Help Getting diagnosed with ADHD

[lwovely]

Hello, I am 20 years old living in Canada. I want to get diagnosed with ADHD without doing the AHS route due to the long wait times. I know the paid route is quite expensive but I can afford it. I'm wondering what your guys' experience is with being diagnosed. Was it a good experience or terrible? Especially for women since it's harder to get diagnosed from what I hear.

I've heard it's super time consuming which is why I haven't done it yet. Also school has been occupying my time so I haven't really got the chance to do some research. However I really want to push myself towards semi recovery. Even if I don't have it, at least I got some answers. I did try to get diagnosed using the AHS route but they cut me off last minute and said I had anxiety. The person diagnosing me was a student btw. I wish they would hear me out personally but they never do.

Even if you guys aren't from Canada, please let me know how it is and be honest! I would like to hear the rough idea on how much it costs for yall, since it's around 2,000 CAD for me. I can get it cheaper but it's online only.
AHS stands for Alberta Health Services for non Canadians! just wanted to put that out

 

[timf]

I am not sure what advantage there is in a diagnosis unless it is being able to get a prescription for speed. Fifty years ago I found that getting one from a psychiatrist (medical doctor specializing in psychiatric medicine) is more likely to give you a diagnosis than a regular physician.

I found out that as useful as speed was for work during the week, it required almost a full weekend off to recover and get ready for the next week.

 

[lachrymost]

I've learned the testing is different everywhere, even throughout Canada. You might want to learn ahead of time if they require an IQ test. To me that was gruelling. I've also heard of the QB test, which I didn't have to do. They typically want lots of information from family, so you'll probably have trouble if you don't have someone to talk about what you were like as a kid.

I'm happy to have another disability diagnosis because the more disabilities I have the harder it might be for my province to take my disability money away. The drugs didn't do anything for me, though.

 

[bluefeather177]

Sorry you're having a hard time getting diagnosed as a woman. I can relate, I knew since elementary school that I had it due to my brother having a diagnosis but only got medicated two years ago.

Hopefully you have a more competent doctor next time. Maybe look into doctors that specialize in it? Not super familiar with how it works over there as I'm in the US.

I'll just say, sometimes as a woman (especially if it's a male older doctor) you have to exaggerate certain things or omit others for them to take you seriously. Don't outright lie but it would help looking into DSM diagnostic criteria if you haven't already and seeing what they're looking for. When the odds are stacked against you getting treatment you need, you've gotta learn how to advocate for yourself.

 

[linnea56]

I am not sure what advantage there is in a diagnosis unless it is being able to get a prescription for speed. Fifty years ago I found that getting one from a psychiatrist (medical doctor specializing in psychiatric medicine) is more likely to give you a diagnosis than a regular physician.

I found out that as useful as speed was for work during the week, it required almost a full weekend off to recover and get ready for the next week.

maybe it was like that for you. there are dozens of people that take their adhd medication daily and it changed their life.

So the advantage is probably the hope to have a better life on medication

 

[Thia]

Young adult female in Asia here with a tentative diagnosis.

Honestly the assessment itself was very close to being free (like the most expensive thing was maybe the equivalent of 30 CAD to get the WAIS done w/ insurance), but I do not live in Canada. I feel like my assessment was far from being thorough, though. Aside from the WAIS and PF Study and the AQ scale (since this was originally for autism assessment), they just got me to fill out a questionnaire and asked me a few questions about my life regarding possible symptoms and that was it. So a few hours at most. Note that my assessment was done at a general hospital by a psychiatrist--so not a sketchy place by all means. Sometimes I doubt if I actually have ADHD but at least the meds seem to be helping somewhat. I am not on stimulant meds which probably contributed to the lax screening.

If you have a better relationship with parents, then as others have stated, they would be asked questions regarding signs in childhood.

 

[Solaria]

Young adult female in Asia here with a tentative diagnosis.

Honestly the assessment itself was very close to being free (like the most expensive thing was maybe the equivalent of 30 CAD to get the WAIS done w/ insurance), but I do not live in Canada. I feel like my assessment was far from being thorough, though. Aside from the WAIS and PF Study and the AQ scale (since this was originally for autism assessment), they just got me to fill out a questionnaire and asked me a few questions about my life regarding possible symptoms and that was it. So a few hours at most. Note that my assessment was done at a general hospital by a psychiatrist--so not a sketchy place by all means. Sometimes I doubt if I actually have ADHD but at least the meds seem to be helping somewhat. I am not on stimulant meds which probably contributed to the lax screening.

If you have a better relationship with parents, then as others have stated, they would be asked questions regarding signs in childhood.

I had a similar experience at my screening. I was already in therapy for depression and anxiety, realized I maybe had ADHD. I did an online questionnaire (I think there's like an official one, not one of those dodgy websites), printed it out and took it to my therapist. Then we talked about it, she just looked at the answers I filled in the assessment and she was like, yep looks like you might have ADHD.

Later decided to also see a psychiatrist for medication (on the therapist's suggestion), he accepted what the therapist wrote in my file. I had no other assessment beyond that, yours actually sounds more thorough than mine. So I've had doubts about my diagnosis. But everything I've read about the condition resonates with my struggles and medication has helped me somewhat so I try to remind myself to trust the professionals who have been helpful. It's common for people with ADHD to have 'impostor syndrome' where we doubt the diagnosis because we've been told over and over again that our issues are a character flaw not a developmental condition. So it's hard to undo a lifetime of social conditioning and shame around this.

 

[happy2die]

19 yo girl from america here I went to a psychiatrist and he diagnosed me in 2 1 hour meetings. it costed about $500. tbh it was a lot better than experiences that I've heard from anyone else

 

[Lookingtoflyfree]

I am not sure what advantage there is in a diagnosis unless it is being able to get a prescription for speed. Fifty years ago I found that getting one from a psychiatrist (medical doctor specializing in psychiatric medicine) is more likely to give you a diagnosis than a regular physician.

I found out that as useful as speed was for work during the week, it required almost a full weekend off to recover and get ready for the next week.

Stimulants aren't speed https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/adderall-addiction/adderall-speed/.'

For the OP, if you think it's worth it, yes, it's good to go down the diagnosis route. I found it invaluable (as a woman, too) to understand what type of ADHD I have and how to address it.

It wasn't too time consuming - I remember it being several hours of questions, and having supporting evidence from family to confirm some details about childhood developmental milestones. The student diagnosis is unfortunate - I'm sorry that happened to you, but we'll often get misdiagnosed.

It cost about that much for me in the U.S. , and I think an in person diagnosis is really useful so that they can observe you in person 'unmasked' if that make sense - whereas if you're doing telehealth, it's already a little artificial to begin with.

I hope you can get your evaluation - it really did help me understand myself <3