the culture here unfortunately.
My Psychiatrist/psychologist sniffed it out between the lines of my description of my difficulties and then took me through a rigorous set of scores - several national and international - as well as lots of other questions. It was very detailed and took a lot of time. A GP may or may not do that. Or do it more superficially.
You could argue both ways but being a GP myself I know how and under what circumstances we work and more importantly how much we generally know. As a GP you may know more about a thing or two but generally your in-depth knowledge is limited. There are just too many pathologies. To be sure I am accurately diagnosed and I get best and most up to date knowledge I'd prefer a specialist. For follow up with certain monitoring requirements a GP is ok.
Sorry, I'm jumping back and forth a bit .
From a patient perspective I much prefer my GP prescribing and informing themselves on what they don't know.
As a GP I know it's not so simple. The medicolegal implications for prescribers are also not to be underestimated. If something happens as a result of your prescription and you could have referred but didn't then all hell breaks loose. And you may have a person on your conscience.
If I'd be given the time to train myself up in the field of ADHD and be given the time during consultations to go through all the complexities with diagnosis, first second third drug etc I might agree to prescribe the first and maybe still second drug and refer when 2 treatment attempts fail. It may come to that one day.
But before that there are details and updates on many many other conditions I need to know about for the sake of being useful.
Hey Hominid711,thanks for the explanation from a general doctor point of view. the politics in the medical field are unfortunate.
mood stabilizers such as geodon have horrible side effects when a person stops taking them. i know from personal experience. like countless other intelligent educated women, i was diagnosed with bipolar disorder for years before the medical profession decided i had ADHD n not bipolar at all. i spent many years taking mood stabilizers and antipsychotic meds and they made me way worse- GP’s , psychiatrists, PNP’s, DO’s, they all just kept increasing doses of mood stabilizers and ant psychotics , and switching them and trying different combinations, taper off one while trying another. it led to toxicity, hospitalization, wicked side effects, and very little quality of life. After the ADHD diagnosis, bipolar was then ruled out, and i was directed to to start tapering off my extraordinary high dose of geodon. i was sooo pissed off at my 8 yrs hell of being improperly diagnosed with bipolar that i just decided to stop taking all my geodon at once. to outsiders it looked like an opiate withdrawal. except wayyy longer. my new psychiatrist told me it was dangerous to detox like that on my own. i no longer respected the western medical practice. i took the reigns on my care. It was a terrible withdrawl n a terrible 8 year journey!
that is why i say detoxing from antidepressants and mood stabilizers is way worse than detoxing from any type of stimulant. detoxing n withdrawal of a stimulant obviously sucks but its not dangerous and its very short term. sure it causes irritability, anxiety, discomfort, its just not a big deal compared to mood stabilizers n some SSRI’s.
im a social worker who specializes in drug n alcohol counseling in the USA. our American drug n alcohol detox programs do not even accept patients detoxing from amphetamines or stimulants like crack or coke or any stimulant fir that matter. Clients do in fact find ways to get around that bc detoxing from a long time out of control crack or any stimulant abuse is extremely uncomfortable due to the anxiety it brings.
What i described above about stimulant abuse n dependence is NOTHING like what ADHD’ers experience occasionally when we cant or choose not to take our daily dose of adderrall or whatever stimulant we take. can we agree on that?
Also, you are a GP and fellow ADHD’er, I am very interested in understanding what you meant by a person with ADHD having “ secondary gains” by taking stimulants.
Also, i really appreciate you weighing in in all this and sharing your unique perspective as both an ADHD’er and GP. I imagine that the politics n constraints put on medical professionals robs the joy of being in the profession to begin with. I know it does in the USA. we have such a shortage of American trained MD’s that it seems like the majority are from the middle east region because they can easily get work clearance to be in the USA n practice medicine. also, due to middle eastern culture, they are less likely to be bothered by the overly cumbersome insurance nightmare in America. Thats a whole new topic tho! lol
I believe primary care physicians struggle to diagnose this because it truly is out of their scope of expertise - and expertise is what we want and deserve - and I personally feel respected when I get referred. I also think it's still a new phenomenon to diagnose adults with ADHD because it so commonly gets diagnosed in childhood.
I hear you- but primary doctors do not have an “ expertise” . Thats why they are general practitioners. and GP’s do not have a problem prescribing meds for bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, etc… right? those are far more complex than ADHD. if we wanted to get down to it, ADHD isnt a learning disability, nor a mental health issue- its a neurological disorder so therefore shouldn't a neurologist be the medical professionals to prescribe ADHD medication? Do you think psychiatrist get special training in ADHD? There is just no consistency.
OK, sorry Wtf, only just getting round to the promised reply.
I can imagine you jumping off high dose Gedeon must have been hell!
Obviously this is not just withdrawal but withdrawal cold and abrupt and from an antipsychotic and therefore far removed from any discussion of ADHD drug prescribing vs non-prescribing, the why/why not, and the yet again rather different SSRI/SNRI issue.
