I was diagnosed about 20 years ago. Went through the pharma-go-round and all that. I remember it pretty well considering they the only med to do anything was Adderall and what it did was give me panic attacks for routine work problems.
Fast forward to last year and needing serious mental health treatment. Psychiatrist after talking to me for 20 minutes: “I don’t think you have ADHD.” APN from a different practice: “You’re just trying to get stimulants.” I tried tracking down my old doctor, practice was closed. Found him elsewhere, has no access to the old records.
Got myself a full neuropsych exam. ADHD, autism, PTSD, possible bipolar II. Neat.
Fast forward another year. Still on the pharma-go-round. Still not on ADHD meds. Turns out my depression is treatment-resistant. But at least I found providers that aren’t writing me off based on vibes or whatever.
Stimulants are contraindicated for bipolar disorder, that’s probably why you had a bad reaction to ADHD meds. If you’re actually bipolar that is. Bipolar and ADHD are regularly misdiagnosed for one another. Further complicating things, something like 60-70% of bipolar people also have ADHD. Mood stabilizers are the first line treatment and, depending on how well you’re able to manage your bipolar symptoms, some psychiatrists may give a low dose stimulant or SNRI to help with the ADHD issues.
I learned all.of this after my new psychiatrist decided that I’m actually bipolar instead of ADHD. She’s not treating me for either and instead went with Prozac for my depression. As someone who’s also on the pharma-go-round, I wish you the best and hope you find something that works well
my new psychiatrist decided that I’m actually bipolar instead of ADHD.
She’s not treating me for either and instead went with Prozac for my depression.
Lmao. Idk if you meant for this to be funny but it made me laugh.
When I was 18, my very first psychiatrist prescribed me Zoloft to see if I was bipolar or not. I didn’t realize how stupid that was until I had the manic episode he expected would happen if it was BP. I almost died several times during the resulting 2 week manic episode from doing dumb shit
Intellectually, I get why they’re doing the things this way. I’ve been in IT for 25 years, I’ve done my fair share of troubleshooting lol. But the slow motion nature of it is torture. Will this work? Dunno, let’s give it 6 weeks. Okay, now up the dose. Anything? Up the dose again. Guess this wasn’t the right one. Taper time! Okay now try this. Will it work? Dunno… etc etc.
All the shit going on in my head feels like a bundle of Gordian knots. Try to tease out a loose end, it just pulls the whole thing tighter. I get why they’re trying to concentrate on one aspect, but again, knots. I’m trying to have patience, but at the same time these bills aren’t going anywhere. If I don’t pay them my Right To Exist is revoked and all of the effort was for nothing.
I was diagnosed about 20 years ago. Went through the pharma-go-round and all that. I remember it pretty well considering they the only med to do anything was Adderall and what it did was give me panic attacks for routine work problems.
Fast forward to last year and needing serious mental health treatment. Psychiatrist after talking to me for 20 minutes: “I don’t think you have ADHD.” APN from a different practice: “You’re just trying to get stimulants.” I tried tracking down my old doctor, practice was closed. Found him elsewhere, has no access to the old records.
Got myself a full neuropsych exam. ADHD, autism, PTSD, possible bipolar II. Neat.
Fast forward another year. Still on the pharma-go-round. Still not on ADHD meds. Turns out my depression is treatment-resistant. But at least I found providers that aren’t writing me off based on vibes or whatever.
Stimulants are contraindicated for bipolar disorder, that’s probably why you had a bad reaction to ADHD meds. If you’re actually bipolar that is. Bipolar and ADHD are regularly misdiagnosed for one another. Further complicating things, something like 60-70% of bipolar people also have ADHD. Mood stabilizers are the first line treatment and, depending on how well you’re able to manage your bipolar symptoms, some psychiatrists may give a low dose stimulant or SNRI to help with the ADHD issues.
I learned all.of this after my new psychiatrist decided that I’m actually bipolar instead of ADHD. She’s not treating me for either and instead went with Prozac for my depression. As someone who’s also on the pharma-go-round, I wish you the best and hope you find something that works well
Lmao. Idk if you meant for this to be funny but it made me laugh.
When I was 18, my very first psychiatrist prescribed me Zoloft to see if I was bipolar or not. I didn’t realize how stupid that was until I had the manic episode he expected would happen if it was BP. I almost died several times during the resulting 2 week manic episode from doing dumb shit
Thanks, the best to you as well.
Intellectually, I get why they’re doing the things this way. I’ve been in IT for 25 years, I’ve done my fair share of troubleshooting lol. But the slow motion nature of it is torture. Will this work? Dunno, let’s give it 6 weeks. Okay, now up the dose. Anything? Up the dose again. Guess this wasn’t the right one. Taper time! Okay now try this. Will it work? Dunno… etc etc.
All the shit going on in my head feels like a bundle of Gordian knots. Try to tease out a loose end, it just pulls the whole thing tighter. I get why they’re trying to concentrate on one aspect, but again, knots. I’m trying to have patience, but at the same time these bills aren’t going anywhere. If I don’t pay them my Right To Exist is revoked and all of the effort was for nothing.
My old doctor once gave me an antipsychotic for ADHD, because they thought I was looking for stimulants. It did not help.
Straight up, I really dislike being treated like I’m an addict. Homie, I have to set two reminders to take my Adderall and I still forget it.