Disclaimer: I’m referring the the US medical system, but I imagine people in other countries may encounter similar things.
I cannot be the only one who has had this experience, but all my dealings with the medical industry feel like they were refined by a group of psychologists to exploit the weaknesses of those with ADHD.
The volume of calls, appointments, and paperwork I had to full out to get a diagnosis and prescription for treatment is completely unreasonable to expect someone with poor working memory and attention issues to navigate.
Then, to stay on medication, you need to schedule and make appointments with a psychiatrist every month, for the rest of your life, and if you miss a single one, you will run out of meds (and likely charged a fine), which will make it even harder to remember to make the next one. If you miss too many, that psychiatrist will refuse to see you again and you have to go back to your PCP to get a new referral.
Look, I understand that their time is valuable, but this system couldn’t be designed any other way to be more accommodating to people who clinically forget things?!
It’s like designing a wheelchair ramp that’s actually just stairs that are 3x as steep as the regular stairs. Also, if you fall to the bottom, someone takes your wheelchair until you can climb back up.
Germany here. It’s kind of similar here. The system is rigged against us.
My strategy is to use medication to enable me to build a support structure and learn techniques that help with dealing with symptoms. E. g. meditation, physical exercises that help mind-body connection, CBT, routines, etc. So that when I’m without meds, I can fall back on skills I acquired and trained.
What I also do is hoard medication. Ask for a higher dose or more pills, than I actually need. That way I can miss an appointment and still have enough for the next month or so. I even hide pills in different places around my apartment.
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Treatment for ADHD is meditation.
Sorry you got downvoted so much, because you’re not 100% wrong. Meditation can actually help with some ADHD symptoms, however
- Meditation can be especially difficult for those with ADHD, because it requires doing the exact thing their brain has trouble doing. If you are able to overcome that hurdle, it can be very helpful—exercising a part of your brain that is underdeveloped. But “just meditate” is useless advice for many people.
- This comes across as dismissive to the original post, which is about healthcare systems not just lacking accommodation, but full of extra challenges for the most vulnerable. There is much more to ADHD treatment than medication. For example, many people, especially those who went undiagnosed, have years of trauma to unravel, and therapy comes with all these same challenges.
I have ADHD. Nothing has helped me but meditation. Of course it’s difficult. That’s not an excuse to not help yourself and treat the symptoms instead of the disease. People are so quick to accept a diagnosis and believe there is something wrong with them that can’t be fixed and use that perspective as a basis to over medicate themselves. It’s completely unnecessary. Regular meditation physically restructures the brain and can repair the abnormalities that cause ADHD. I know this for a fact. I guarantee not a single person downvoting me has tried meditation in any serious capacity, or done any research on its effectiveness. Imagine if people actually put effort into helping themselves instead of doping themselves with amphetamines!
Shoutout to ADHDcentral. They tried to make the process as clear and accessible as possible. With automated reminders.
What is this? I searched this in Brave search and got like no relevant results.
I’m curious as well. This is the closest relevant result I got, sadly it is for The Netherlands.
As someone with unmedicated ADHD and a severe heart condition, I feel this rant deep, deep in my soul but more for my heart stuff.
You mean I have to call for follow ups every three months and also remember to fill my multiple medications every month or else I am sent on a death spiral? And you also mean to tell me that I can’t take any of the typical ADHD drugs because it might hurt my heart?
Win win.
My anxiety, depression, and executive dysfunction prevent me from talking to a therapist and getting a diagnosis. I am so sick of this…
You really don’t need a therapist. You just need a GP that’ll do the questionnaire.
CBD gummies have worked miracles for my depression and anxiety. Depending on where you live, maybe give it a try for a week or two and see what happens?
100%
It took me years to realize I had it, even more years to get a diagnosis (I was told I had “severe ADHD” btw") and even now, I’m out of medication more often than I have any due to logistical and financial barriers.
My biggest fear living in the US was falling off meds and being unable to get back on them. If your life situation allows you should absolutely rely on friends or family for help. You don’t need to do this alone, ADHD is a disability and you’re allowed to need assistance.
you should absolutely rely on friends or family for help.
Aw, I wish. There are two types of people in my family. The first type is people who also have ADHD (unmedicated, at that) and/or autism. The second type is people who believe the first type are jUsT bEiNg LaZy.
There is no in-between.
I feel your pain precisely. Also, most of the people who clearly have ADHD/autism or other, much-worse things are often the ones denying it’s a thing.
Well fuck, my apologies then.
This is why I got off the schedule 1 stuff. There are other options.
Not really. I’ve tried some other solutions like antidepressants and they didn’t help because they don’t address the core issue. AFAIK only stimulants are proven to be an effective treatment for ADHD.
Also, that only alleviates one of the problems I mentioned.
Wellbutrin and strattera are both for adhd
“Zocdoc” is a great app to make appointments when possible.
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Cannabis is not a suitable treatment for ADHD. If anything, it exacerbates attention and memory issues.
There is no grow at home remedy that works the way my medication does. To make claims like that it’s ignorant and harmful to people who do actually need medication.
It is. I tried it and it works for me. I’m talking about cannabis medication. It’s far safer than amphetamine. There are are doctors who prescribe it to you.
It works for me
Good for you. Now stop telling people your solution is universal and mutually exclusive to all other medical solutions
I will believe you if you show me a credible source which proves your claim