Drug/alcohol Psychiatry another mind-boggling speciality.
It's all very complex and challenging and apart from them not exactly being my hobby horses I know why I'm not working in those areas.
I don't think I'd have enough stamina.
GPs are indeed generalists, not specialists and here even the so called GPSPIs - GPs with special interest - will in the majority never know nearly as much as a specialist about their special field.
In the UK we GPs prescribe SSRIs, Venlafaxine, Mirtazapine and Duloxetine and that's it. And that mainly because of the high prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms and the fact we don't have enough psychiatrists and psychologists/counsellors/psychological therapies to refer patients to/for. Hence "needs must" as they say here and you can imagine this is not a great reason to prescribe. But at least we can offer something relatively quickly if patients want to try them.
I guess there is a lot of over- as well as underprescribing going on.
Mood stabilisers including antipsychotics and all other ie anti-epileptics, Lithium etc are all no-go areas for us. Not allowed. Medico-legally not covered either.
And stimulants. And in my opinion for good reasons. Just not enough knowledge. Don't want to go there.
Also as already said not my main interest, sorry.
I'd rather "do" acute pain - not chronic, no, thanks, and not detox - and obviously all the "physical" or OTHER physical stuff. Basically acute but stable surgical and medical presentations as we have them in the urgent care centres.
Which doesn't mean I don't rise to the challenge if someone is in need of sorting out something urgent like e.g. a flare up or exacerbation within their chronic situation. I just don't particularly like tinkeringwith chronic illness anymore and mostly don't have to.
That's people's GP where they are registered and go back to if/when they get one. If not, they come to us.
And yes, agree, ADHD should probably be in the hands of Neurology but there is overlap with Psychiatry.
All of that is quite reglemented in the UK anyway.
Thank you for your post. I am wondering if you’re willing to share what kind of magnesium you started taking and how much. I have never noticed a dramatic change when I supplement, but often wonder if I’m taking the wrong kind of magnesium, or not enough. And, of course since I have ADHD, I struggle to take it consistently.
I am using Doctor's Best high absorption magnesium and so far I haven't had any digestive issues. They are 100mg tablets and I take 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. I still can't believe the difference it has made for me. I bought it at a local vitamin shop but they are not hard to find online.
May I ask what specific differences this product has made for you?
I take high-quality multi-vitamins and minerals but I never notice any physical or mental improvements, so I think I'll buy this product and see if it can confirm or deny that I might have an absorption issue.
I have taken supplements most of my life and didn't think much about it until my diagnosis. Even with my supplements I wasn't getting much magnesium. My wife read about this brand of magnesium and I decided to try it. I didn't have any expectations since I was still just exploring my recent diagnosis and waiting for my first appointment with the psychiatrist. The main difference has been my anxiety and depression. I still have challenges focusing on things but it isn't near as bad with my anxiety under control. My mind just isn't racing as fast as it was before. I am sleeping better than I have ever slept before. I don't understand how this is possible given all the years of doctor appointments, blood tests and medications that a simple supplement can make such a difference. I know I am lucky to have found some relief, I just hope this feeling doesn't go away any time soon. Lynn
Hello Lynn. I'm glad you can comfort yourself after finding this website. I hope same thing happen to me. The reason I read your comment is, you are similar to my age and situation. I was diagnosed as ADHD on May this year, and have been having depression and eating disorders for years. I've been thinking I might be grey zone of ADHD but didn't think truely ADHD. Recently I have kits of difficulty in my life, and jumped into to see a doctor,, it was so impulsive action. The doctor said my depression,eating disorders, anxiety, all are from ADHD. I took WAIS test and officially (is it right English?) ADHD.
I haven't noticed because I've been in Australia, I'm a English learner, all my life difficulties were from language barriers,, that's my thought. But after coming back to my country, I'm more struggling deal with my life with my mother tongue. I'm here to read everyone's story as reading in English helped me to calm myself, and have time to understand comment,, I can have one step to understand ADHD, I have rest before getting information. So please forgive my bad English.
Hi. I was wondering if you had seen the physiatrist yet. If you could share, what did he tell you. (Also, what was he/she like to deal with?). All in all, how are you doing?
My appointment is in two weeks. I'm am stressing a little about it because I don't know what will happen. Overall I'm doing fine, started exercising, trying to learn how to meditate. Thanks for asking. I hope you find some relief soon. Also your English is good!
He should ask good questions related to what you're seeing him for. He's the expert. Of course, you can ask questions as well. Just be yourself. Tell him how you feel , think, etc.If he makes you feel bad (or worse) about yourself, or doesn't seem to be asking the right questions, you probably need to find a different Some Psychiatrist, some of them, are just weird.
Hello, thank you for your sharing, I think changing the habit and diet help you to control your ADHD, also I suggest you do mindfulness, guided meditation, and breathing techniques. It will slow down your body-mind connection, and you will start making more conscious decisions in a day. The most crucial thing is that a person needs to organize daily goals, and I advise my client to use a notebook or an electronic device to make a daily routine.
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